A support group and a lab in the St. Louis area provide resources for people with the allergy to mammal products — and evidence that its effects can be reversed.
An employee at the Independent Stave Company in Lebanon, MO, lifts a barrel under production. KMOV reporter Avery Martinez recently produced a story about how the company encourages healthy forestry practices to ensure their supply of white oak for barrels. Courtesy KMOV St. Louis.
It's been an exciting period of growth for the Ag & Water Desk.
With our latest newsroom cohort, we began a new adventure in multimedia, welcoming three television stations for the first time. Since most of our staff are from newspaper and radio, this has been a fun challenge, and one we're glad to see paying off in several ways.
Last year, we conducted a study of public opinion towards the environment across the Basin with Mizzou's Reynolds Journalism Institute. A key finding: Local TV remains a trusted news source for many.
Our television newsrooms – KMOV St. Louis, Kansas City PBS/Flatland and KWQC in the Quad Cities – have been turning some incredible work these past few months and helping us reach new audiences across the Basin.
Avery Martinez at KMOV produced a broadcast version of our parametric insurance piece you may have seen a few weeks ago, interviewing Delaney Dryfoos of The Lens and Eric Schmid of St. Louis Public Radio, who reported the original story. Martinez also hosted KBIA reporter Harshawn Ratanpal for a segment about drought conditions and relief policies.
This is what we've been hoping for: Desk reporters working together and amplifying their work on multiple platforms – all to better reach people where they are.
"A lot of times when we think about lumber and timber, we think about forests being chopped down whole hog," Martinez said. "But that's not how every operation works, especially not if your whiskey and wine depend on one type of oak. Oak decline is a real concern, where trees suddenly fall sick and die in Missouri, and without planting new trees and removing old ones, it makes it hard to have a forest – or a good drink."
And on collaboration? Martinez says the Desk is unique in his experience, after years in newspapers, then radio, and now TV.
"It's rare for any of those mediums to work together, let alone cross over,” Martinez said. “It's rare for reporters embedded in communities to have a chance to work and connect with communities outside their area. Because the river affects St. Louis residents as much as New Orleans, it's awesome to see reporters working together. Being able to bring print and radio reporters on TV helps us all. It puts a face to a name for many readers, and it shows a little of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into journalism. I don't think we're very good at showing the public how much work it takes to put together a story. Bringing different formats of media means reaching more people, and a better chance of someone seeing and appreciating the real impacts the Mississippi has on all of us across the country."
I spent more than a decade making local TV news across the country, and it’s a unique format with both advantages and compromises. Video has an incredible power to take the viewer "there," like nothing else. But there are so many more logistics to consider on a deadline, and these are amplified when working across newsrooms.
So this is our commitment: explore new ways to produce collaborative journalism and reach more folks in the Basin with trusted, meaningful agriculture and water stories, whatever the platform. Thanks for taking this journey with us!
Sincerely,
Michael Crowe Contributing Editor, Ag & Water Desk
We need 20 people!
We're halfway there, but we need your help! After our Giving Tuesday push, we're making great progress on our fundraising goals. If just 20 more people donate by the end of the year, we earn a $1,000 bonus that will help support new projects at the Desk.
Can you help us reach our goal and support independent journalism across the Basin? We're participating in NewsMatch for the first time, so all gifts are doubled until the end of the year. Thank you!
