What Do You Want to Read?

I’m still trying to figure out exactly how to use this space, and I could use some help from readers. So, contrary to the more positioned portions of my nature, I’m going to do the thing: Ask for help. 

Before I came to work as executive producer for news and public affairs at NMPBS last spring, the top section of the New Mexico in Focus newsletter was often just a paragraph-long description of the main segment of that week’s show. Other times, the space went to the editorial musings of former host Gene Grant. 

During the past year, we’ve used it for some original reporting and analysis, to co-publish journalism with partner news organizations and, sometimes, for me to stretch out a bit as a writer. Many weeks, I’ve taken the lead on writing. NMiF Senior Producer Lou DiVizio, Our Land Senior Producer Laura Paskus and others have contributed as well. 

I know we’ve published some good writing here, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to experiment. But I don’t know if any of this is resonating with our audience. We are a PBS station, after all, and we produce a weekly, hourlong news and public affairs program as our primary offering. What do folks think of coming to us for the written word? 

I don’t know. 

Before I get to the asking for help part, I want to briefly draw your attention to a few elements from this week’s show, which you can watch and read a bit more about below. The first is a two-part conversation between Paskus and New Mexico legend and Earth Day cofounder Arturo Sandoval that had me cheering from the production booth. The other was a conversation I had with New Mexico Foundation for Open Government Executive Director Melanie Majors about the state Open Meetings Act and government transparency more broadly — a long-held passion of mine. 

Going forward, though, I want to know what y’all think of how I could best use this opening space in the NMiF newsletter. Do you want hard news? Analysis? Extras/behind-the-scenes stuff from a given week’s show? Poetry? Nothing at all — just links to the NMiF segments? Something else? 

Please let me know at JProctor@nmpbs.org. I welcome your feedback! 

-Jeff Proctor, Executive Producer