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I'd like to share a little story about answering the newsroom tip line. Follow along.
When we're in the newsroom, the tip line sort of takes turns ringing on all of our desk phones. It's kind of like a Russian roulette of who's gonna pick it up AND what's going to be on the other end. Sometimes I get calls from Santa!
Yes, Santa Claus actually called me, showed up on the caller ID and everything, to tell me about a message he wanted to send to children feeling uneasy during this time (but really it was a message for all of us). My colleague Robyne wrote about it. https://fm.kuac.org/post/santa-comforts-children-amid-pandemic-demonstrations
And sometimes I get calls like I did today, from a woman very upset with our (lack of) coverage re: police in Anchorage. She was also upset that we didn't have any "minority" journalists in our newsroom (lol) and after telling her my name she said "you're probably just an intern"
I wasn't really offended. She doesn't know me and I appreciate that my newsroom doesn't tokenize me as a "minority" journalist+ I think it's important that we continue to take those calls/emails, and respond to and engage with the community we cover.
Her: why don't you talk about how white the police force is?
Me: actually we just posted a story about that yesterday from @Nat_Herz
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/18/responding-to-protests-anchorage-officials-ask-for-help-changing-mostly-white-police-fire-departments/
Me: actually we just posted a story about that yesterday from @Nat_Herz
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/18/responding-to-protests-anchorage-officials-ask-for-help-changing-mostly-white-police-fire-departments/
Her: well, what about their records? Why don't we know talk about how many people they kill?
Me: mmm @Nat_Herz dug into that too ... https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/15/do-you-have-questions-about-police-accountability-and-use-of-force-in-alaska-here-are-some-answers/
Me: mmm @Nat_Herz dug into that too ...
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/15/do-you-have-questions-about-police-accountability-and-use-of-force-in-alaska-here-are-some-answers/
Me: We've also had reports from my girl @RashahMcChesney in Juneau https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/17/the-race-data-juneau-police-collect-is-flawed-but-theyre-open-to-changing-it/
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/17/the-race-data-juneau-police-collect-is-flawed-but-theyre-open-to-changing-it/
Me: and stories on other end of the spectrum from @wesley_early waaay up North! https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/18/northwest-arctic-borough-continues-effort-to-fill-vacant-vpso-positions/
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/18/northwest-arctic-borough-continues-effort-to-fill-vacant-vpso-positions/
Me: we even dedicated a whole hour of programming to the issue of police reform https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/12/protests-have-erupted-across-the-country-and-the-world-but-what-will-it-take-to-make-lasting-change/
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/12/protests-have-erupted-across-the-country-and-the-world-but-what-will-it-take-to-make-lasting-change/
Me: And our illustrious host @kcgrove snagged this great interview with someone who has been thinking about this for ... a long time https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/16/listen-alaska-naacp-activism-in-early-80s-changed-police-use-of-force-rules/
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/16/listen-alaska-naacp-activism-in-early-80s-changed-police-use-of-force-rules/
Me: he even did another interview with a researcher that gave us some pretty important context for how we should think about the fact that some figures suggest AK has one of the highest rates of police killings per capita in the nation https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/10/listen-alaska-has-a-high-rate-of-police-killings-per-capita-whats-the-data-behind-that-figure/
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/10/listen-alaska-has-a-high-rate-of-police-killings-per-capita-whats-the-data-behind-that-figure/
Me: Casey also owns our "wild Palmer police chief" beat at the moment https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/17/action-on-palmer-police-chiefs-protest-inducing-statements-still-pending/
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/17/action-on-palmer-police-chiefs-protest-inducing-statements-still-pending/
Of course, I didn't say all of this to her because I couldn't get a word in edgewise lol. She was very passionate. But it did make me think about our audience, and how someone who really cares about their community likely just wants good coverage.
I've been really proud of the work that our newsroom and our network have been doing to help people make sense of this moment, even as we're all living through it ourselves. Of course, there's room for improvement. That's why I stayed on the phone. We want to be better!
All this is to say, keep in touch with your local newsroom and local journalists! Send us questions and tips and we'll do our level best to make sure you have what you need. But also, we're working really hard every day and it's nice when people engage the work we've already done
And listen to ANN wherever you listen to podcasts! We round up the news from across the state every weeknight. And I publish a playlist of close cuts every month. We had a GREAT show (and close cut) today: https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/18/alaska-news-nightly-thurs-jun-18/
Anyway - happy Friday-eve! 
