Colorado Public Radio News was selected to participate in this year’s NPR Story Lab workshop, a project the network started in 2015 "as an internal incubator for new ideas and experiments in the newsroom.”
The process began in the fall of 2016 when CPR News joined member stations across the U.S. in submitting ideas for experimental projects as part of NPR’s efforts to foster innovation in radio journalism. CPR News’ team of reporters joined 19 other journalists for the three-day training workshop to develop their story ideas, experiment with different forms of storytelling and collaborate with NPR mentors in D.C.
Representing CPR News at the workshop was Managing Producer Rachel Estabrook, General Assignment Reporter Ben Markus and Digital Producer Nathaniel Minor. While there, they partnered with veteran correspondent for NPR’s “Planet Money” Robert Smith to brainstorm and hone their ideas.
“We intend to tell the story of Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights–the circumstances that led to the bill’s passage and how it’s affected Colorado over 25 years,” explains Estabrook. "We'll do it through the characters that shaped TABOR either in a single episode or through a series. We plan to be comprehensive and explore different ways to bring the story to life beyond radio, using multiple platforms."
With NPR’s training under their belt, the team will spend the next few months applying what they’ve learned to develop the story, which will be published later this year.
Stay tuned for the results of CPR News’ work with NPR‘s Story Lab in coming months. In the meantime, learn more about other collaborations CPR is working on with National Public Radio.
