Media in Minutes

From Belize To The Heartland: Holly Edgell On Building Trust, Crafting Stories And Leading NPR’s Midwest Newsroom

• Angela Tuell • Season 5 • Episode 25

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Start with a newsroom built from scratch in Belize. Add decades across TV, digital, teaching and public media. Now meet the throughline: a fierce commitment to service, collaboration and stories that help people live better where they are. Managing editor Holly Edgell of NPR’s Midwest Newsroom joins us to talk about leading a dispersed regional team covering Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska—and why the “slow cooker” approach to reporting still wins trust.

We dive into the craft behind collaborative journalism: coaching local station reporters on deeper stories, co-publishing across platforms and turning embargoed research into reporting that tests assumptions and centers real people. Holly shares standout coverage on housing—affordability, safety, climate resilience and insurance gaps—along with explainers on rural access and labor that move beyond headlines to accountability. She also pulls back the curtain on her day-to-day: Zooms across four states, careful editing pipelines and the art of translating regional reporting into digital, radio and social formats that reach audiences where they actually are.

The conversation also tackles the hard part: funding instability, audience fragmentation and how public media can adapt without losing its soul. Holly makes a compelling case for understanding who’s listening and reading, not just what’s produced; for convening civil, community-based conversations across widening cultural divides; and for building partnerships that amplify impact. For PR pros, she offers a playbook on pitches that land—specific, data-driven, aligned with coverage—and the red flags that guarantee a pass.

We close with what keeps her grounded: puzzles, travel, creative writing and narrative podcasts like Criminal that prove spare, human storytelling still cuts through the noise. If you care about local news that serves, regional reporting that collaborates and journalism that earns trust, you’ll want to listen.

 Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who loves public radio, and leave a review to help more listeners find thoughtful conversations like this one.

Enjoy the conversation? Follow Holly on LinkedIn and subscribe to her Substack.

Belize Prize for Investigative Journalism
Celebrating and elevating investigative reporting in Belize. Co-founded by Holly, the prize recognizes journalists whose work drives accountability and strengthens democracy.

Playing in the Light by Zoë Wicomb
A powerful novel exploring racial passing and identity in South Africa—one of the books that recently inspired Holly.

Midwest Newsroom – NPR Regional Hub
Explore in-depth reporting from across Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, including stories edited and produced by Holly.

Angela:

Welcome to Media in Minutes. This is your host, Angela Tuell. This podcast features in-depth interviews with those who report on the world around us. They share everything from their favorite stories to what happened behind the lens and give us a glimpse into their world. From our studio here at Communications Redefined, this is Media in Minutes. Today we're talking with Holly Edgell, managing editor at the Midwest Newsroom, part of NPR's network of regional hubs, where she helps lead reporting across Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Holly is a veteran journalist whose career spans more than 20 years and covers all platforms: print, digital, radio, television, and even teaching journalism at the college level. Throughout her career, she's worn many hats from newsroom leader to project manager for grant-funded public media reporting to digital media director and even communications officer for cultural institutions. She's worked on wide-ranging beat areas such as race and identity, health and education reporting, and regional investigative journalism. And her assignments have taken her from the U.S. Heartland to Belize and beyond. Hello, Holly. How are you? I'm well. How are you, Angela? Great. Thanks so much for talking with us today. I know you've been working in journalism since 1991, when you were about one year old, right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly.

Angela:

That's more than three decades. So, what first drew you to this field? And tell us a little bit about, you know, your early experiences, like being the first news director at Great Belize Television.

