Tag: Vermont Public

Trouble in nonprofit paradise: Low pay, AI worries and a restive union lead to turmoil at VTDigger

The Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier. Photo (cc) 2015 by Dan Kennedy.

On Monday, Joshua Benton reported for Nieman Lab that VTDigger was the 17th-most-trafficked nonprofit news website in the U.S., with about 800,000 visits in January, the most recent month for which figures were available. That’s quite an accomplishment for a media outlet operating in a state where, as legend has it, there are more cows than people. (Not actually true.)

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On Wednesday, Digger itself reported that its current fundraising campaign was proving to be a roaring success. The headline: “Donations tripled during final days of VTDigger Spring Drive.”

But all is not well at Digger, founded in 2009 by Anne Galloway after she was laid off by the Rutland Herald. Galloway left Digger in 2022 under circumstances that have long been understood not to be entirely happy. And now Boston Globe media reporter Aidan Ryan has checked in with a detailed story (sub. req.) of turmoil at the widely admired project. “I knew we weren’t doing everything perfectly,” Galloway told Ryan, “but I had tried to do what I could.”

Continue reading “Trouble in nonprofit paradise: Low pay, AI worries and a restive union lead to turmoil at VTDigger”

Erica Heilman tells us how she captures stories of ordinary (and extraordinary) life in Vermont

Erica Heilman recording cows at Forrest Foster’s farm in Hardwick, Vt. Photo © 2023 by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur for Seven Days. Used by permission.

On the latest “What Works” podcast, Ellen Clegg and I talk with Erica Heilman, who produces a podcast called “Rumble Strip.” Heilman’s shows air monthly on Vermont Public and other NPR stations as well as the BBC. “Rumble Strip” can also be found on all the usual podcast platforms.

Her episodes range in length from a few minutes to, well, as long as they need to be! As Chelsea Edgar wrote in a profile for Seven Days of Burlington, Vermont, “She wants to make meandering, kaleidoscopic stories about the stuff of ordinary Vermont life.”

In 2020, Heilman produced a memorable pandemic miniseries, “Our Show.” It featured listener-submitted recordings of life in lockdown, and it was The Atlantic’s No. 1 podcast of the year. In November 2021 she produced “Finn and the Bell,” the textured story of a Walden teenager who died by suicide. It won a Peabody, the highest award in broadcasting.

Ellen has an update on Suki Dardarian, the retiring editor and senior vice president of The Minnesota Star Tribune. She has been named the Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year by the National Press Club.

I’ve got a Quick Take about tools for local news organizations dealing with various forms of harassment. The Institute for Nonprofit News, a leading organization for hyperlocal journalism, has put together some resources.

You can listen to our conversation here, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcast app.