What Do Cuts Mean for NPR's California Coverage?

Hi, I’m Shereen Meraji, member of SoCal’s Web Team. Before I came to KCET, I worked as a producer for National Public Radio’s Day to Day. I can remember the buzz and excitement swirling around the NPR West studios in Culver City five years ago. We were all ready to make a different NPR show, one that focused on real people not policy wonks. Day to Day’s news analysis would come from a popular online magazine and the show would sound like it came from CALIFORNIA.

Alex Chadwick was the host then, here he is talking about NPR’s commitment to West Coast news coverage:

I interviewed Ellen Weiss, NPR’s senior vice president for news, about NPR’s decision to cancel Day to Day before its sixth birthday and this is some of what she had to say:

On March 20th, two shows produced from NPR West will bid their loyal listener’s farewell: Day to Day and News and Notes. Day to Day host Madeleine Brand told me she’s worried about NPR’s coverage of the West as a result.

But, Senior Vice President for News, Ellen Weiss assured me that people concerned NPR might ignore the West, should put those fears aside:

Now it’s your turn to tell us what YOU think. Is news from California sufficiently covered by the national networks? If so tell us who is doing it best and if not, tell us how you think the networks can do it better.