Speaker 2:

Sure. Well, I think it's hard to say. I wasn't that person who always knew I wanted to be a journalist. I think I always wanted to do something with words. I started writing a diary really early. I took a crack at um high school media, high school newspapers, although that didn't last very long. Um and I, as I was getting toward college, I was sort of like, well, gotta pick something. And so I decided to go and with journalism since I thought, well, I know how to write. I always felt really good about my writing skills, and this is a way to do that as a career. And so I got into my undergraduate degree in journalism at Michigan State. And um, yeah, and I um I was born in Belize. Um, my mom was from Belize and my dad was American from Michigan. And so uh they were living in Belize when I graduated, and I was that student who really didn't plan very well for postgraduation. I had uh one internship, I really didn't like spend a lot of time looking. It was also the early 90s, and there was a bit of a dip in the job market, especially in journalism. And so I I really didn't have a plan. So I just went back to Belize and I was 21 years old, and um I was one of the few people around at the time who had a degree in journalism. And so um I was hired to be the first news director at uh News Five, which um was kind of crazy because I didn't have any television experience. Wow. I didn't have any, I didn't have any management experience. I didn't really know what I was doing. But um, but basically at that time uh television news was in its infancy in Belize, and so um I'm really proud of the fact that I played a role in in bringing it to people who were used to getting their news mostly from the radio and newspapers. And so I was able to hire a staff, um, and we built a half an hour newscast, and that newscast exists to this day. They even have the same theme song that we worked on. Yeah. Um, and so it was uh something I'm really proud of. But again, sort of um all of it was sort of accidental because I didn't have a plan, but it worked out really well in the end.

Speaker:

That is wonderful, and Belize is a beautiful place to live, so I'm sure it was a nice time.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Angela:

So over the years, you've worked across many platforms, as you mentioned, television, radio, print, digital, even teaching. Could you briefly walk us through your career journey from that time in Belize um to your current position?

Speaker 2:

Sure. Well, I think that as I got into my career, um I e I eventually after uh I left Belize and came back to the US and went to grad school. Okay. And through that experience, I was at Kent State, through that experience, I realized I did do some sort of internships and I had access to a lot of people who were really, you know, working in leadership positions in news media. And I decided I did want to go into eventually into management. And so um I went ahead and got on the producing track in television news, which is often a track toward um management in television news. And I really worked that track for quite a while in different markets, and then um I really felt uh at one point that I was a little burned out, to be frank. And so TV. That's what I yeah, it really does. And to this day, to this day it's happening. Um, and I wanted to kind of I didn't feel like I was um doing much public service. I I felt like the piece of journalism that I wanted to do was really about public service, and um so I decided an opportunity came along to teach, and I had my master's, and so that's when I went to Florida AM University in Tallahassee, okay, which was great. I was there for four years. Um, I went into went to Missouri after that, the Missouri School of Journalism for four years. And that was both of those times really reaffirmed my belief in journalism and my decision to to stay in journalism. And from there on out, I think my decision making has been around for new jobs, has been will I learn something? Can I grow? Will I be giving back? And those would be sort of the guiding principles of my journey since then.

Angela:

Yes. And so then how did you make it to your current role?

Speaker 2:

Well, um, I continued uh eventually in TV news, but what I did was I went over to the digital side. So I was uh digital director, um, overseeing social media strategy and digital content strategy. And again, I got to that point where I was like, you know, time for a reset. What is happening? What am I doing? Also, I was tired of moving around and not being around my family. My family was all here in St. Louis, including my parents. And so um I quit my job. I was in Cleveland and I quit my job and I came back to St. Louis f without a job. And I was like, well, I will just find a job. It may not be in journalism, but what's most important is, you know, feeling like I'm doing something useful and being around my family. And this job, um, in 2017, a job at St. Louis Public Radio came up. Um, it was it did not require radio experience. They said they would train me on radio. Wow, it did require, yeah, isn't that amazing? Yes. And I've always been a public media listener, but I never thought I would be considered because I didn't have the radio background. But um, yeah, I got that job. And that was my entree into public media in 2017, and um the idea of being in a space which is not perfect, but which is thoughtful, is um slow cooker of content, if you will. We we don't often rush into um into the work, uh at least the areas that I've been working in. And so I did learn radio, and I still, even as a manager from time to time, I'll do a story so that I can keep my hand in in the radio part of things. And so um that's really how I landed here.

Angela:

Wow. So, what does your kind of day-to-day look like in your current role?

