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Big announcement: I’m moving to Honolulu to report on Military and veteran issues for @CivilBeat as a 2020 @report4america corps member. https://www.reportforamerica.org/members/kevin-knodell/
I accepted the position as I was in the middle of trying to gather my belongings in Iraq to get on a repatriation flight back to the states after embedding with U.S. troops.
I only narrowly got out (and might not have had it not been for my editor @martyskovlundjr & Kurdish friends who got me through checkpoints and to the airport). The last month has been a blur & there’s still a handful more Iraq stories as I wrap up my series for @CoffeeOrDieMag
Just as international and conflict reporting have taken serious hits as bureaus get shuttered and the freelance correspondents see their rates gutted, local newsrooms are also reeling. While thankfully national news like the NYT and WaPo remain strong (subscribe!) it’s not enough
In the U.S. alone thousands of journalists have been furloughed and some 1,300 communities across the country have lost their local news outlet. Amid #COVID19 it’s getting even worse https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-killing-local-news/608695/
@report4america, which is part of @GroundTruth has been working to bolster local newsrooms in America as the industry continues a historic upheaval. Revenues are down even as demand for accurate information increases. The job matters more than ever. https://www.reportforamerica.org/2020/04/23/report-for-america-surges-during-covid-crisis-fielding-225-reporters-in-local-newsrooms/
I’m going to be with the @CivilBeat team covering one of the U.S. military’s largest hubs. Hawaii home to @INDOPACOM, Pearl Harbor and many other installations. It’ll be locally focused, but will call on all my experience with national, intl’ reporting and historical research.
I’ll be looking at how military and local history are deeply intertwined, how geopolitics shapes training and troop movements and (how both interact and clash with the land, economy and communities). I’ll also follow transitioning veterans and veterans groups on the islands.
As an RFA Corps member I’ll also be doing a local service project. What that will be and how that will work exactly in the current climate is yet TBD. But my hope is whatever it ends up being will promote media literacy and help educate about our vast and evolving news landscape
Newsroom cuts have led to a huge loss of military reporting in local and regional newsrooms, mostly leaving that work to the Pentagon press corps in DC who interact with the brass. We’re lost beat reporters who talk to service members and vets where they actually live and work.
It’s a consequence of not just the crisis in media, but of the civil-military divide. As military service becomes increasingly intergenerational fewer and fewer Americans have personal ties to the military or even know any veterans of our most recent military engagements.
Most Americans today are exposed to the military and veterans almost exclusively through popular culture (movies, TV, videogames) or through news media.
We lose critical context, voices and perspectives when we rely on DC media for that. The Hawaii National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 487th Field Artillery recently returned home from Afghanistan. Now many Hawaii guardsmen have been activated to help the state deal with #COVID19
Hawaii isn’t just a tourist destination, it’s one of America’s 50 states. It’s a diverse state with a rich history, complex problems and deserves good journalism to tell its stories and can balance the local, national and international dimensions of stories on the islands.
I’m lucky to be working right now. I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve Hawaii on the @CivilBeat and eager to serve the community with the @report4america Corps.
I want to thank @Adam_Ashton and @KariPlog for pushing me to apply. I also want to acknowledge editors @daxe, @MarkBaumgarten, @jhrickman, @fenix_rising, @mrShaneMichael, @FranticGoat, @tompaulson for unquantifiable mentorship and opportunities. Everyone from my old WIB crew
I also want to thank @martyskovlundjr, Katie McCarthy and @KWestenhiser for being amazing teammates producing hard hitting coverage at @CoffeeOrDieMag, and to @EvanHafer for being crazy enough to finance and publish longform conflict journalism in his coffee company’s magazine
I also want to acknowledge @mjgault, my co-conspirator at @War_College. @KaurinShanks and @joannelisosky (former professors, always teachers). @VagerSaadulla @Adam_Lucente @pauliddon for not letting me die in Iraq or Syria. @MythiliSk and @Zaron3 for letting me vent randomly.
I would list more colleagues and friends but we’d be here all day and I still have writing to do (and lots of packing)
Lastly as I continue wrapping up Iraq/Syria coverage (for now) I want to acknowledge @charliedietzx and @MylesCaggins for setting the gold standard for what public affairs officers should be. Honest, accountable and always striving to maximize access wherever possible.
They truly understood that journalism is the first draft of history, that complicated truths are better than expedient lies, and Americans deserve to know what their military is doing with their money and asking of America’s sons and daughters in uniform
I also witnessed how they interacted with Syrian and Kurdish journalists, speaking frankly and treating them as the brave and intelligent professionals they are. I hope I work with PAOs in Hawaii that are even a fraction as good at their jobs as these guys. Tough act to follow.
And of course @mrrippingale for hiding that body. Owe you one mate.
