Deepening its pool of resources

Public radio has an incredibly educated community of listeners, some of whom know more about the subjects of certain stories than the reporters. The challenge is finding those listeners and tapping their knowledge.

The solution, according to Minnesota Public Radio, is “public insight journalism,” an interactive news-gathering model that systematically roots out new sources, fresh story angles and emerging trends through town hall meetings and Internet surveys. News analysts cull through the results, identifying key themes and resources that are then compiled in a database that is used by reporters to strengthen their stories.

Developed three years ago by Minnesota Public Radio President Bill Kling, public insight journalism has been used on only a limited basis so far and only for MPR’s regional news programming. Over the next five years, the St. Paul company plans to spend $2 million to further develop public insight journalism, mainly through software that will simplify the information sorting process and the hiring of news analysts who will be assigned to specific beats.

It will begin to roll out nationally in 2005 on its L.A.-based business shows, “Marketplace” and “Sound Money.”

MPR’s managing director of news, Michael Skoler, said that currently a news agenda is too often formed by relying upon a small group of reporters and editors talking to a small group of community leaders. The technology behind the public insight journalism approach, he said, will allow journalists access to a far vaster pool of resources, literally “thousands of people who may have bits of knowledge on certain topics,” he said.

“It’s taking the information revolution that has made us more efficient and bringing it to its full promise,” he said.