Speaker 2:

So my day-to-day is different every day. Um, I I work from home about two days a week and work in the office about three days a week, which is uh I love. My team is dispersed around four states, and so um we I don't have anybody that I work directly with in the newsroom. I get to work in the St. Louis Public Radio newsroom, which is awesome, which is where I started. Um, because St. Louis, yeah, isn't that crazy? Because St. Louis, St. Louis Public Radio is one of the partners of the Midwest Newsroom, and so um they're happy to offer me an office space here. So um I have a lot of Zooms because my team is dispersed. Um, like today we're having a weekly team meeting on Zoom at 11 after I talk to you. Um we use Slack a lot. Um, a lot of what we do, what I do is make sure that the stories that we are producing are moving through the production process. I have other editors who work with me on that. So this past couple of weeks we've had several stories working through at the same time. So it's about communicating with our partners about what's coming, um, explaining what we have, what the story is. Um, I do um meet with the executive leaders of this this collaboration, which are the general managers around the region, as well as some people with from NPR on a regular basis. Okay. I I'm working always to sort of have one-on-ones with my people so that that I can understand what what they're experiencing and what they're doing. But I wouldn't say that there is a really typical day. Right.

Angela:

Which is which is typical for journalism. That's a typical day. For those who are not super familiar with Midwest Newsroom, can you explain to us a little bit about how so your team does stories uh covering those states and then the local NPR stations use them? Is that how it works?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's that's a that's a very good description. I think that we also do a lot, like for example, from between Friday and today and tomorrow, we have three stories, and each of them are done in a slightly different way. Friday we worked with a member station reporter who pitched us a story about Medicare, and we worked with her for the past month on it. She is not an investigative journalist, but she was really interested in working with us to do something in-depth on Medicare. And so that's one model of what we do. We we work with pitches from our member stations and new from reporters. We clear it with their bosses so that they're okay using us and taking the time. And then we coach and edit and sort of project manage them through a radio story that comes with a digital component as well. So that's one model. Another model is the story we had yesterday was, and oh, that was a regional story. So that was for all four states, and actually NPR picked it up as well. So that was one model. Another model is we have a reporting fellowship, and our news reporting fellow she pitched a story just for St. Louis. And so we worked on that with her. She was on our team directly. That aired and was published on St. Louis Public Radio yesterday. That was just a St. Louis story. And then today we have a Nebraska-only story that is um was uh sort of conceived in con in partnership with Nebraska Public Media that our own investigative reporter did. And so um, and out of that, we also have two Instagram uh stories that we're creating as well with video and audio. So those are some different ways that we do it. Sometimes our own reporters on our team have co-reported on the same story with another station reporter, and we've even collaborated outside of our own partnership with the Marshall Project with one of their reporters as well.

Angela:

Okay. Wow, I love the collaboration. That's fantastic. Yeah, it's so you've you've led and contributed to um a variety of and mission-driven projects, I should say, as you kind of mentioned, from race and identity coverage to public health grants, even cultural media work. What have been some of your most memorable stories or projects?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know, interestingly, I have done a couple of stories that have nothing to do with investigative news, but I just wanted to do them because I thought they would be interesting for the audience. And I because I don't have a lot of time to report, they took me a long time. But um, but I I I like stories that that feed my own curiosity. And I'd done a couple of stories here in St. Louis where I've seen something and said, huh, I wonder what that's all about. And and one was about a huge mausoleum that was built by a local family that remains um clouded in mystery. And so I went down that rabbit hole to find out what was going on there for an audio story as well as a digital story. That was one of my favorites, and that still is one of the only stories that's been written about this issue, and so it comes up a lot in conversation when I meet people. Um but I'm also really proud of stories that I've done in this job and previous jobs that that really center where we live. So literally the roof over our heads. It's so hard to afford housing for many people, safe housing, housing that's climate resilient, housing that's in a location where families can thrive. And so I've really done a lot of work around um where we live and housing. And recently I did, because I'm here in St. Louis, I did a couple of stories about a family whose house was devastated by a tornado in May of this year. And they ultimately had to dump demo their whole house because of lack of insurance, which is another problem that faces a lot of Americans. And so I think, yeah, I think I'm really drawn to stories about housing and home and where we live, as well as things that kind of answer my own curiosity because I figure if I don't know, if I'm curious, I bet other people are curious.

