NPR and the Mountain West News Bureau are partnering to establish the seventh regional newsroom in the NPR Network, based at Boise State Public Radio in Idaho. The collaboration includes five managing partner stations: KANW (Albuquerque, N.M.), KUNC (Greeley, Colo.), KUNR Public Radio (Reno, Nev.), Nevada Public Radio (Las Vegas), and Wyoming Public Media (Laramie).
A grant from Eric and Wendy Schmidt via the Schmidt Family Foundation will fund a full-time digital editor and an Indigenous affairs reporter.
The bureau, initially launched in 2018 with a nearly $500,000 CPB grant and bolstered by another $500,000 in 2024, aims to deepen coverage of issues like public lands, water, energy, and Indigenous affairs in collaboration with Koahnic Broadcast Corporation and Native Public Media.
“NPR is committed to closer collaboration with Mountain West stations to deliver trusted reporting across this vast region,” said Edith Chapin, NPR SVP, editor-in-chief, and acting CCO. Tom Michael, GM of Boise State Public Radio, emphasized expanding daily news and enterprise reporting, while Michael de Yoanna, the bureau’s managing editor, highlighted the hub’s role in fostering in-depth, investigative journalism.
The NPR Network’s other regional newsrooms cover Texas, California, the Gulf States, the Midwest, New England, and Appalachia/mid-South.