Meet the PMFA Award Winner
Doug Mitchell
Founder/Director,
Next Generation Radio
First off, congrats on winning the Public Media for All Award! That’s such a well-deserved recognition. Let’s kick things off with your journey in public media. How did you get started, and what led you to focus on expanding public media for be for everyone?
Thank you! I was very surprised by my selection.
I've been around for a very long time. My first day at NPR was in 1987. TWO buildings ago.
I was hired by the then-Morning Edition EP, who was from North Dakota and supported by the ME host from Kentucky. I'm from Oklahoma. I was the morning host and a reporter at the NPR station where I went to school. My parents were listeners and donors. I wanted to work at NPR. So, I packed up and moved to DC. I applied, nagged them for nine months, and got hired.
I had long wondered why NPR didn't share how it does what it does, producing such rich, textured, journalistically focused radio. So, in looking back, my focus, either directly or indirectly, has been on opening a door that seemed closed. I decided to open it. At the time, it was like you needed a secret code or handshake, and only people who went to specific colleges or had certain connections knew what it was. Early on, I thought there had to be a way to correct this system, so I just started.
As a professional in public media, how have your personal experiences shaped the way you approach your work?
You have to start with some guiding principles.
Example: I've always been a “producer." That means you need to know how to do a little bit of everything and successfully work with many kinds of people with different and sometimes opposing styles.
Broadly, I'm not an engineer, but you end up "engineering" your way through many work and life complexities. And being a Black male from a rural and small-ish college town, I've always felt outnumbered. I certainly was while growing up. Fortunately, I was raised not to think of that as a disadvantage but to commit to bringing a perspective to a conversation, and that conversation should turn into an action. My late dad would remind me, “Don’t listen to what people say, watch what they do. Act accordingly.”
Finally, my thinking is not for everyone, and I must remember that. I stay connected to many of the people I grew up with. They are different from me. Some are very different. These relational bonds go a long way in informing my work. I've attended all but one of my high school reunions. My brother, sister, and their families are still in my home state. My transparency and openness to conversation bring down the temperature and raise engagement. It doesn't always work, but I must keep trying.
You’ve clearly made a huge impact in expanding access and opening doors in public media. Can you share some of the key actions or initiatives you’ve led that have really made an impact over the years?
Well, is it clear? ☺️
I wrote this for Nieman Lab in July of 2020, during the depths of the pandemic, almost five years ago. That headline was not mine, by the way.
In that article, I wrote metaphorically about the Next Gen program being seen as "the supply store." Most inquiries are transactional: "Can you help us find people for these openings? Thanks." So much more goes into what we do than keeping people on a proverbial shelf ready to be chosen. However, I have understood the finances, systems, and behaviors embedded in public media for a long time. The Next Gen program is a laboratory where we get to experiment many times over and challenge the thinking about what training and professional development truly mean, who gets an opportunity, and, after a project ends, how we continue to provide support. It's that last part that has been the most relevant: keeping our community engaged, interested, and forward-thinking. As my longtime friend and colleague Robert Hernandez of the University of Southern California says, “working horizontally, not vertically.”
What do you think are the biggest challenges public media faces right now when it comes to expanding access and inclusion? And how can we, as an industry, push back or continue to move forward?
*See my answer to question #1.*
During the pandemic, the Next Gen leadership team changed how we find and accept reporting cohorts. We’ve eliminated nearly every long-held prerequisite. An applicant doesn't need to go to a journalism school, doesn't need to have a college degree, doesn't need to fit within an age range (that's discriminatory, anyway), doesn't need to be fully abled or sighted, etc. It took too long to get there, but we did.
The pandemic got me to think about EXclusion as well as inclusion. Who are we as a program, unintentionally leaving out? Why are we doing that? How do we fix it? Can we adjust our thinking? How are we intentional and consistent about our actions?
Change can be small and significant.
As I said, I'm from Oklahoma. There are 39 federally recognized tribes there. My former public radio station has TWO Indigenous reporters covering the state now. Next Gen has directly collaborated with Indigenous journalists because all newsrooms should.
We've partnered successfully with the Gulf States Newsroom and have a long history of doing projects with the Texas Newsroom. Here is a map one of our mentors created showing the locations of our projects since 2013.
Today, I see stations getting out of onerous and aggressively politicized oversight by colleges and universities that hold their licenses. That needs to continue. It will likely result in fewer stations and in what are commonly called "news deserts." I hope we can avoid a survival-of-the-fittest scenario.
More constructively, some stations have held onto their intern programs, and I was so happy to read that NPR is resurrecting its intern program. I was involved in it for many years when I was on staff. Today, I hope those deciding future intern cohorts remain open to who gets in and who doesn't, or we'll not evolve as I think newsrooms and the news business should evolve, now more than ever.
Looking back at your career and everything you’ve accomplished, what’s the moment or achievement you’re most proud of, especially when considering the changing landscape around diversity in the workplace?
In the early 2000s, I was at the NAHJ conference in New York City. Our reporters interviewed Maria Hinojosa, host of Latino USA. I can’t remember the exact question, but I do remember the answer: “You start with supporting the people that you already have.”
I'm not going to create a listicle of do’s and don’ts. Clues are sprinkled throughout this article. But that response from Maria is a small part of our foundation.
Since 2013, the Next Gen Radio program now has 510 alums. We've completed 91 audio-focused digital media sprints. Yes, 91! Our alumni group is around 80 percent people who identify as women and 65 to 70 percent BIPOC. We have seven alumni working for NPR News. At one time, there were 10.
I keep a color-coded spreadsheet of where everyone is and what they are doing. It is highly time-consuming and also very necessary. I’m an entrepreneur at heart, so I think of those results as a “proof of concept” where our alumni are our MVP (Most Viable Product). Sponsors want to know where their money is going, and data can be a great friend.
Our mission has evolved. The five-day projects used to be the only focus. But once we're done with one of our sprints, I want our folks to feel like they belong to something. It is not an exclusive club. It’s a collection of people who are different from one another but want the same things: A skill set to shine a light on hidden areas and narratives and ideas, one that uses a Story Corps approach to journalism. We are a welcoming community where everyone can be who they are and is assumed to be bright, energetic, creative, invested, and respected regardless of their current standing.
We tell our alums, don't disappear. Stay engaged. You never know when the next opportunity will appear and someone in our community can be of great help.