Angela:

Yes, I'm sure that is true. So public media, especially regional hubs like yours, have been undergoing a lot of change recently. What are some of the biggest shifts you've seen and you know, how do you adapt to them?

Speaker 2:

Sure. Well, it's interesting to come to this part of the media from other platforms at this time because even though other platforms are struggling, um, newspaper and television was much faster to shift to thinking about digital and social media. Um, they're much earlier, and probably newspapers most of all, to realize we have to at least think about how we're reaching people in a more on-demand kind of way, not so much wait for the paper to arrive, or not so much wait for the news to come on. Or, you know, the fact that, you know, more and more people have a different definition of news and what it is and where they find it. And so I think that um in my current job, one of the things I'm working on right now is to better understand the audience that we have, which is really the audience of our partners. Like, who are they, where are they? Are we are we producing news that they're even consuming? If we're writing and uh recording stories about uh postal service in rural areas, that's all very well. But are people in rural areas listening or reading? You know, so these are some of the challenges of our time. And, you know, there's a lot of new, as you know, startup digital first, digital-only platforms out there that are I I think that's a great trend. And they're also still sometimes very niche, you know, like you know, the state's newsroom, for example, does a great job of covering state capitals um around the country, and their audience may be very already very engaged and interested in government news, but are they reaching people who are just sort of casual news consumers and making the case that, hey, we need this is important, you know, for you and it's engaging. I don't know the answer to that. And it's the same question for us. Um the public media audience has been a very traditionally homogeneous, uh, slow-moving, older audience. Um, so to survive, we can't just bank on that. You know, we shouldn't. And the world has changed a great deal, and I think all of journalism has been slow to respond in in their own ways and different ways. And we've seen that in sort of um closures, layoffs, um, shrinking of newsrooms, you know, so all these things are also happening within public media. And also we're in a moment where the very survival of some smaller stations, for example, um, is in doubt because of the funding that was uh taken back. Um, some bigger stations, that funding represented a very, very small portion of their budget. And so they've been able to make it up, at least for this year. We don't know about the future. So it's a very um, you know, and a lot of um the um patchwork of funding relies on grants. So for the Midwest newsroom relies largely on a particular grant, but the grant has a shelf life, it ends, right? So how do we sustain ourselves? So these are some of the um the issues that I think about and grapple with.

Angela:

Yes, I think it's a very sad, scary time for public media um in general. For sure. Yeah, for sure. Much of our audience are PR professionals, so I'm I'm curious what makes a pitch stand out to you? And are there any red flags um that you see from PR pros?

Speaker 2:

Sure. I love a pitch that shows me that the person writing knows exactly what my team does or has an idea what my team does and how their pitch fits into that. It's um it's it's frustrating to get sort of blanket pitches from people who they may say, oh, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and send a pitch that yes, it does affect those folks, but it's not what we cover. It's not what my team does. Um, and so I think that that is that is a red flag to me that um people who are pitching are not, they maybe found my name on a list, you know, that they have, and they just saw where I'm located and they just pitched off of that. So to me, I I've I've actually done stories off of pitches, especially when people really look at our um that start with pitches at least, look at our our content and say, oh, they do a lot about housing, or they do have done some stories about union lay labor, the labor movement, or I see they're doing stuff around um, you know, um reproductive care and health access, and then build on that. And I know that's time consuming, um, but I think that that is really what catches my attention. And also, um, I love to get a data point, or um, you know, we have this data that from this new report, or we have this research that our client has done, and it shows this, it's really in line with with. You know, the work that you've done. Or um, I've seen you've done this. Have you thought about this? Um in fact, this the story we did yesterday about something called guaranteed basic income in uh St. Louis started when a reporter sort of got a tip from a local university about um research that they were doing, and she was able to work with them and their embargo so that we got the information on an embargo basis and had a story ready to go when they announced their research. And that allows, you know, my team to like go beyond the numbers and meet actual people who are affected, test the assumptions of the research and the data, um, provide context. And so we love that. And so that's kind of my like, yes, I love this pitch.

