Boise State Public Radio has hired Heath Druzin as a member of the inaugural cohort of Audion Fellows, who will spend two years reporting on the role of guns in American life as part of a new national “Guns and America” reporting collaborative. All 10 fellows have been hired by participating public newsrooms across the country.
Before joining Boise State Public Radio Sept. 5, Heath Druzin reported on military veterans for Stars and Stripes in Washington D.C. and in Iraq and Afghanistan, alongside U.S. and coalition troops. He covered the scandal in VA health care, the historic 2014 Afghan election, and the U.S. troop drawdown. Before becoming a war correspondent in 2008, Druzin covered politics and government for the Idaho Statesman and for newspapers in Louisiana and California.
“The Boise State Public Radio community will benefit from Heath’s deep reporting,” said Tom Michael, general manager and interim news director, “We’ll be working closely with newsrooms in Atlanta, Cleveland, Connecticut, Dallas, Kansas City, North Carolina, northern Colorado, Portland and Washington D.C.”
Supported by a $5.3 million grant from The Kendeda Fund, the Audion Fellowship will provide ongoing professional development training to participants to foster a diverse new generation of multimedia public media journalists.
“Through my reporting,” said journalist Heath Druzin, “I want people across the ideological spectrum to better understand the culture, history and future of firearms in America.”
“To fairly cover a topic as complex as guns in America, it’s essential to hear from communities that reflect the full spectrum of relationships to firearms,” said Andi McDaniel, senior director of content and news, at WAMU, the lead station for the initiative. “Guns & America will surface stories from rural and urban communities of all political shades, with a wide range of relationships to gun ownership and regulation. By participating, Boise State Public Radio will bring Idaho’s stories to a national audience.”
To learn more about the fellows and to follow their reporting, visit gunsandamerica.org.