DeepSummary
The episode begins with host Liana Fursterai introducing Broken Ground, a podcast that digs up environmental stories in the South, and explaining that this season will focus on Southern storytellers filling gaps in environmental coverage. Fursterai then interviews Lindsey Gilpin and Taja McQueen, the founder and editor-in-chief of Southerly, a nonprofit news site focused on environmental justice stories in the South.
Gilpin and McQueen discuss how Southerly evolved from a newsletter to an online magazine, with a focus on reaching underserved rural communities and amplifying their voices. They share examples of innovative storytelling approaches, such as creating physical pamphlets to distribute information in areas with limited internet access and partnering with local organizations.
The episode also covers Southerly's Community Reporting Fellowship program, which trained community members with diverse backgrounds in journalism skills to report on environmental issues affecting their areas. Gilpin and McQueen reflect on the challenges and successes of the program, and the importance of empowering community voices in environmental journalism.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Southerly, a nonprofit news site, focused on amplifying underrepresented voices and covering environmental justice stories in the South.
- The organization employed innovative storytelling approaches, such as creating physical pamphlets and partnering with local organizations, to reach underserved rural and low-income communities.
- Southerly launched a Community Reporting Fellowship program to train community members from diverse backgrounds in journalism skills and empower them to report on environmental issues affecting their areas.
- The founders acknowledged the challenges of community-based journalism, including building trust, cultivating skillfulness, and securing sustainable funding.
- Despite its impact, Southerly ultimately decided to pause operations due to financial constraints, highlighting the precarious nature of journalism, especially for niche and community-focused outlets.
- The episode underscores the importance of diverse voices and perspectives in environmental journalism, as well as the need for innovative approaches to reach underserved communities.
- The founders emphasized the importance of making environmental issues relatable and relevant to the communities they serve, rather than discussing them in abstract terms.
- Southerly's approach challenged traditional notions of credibility and expertise in journalism, empowering community members to share their lived experiences and perspectives.
Top Episodes Quotes
- βWe had a fellow who didn't go to college and question whether or not she should be there because she felt like she did not have the finishing that she needed or she thought that she needed. It's heartbreaking to hear that from her because she's such an intelligent person and her project was incredible.β by Lindsey Gilpin
- βIf you're just talking about, like, a climate march or, like, who believes in climate change, you're leaving out most of the population that doesn't have time or money or whatever to think about what federal climate policy is. And so I think that those stories feel really important to me.β by Taja McQueen
Entities
Location
Organization
Person
Episode Information
Broken Ground
Southern Environmental Law Center
8/17/23
Hear what spurred the founding of Southerly, an online publication focused on environmental justice, and how it evolved from more traditional reporting to an outlet focused on putting reportersβ tools in community hands.Β