Angela:

Great, that's some really great insight. I also wanted to ask you about, you know, as a journalist who's worked internationally and across US regions, are there any global journalism practices or lessons from abroad that you wish were common in American newsrooms?

Speaker 2:

You know, it's hard to say. And and as flawed as uh, you know, our you know journalism system is or as as complicated, I think it's almost the other way around. I think that the, even though the US um US journalists have felt under pressure, uh, especially in recent years, and under somewhat of attack, in general, our persons and our homes are safe. In general, we don't um fear that we'll disappear in the night. And I think that that is very rife in a lot of many, many parts of the world. You know, just doing journalism or just a source talking to you puts your source in jeopardy and you. You know, these are things that are that a journalist face every day. And if you think it takes courage to be a journalist in the US, try Mexico, try parts of Africa, try Russia. You know, so I think that um, you know, but it's not in the interests of many governments or many societies really to enshrine that kind of protection um for journalists. So I would wish that people in countries would realize how important their journalists are and that they are their lives are in jeopardy many times, and they're doing work against the odds. And you know, we journalists here complain about not getting paid enough. Let me tell you, journalists in Belize, for example, where I do consulting and training, they earn a pittance and they work really long hours and they do multiple jobs, and they are um not under attack physically in terms of their safety, but their families can be um suffer retribution, like you know, getting fired from a job or not getting an opportunity. Um and so I think that um those are the kinds of things that I think a lot about, and a lot of my my training in Belize is around how to create ethical standards and business practices, professional practices for journalists that they can live and uphold, because um that's not even though Belize is it was a was a colony of Great Britain, and there are a lot of protections baked into the constitution um of Belize, which is great. Like there's a freedom of information, there's a lot of things that are great that other countries don't have, the sense of journalism as a hallowed and important profession in the way it is in the United States, um, is not there. And so, you know, that's something that I I try to advocate for. And I actually helped co-founded the um Belize Prize for Investigative Journalism. And yeah, and we use that um, we have a ceremony every year, and we use that to kind of celebrate journalism in Belize and celebrate journalists because it's not something that society has done. And I'm really excited when I see a room full of people who come to those ceremonies who are not journalists, especially those from government, from nonprofits, from other professions, to say, yeah, these people, this is what they do, and we take it for granted. You know, so that's kind of my perspective on the difference between doing journalism in the US and overseas.

Angela:

Oh, what fantastic work. We will definitely include a link to that as well. I I do I do see what really worries me is the negativity towards journalists, even more so you know, in the US now than it used to be, which I know as a journalist is is very hard to handle as well. Yeah. Yeah. What are some stories that you think are still undercovered or especially urgent in in the US or you know in the Midwest region?

Speaker 2:

Sure. I I'll I'll go back to housing. I think I think we could take any given state, for example, and do like take there's so many issues facing housing, but uh facing people regarding housing, but like look at them in depth over the course of a year and you know really unpack what's happening here, the forces that are mitigating against people being able to afford a home. And and it's not just people on the lower set end of the income, right? It's it's like uh someone who considers themselves making a middle class income, they can't afford to get the house they need either. Um, and so it I think that I would love to keep doing stories about real people that also empower with solutions and accountability. You know, our lawmakers keep saying they're going to help solve this problem. It hasn't happened. Why? Right? So I continue to want to delve into that. And I and I do think I'm also this is kind of squishier, but I also think about the notion of this great divide that we have, many divides in our country now over things that we used to pretty much have consensus around. And I think these are cultural values, social values, um, sense of right and wrong. Um we we've we've really fractured and it happened really fast. I'm sure it was it was probably building, but it then it seemed to suddenly happen even faster. And I think this is an opportunity for news organizations to sort of partner with community organizations and people who really think about this and convene conversations, not just cover it, but like who else is doing that? You know, who else that you can rely on in your community to convene a fair conversation around that, those those divides? I think those are areas that I continue to want to work in.

Angela:

Yes, that's why um NPR and public media is is so is so vitally needed in our communities. So when when you're not on deadline or managing staff, what keeps you grounded? What hobbies or personal rituals help you stay balanced in such a demanding career?

