The Expansion of NPR News
While other news organizations downsized over the past several years,
NPR News added reporters, correspondents, and offices worldwide, and
now gathers and produces content from some 36 locations around the world.
Audiences hear the results of NPR's dynamic expansion when correspondents
stationed across the nation and around the world are able to bring them
growing numbers of voices and unique perspectives from people around the
world. In letters, e-mail, and focus groups around the country, listeners
applaud the power of this programming, consistently describing NPR as
"essential," "vital," and "indispensable."
Listeners prove their support for NPR programs and NPR stations by
tuning-in in rising numbers. Today more than 30 million people listen to
public radio stations every week, up from about 2 million in the early
1980s. This upward listener trend in the last two decades is in large part
attributable to the astounding growth of NPR News, a national service
anchored by hourly newscasts and two signature, award-winning newsmagazines
Morning Edition and All Things Considered. These programs are currently the
second and fourth most listened-to radio programs in America. NPR News saw
significant audience growth and retention after each major news event from
the 1991 Gulf War to the Sept. 11 attacks to recent events in Iraq.
Keeping pace with listener demand, NPR News has expanded its domestic and
foreign news operations. In November 2002, NPR launched NPR West, a major
new production studio located in Los Angeles, further diversifying and
enhancing its reporting by establishing a critical mass of editorial staff
on both coasts. This state-of-the-art newsgathering and production facility
captures news, trends, and ideas from California to Colorado, and Seattle
to Santa Fe. NPR West is fast becoming a resource that strengthens NPR's
coverage by reflecting the ethnic diversity, cultural dynamism, and vibrancy
of the American West. In 2004, NPR News announced plans to invest $15 million
over three years to expand news resources and add staff. NPR's internal
expansion and external audience growth come at a time when other news media
are cutting back to remain profitable and newspapers across the U.S. are
reporting circulation declines.
With NPR's Washington headquarters and NPR West production center as its tent poles,
NPR maintains a substantial national and international presence with
correspondents and reporters based in some 36 U.S. and foreign cities.
In the U.S., NPR reporters and correspondents work and file from 18 news
bureaus and offices. Internationally, NPR supports 18 news bureaus and offices.
Today, international news comprises more than one-third of NPR News. NPR has
maintained and continually added correspondents around the world to cover issues,
events, and cultures that received little, if any, exposure in other U.S. media.
When news breaks, NPR calls upon reporters on location, who are familiar with the
area and have established contacts, to bring listeners the story.
