This past month, Wyoming Public Radio reporters visited community colleges around the state to engage with students. More specifically, to try to get a better understanding of what young adults in Wyoming think of journalism and what journalists could be doing better. Wyoming Public Radio’s digital producer and engagement coordinator Ivy Engel sat down with WPR’s news director to discuss the common themes that came out of the community college visits.
Kamila Kudelska: Before we get into the fun stuff – Ivy, can you explain why we decided to go out and engage with community colleges?
Ivy Engel: About a year ago, we got involved with a program called America Amplified. Some of our listeners might remember that I interviewed the managing editor of America Amplified back in February. The whole point is for us as newsrooms to engage with the communities that we cover. So instead of just reporting on what we think is interesting, reach out to our listeners and readers, and hear what you all might think we should or need to report on.
KK: We as a newsroom came together and discussed who our audience is and within that what we are lacking. For example, we know we have a large listener base that is 60 and over. As a statewide news service, we felt we were lacking the youth – the people who grow up in Wyoming and tend to end up leaving. So we thought it would be good to try to engage with that group to get a better understanding of how and where they consume news and what they think might be missing in coverage about their lives.
IE: Exactly. We’re missing a huge demographic that we want to make sure that we can reach.
KK: The way we tried to engage that group [is] we went to three community colleges in the state in the month of November: Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Central Wyoming College in Riverton and Casper College.
IE: At each one, a small group of reporters set up tables in a common area, like outside of the cafeteria or a coffee shop. Each group had three large pieces of paper with a question on them, and we asked passersby to add their answers to the paper.
KK: The questions were: What do journalists often get wrong about you or your life, and what do they get right? How do you decide if a news outlet is trustworthy? What issues or concerns from your own life don’t get covered enough by the news?
IE: Don’t forget Kamila, we also had free snacks, mostly donuts, that helped entice people to come talk to us – hence the name we picked for these events: Donuts and Discussion.
KK: Yes, that turned out to be really helpful in getting people to come talk to us. Also with that in mind, we didn’t ask to record these conversations to allow for a more free exchange.
Let’s start with our visit to Casper College. We both went to that one, as well as northeast reporter Jordan Uplinger. Right after the event, he explained his favorite interaction of the day.
Jordan Uplinger: Probably the last guy who just came by, because he started with, ‘I'm the worst person to ask about news.’ And he had so much to give. That probably shows a lot of people have really good opinions about how we could do the news, they just don't interact with it enough to tell us that yet.
IE: I noticed that, too. After just a question or two, it turned out they had a lot to say. Also, a lot of people are concerned about bias in their news, which is an incredibly understandable concern. Another thing we learned was that a lot of people got their news from social media or word of mouth from friends and family, which was interesting to me.
KK: I think our northwest reporter, Olivia Weitz, who went to Riverton, had a similar experience. People said they don't seek out news, so they feel they don't have much to say.
Olivia Weitz: When I asked teens, ‘Hey, how are you getting your news?’ A lot of them said, ‘Social media, Instagram, etc.’ But when I was talking to teens further, they're on these platforms already and they're kind of getting served news. It's not like they're seeking out news on these sites. They're just sort of already there.
IE: Social media was actually a common theme we heard between colleges. A lot of the people we talked to got their news there. Here’s Jordan on that.
JU: As far as news that they are learning from, news that they might or opinions they might agree with, influencers who lean towards their ideological bend, it seems here in Casper that's firmly on a younger right-wing social media based news intake.
KK: But not everyone didn’t engage with the news. We actually met a lot of people who did and shared with us what they think we should be covering more of. Here’s our senior podcast reporter Melodie Edwards, who was in Rock Springs.
Melodie Edwards: One of the first answers that we got was about how Gen Z aren't as likely to be able to afford a house or to get Social Security when they retire. So I was kind of surprised that even in Sweetwater County, young people are really worrying about their future in that way.
IE: And here’s Hanna Merzbach, our Mountain West News Bureau reporter who was in Riverton.
Hanna Merzbach: I heard a couple people talking about how they want more coverage of the political middle. In Wyoming, we have such extremes, with the Freedom Caucus and the blue bubble over here in Jackson. But most people often fall in that middle. And we shouldn't make it seem in our coverage like people are on either extreme.
KK: Another theme that came up for the folks in Riverton was also heard by Melodie in Rock Springs.
ME: I was not as surprised to get a lot of answers about how concerned they were about the mental health crisis in their community and in their generation, and the need in general for more coverage about addiction.
IE: Something that came up a lot for us in Casper was healthcare.
We’re a big state, and even though the population is small, it runs the gamut in terms of healthcare access, coverage and just plain understanding of some things.
In response to how people determine if a news outlet is trustworthy, a lot of people look for multiple sources or views in a story.
KK: I’m glad you brought that point up. By far the most common theme of what journalism gets wrong is bias. We would ask them how we can fix that and at least I didn’t get a clear answer.
But I do think Olivia got an interesting one. She was in Riverton and a film student came to talk about bias.
OW: He said, ‘Look, by going online, you're picking and choosing which news sites you want to go to.’ And what he does is that he tries to go to news aggregation sites that give you news from multiple different sources, and he also says he likes to get information from books.
IE: Overall, I really enjoyed our trip to Casper. For the most part, people were willing to stop and chat, even if they didn't actively seek out news or even trust it completely.
But a common thread we did hear a lot was that people appreciated us making the effort to come out and listen to them, which I think wasn't just in Casper. I think our tribal affairs and rural reporter, Hannah Habermann, summarized it nicely. She was in Riverton.
Hannah Habermann: Students are busy. There were for sure some people who weren't super interested in chatting or were running to their next thing, but overall, it was a really good reminder that just being out in communities and talking to people can be such a good learning experience.
KK: The donuts sure helped entice people. The plan is for us as a newsroom to take people's feedback to heart as we continue to report.
Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts with us. I do want to say this is not the end of us coming to communities in the state and asking what you want from us as your statewide public radio station. We’ll keep you updated as we get more of that planned out.
If you ever want to ask WPR a question or tell us what you want us to cover, you can email us at wyomingpublicradio@gmail.com