Speaker 2:

Sure. Well, I decided a while ago that even if the world is in chaos, it's it's a good time to be a journalist because I I can play a role in helping people sort through the chaos. So that's my sort of um baseline. I'm kind of a homebody and I I love things like crossroad puzzles. Those are always going to center me and calm me down. I do the New York Times spelling bee in the morning as the stars of my day. I enjoy walking, um, I enjoy travel. I get to travel to Lincoln, Des Moines, Kansas City uh quite a bit, and I'm always refreshed by that. And then I also do my own traveling. I'm a creative writer and I've had a few short stories published, which is sort of all yeah, which are mostly about bellies. And so that's an outlet that just takes me completely out of my work environment. All of these things kind of help me keep a sense of like, you know what, there's certain things I can't control. There are certain things that I don't know the answer to. Yeah, and I like to say and instead of but. And I I'm in a profession where I can play a role, however small, in helping people understand issues, sort through issues, talk about issues, and also um, you know, at the end of the day, I have my own life that you know I find value and pleasure in.

Angela:

Yeah. What more could you ask for, right? That's true. Very true. Yeah. Before we go, I'd love to know what book or podcast or article has inspired you most recently, whether it's you know for work or personal.

Speaker 2:

Sure. Well, my personal reading habits lately are all about sort of and podcast listening are are about crime. So I really I like to listen to a podcast called Criminal, um, which is it it takes the term criminal in a very broad sense, and it looks at everything from people who are considered criminals in history but were fighting for something good, as well as people who really were criminals and are criminals. And it's just a really great simple um podcast that I find also very soothing because it's not like the nitty-gritty um sort of purient details. It's just great storytelling. So that always I look forward to that every week. That's like a Thursday-Friday podcast. Okay. Um in my work, you know, um, I really I like to read. Well, I know this is kind of uh uh workslash personal, but there's a substack um and it's about what it's something titled is What to do instead of doom scrolling this week. And it's a um great list of um cultural arts, fun, entertainment reading tips. Okay. And I love it because it's like, yes, what to do instead of doom scrolling. Please tell me more. And that's a sub stack that I um I read, and I I do like to read a lot of fiction. Um lately I well, in a couple years ago I got to go to South Africa for the first time. Oh wow and I I just I was always obsessed with South Africa, and I'm so glad I went. And I recently discovered an author there um named Zoe Wickham who passed away sadly, and I read her one of her books, which is called Playing in the Light. Um, and uh, or rather I listened to it on audiobook because I was driving a lot. And it's about basically the phenomenon that's also familiar in the US, which is racial passing, you know, people who are people of color who pass for white. And um, this is an issue that's really fascinating to me because of just my own racial background and mixture and um the way that people survive, you know, and and it was very inspiring in some ways. I'll let people discover and read it um to um to find out why I thought so.

Angela:

Yeah, we'll definitely have to add that to the list too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Angela:

Thank you so much, Hallie. How can our listeners follow your work or get in touch online?

Speaker 2:

Sure. So if you just sort of type in the Midwest Newsroom on any search engine, you'll find our landing page that has all of our stories. It has our bios. Um, and in my bio is my email address. I'm also uh on social media, LinkedIn, Facebook and X under just my name, no fancy cute names. So if you're looking for me, HollyEdgel LinkedIn, Holly Agile Facebook, you'll find me. Um, and I also have a Substack, um, which is basically Substack HollyEgile. No, Hollyworld. It's called Hollyworld on Substack. And so I'm looking, I'm trying to build up my followers and my subscribers. Um, and that's where I write more personal essays and reflections about um about just life in general. And so those are some of the places where people can find me.

Angela:

Great. We will have links to those in our show notes. Thank you so much, Holly. Thank you. It's really fun.

Speaker 2:

I loved your really great question, so thank you.

Angela:

That's all for this episode of Media and Minutes, a podcast by Communications Redefined. Take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe to our show. We'd love to hear what you think. You can find more at Communications Redefined dot com Slash Podcast. I'm your host, Angela Tuell. Talk to you next time.