Today, NPR and Religion News Service (RNS) announced the formation of a new partnership to report on the impact of religion in our public and personal lives. The partnership also will help fill the gap caused by the reduction in the number of journalists covering religion, as newspapers and news organizations nationwide have closed.
The partnership is funded by grants over a two-year period from Lilly Endowment Inc. to NPR and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to RNS. The grants have allowed NPR and RNS to hire new editors and a producer to lead this new reporting partnership. The collaboration will create original audio and digital news stories that will appear in both NPR and RNS, leveraging NPR’s national reach and RNS’s deep expertise in religion reporting. The project will engage RNS and NPR reporters as well as a dozen contributing reporters from newsrooms throughout the NPR Member station network who bring perspectives and insights from across the country.
“Religious belief informs some of the most important issues facing Americans. To understand our country now and throughout its history, it’s critical to understand the diversity of faith and the ways in which religious belief helps strengthen communities,” said RNS Publisher Deborah Caldwell. “This partnership will enable RNS to reach a broader audience with nuanced, balanced information.”
