Broadcast journalism is classified as essential work during the pandemic. Over the course of his KCAW Fellowship, Ari Snider gained skills in field reporting and remote broadcasting that could serve him in a career anywhere in the world. (Berett Wilber photo)
Through all the Pomp and Circumstance we’re seeing (online!) this time of year, there is one graduation we did not want you to miss: Ari Snider this month completed the 2019-20 KCAW Post-Graduate Fellowship in Community Journalism.
Ari took the “winter fellowship” to a new level over the nine months he worked with Raven News. He established connections in all seven of Raven Radio’s remote listening communities, tracked down his own grant funding to travel to some, and even jumped on a fishing boat or two — all in the name of delivering news about transportation issues threatening the survival of many Southeast Communities.
Where will Ari go next? Having completed an internship at KFSK-Petersburg, and now the KCAW fellowship (while bagging three prestigious Alaska Press Club Awards along the way), Ari is qualified to work… anywhere. Prior to the onset of the covid pandemic, Ari won a 2020 Field Reporting Award from the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources, for a proposal in Kake called “Restoring Keex’ Kwaan: Indigenous Land Management for the 21st Century.” While that project may be postponed, Ari’s nevertheless talked about having a summer off to enjoy Southeast Alaska, and who can blame him? Go forth and kayak, hike, camp, and fish! Thank you for your dedication to community radio, Ari, over what has been a difficult and unusually-long winter!
