Radio Television Digital News Association, Missouri Broadcasters Association recognize Editor Kellie Kotraba

Columbia, Mo., April 30, 2013— Mid-Missouri’s leading source for comprehensive faith news coverage — Columbia Faith & Values (ColumbiaFAVS.com) — was recently honored twice for an audio report about a Joplin, Mo., mosque that burned. The report was aired through ColumbiaFAVS’ local partner, NPR affiliate KBIA 91.3 FM.

Editor Kellie Kotraba won the Radio Television Digital News Association’s 2013 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards in the “Reporting: Hard News” category for region five’s small market radio entries. The regional awards, which according to RTDNA’s website “recognize work of the highest quality produced by radio, television and online news organizations around the world,” honor local newsrooms. Recipients of the RTDNA’s regional awards are automatically entered in the national Edward R. Murrow Awards, the winners of which will be announced on Columbus Day this fall in New York City.

The same audio report was also announced last week as a finalist in the Missouri Broadcasters Association Awards for the feature reporting category. Winners of the MBA Awards will be announced June 1 during an awards banquet at the association’s annual convention.

Kotraba’s report details the interfaith support a Joplin, Mo., mosque received after it suffered a devastating fire. Though the FBI hadn’t officially determined the cause of the fire at the time of the story, community members suspected the burn was the result of anti-Islamic sentiments. In response, churches rallied around the mosque and its members to help raise money to rebuild the structure. Sojourners, a national Christian social justice organization, even purchased a billboard in the area to show its support. It read: “Love your Muslim neighbors.”

Columbia Faith and Values (ColumbiaFAVS.com) is one of five FAVS nonprofit news sites across the country that report exclusively on beliefs and ethics news within a single community. The Columbia site partners locally with the area’s NPR affiliate KBIA-91.3 FM, where Kotraba mans the religion desk, and the Columbia Missourian. Its national partner is the award-winning Religion News Service.

ColumbiaFAVS.com is made possible through a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment.

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CONTACT:
Tiffany McCallen
National Community Manager
Faith & Values, Religion News LLC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 12, 2012
Contact: Tiffany McCallen
TiffanyMcCallen@ReligionNews.com

(Hartford, Conn.) — The recent launch of HartfordFAVS.com marks the fifth faith and values (FĀVS) community news site for Religion News LLC, the parent company of Religion News Service. The Connecticut-based site is a unique combination of professional and community-driven, daily content that covers all faiths, values and ethics through stories, blogs, panel questions, multimedia storytelling, social media forums and more.

Hartford Courant alum and award-winning reporter Ann Marie Somma manages the site.

“I’m very excited about the launch of Hartford Faith and Values and the opportunity to share stories and viewpoints of the Hartford religious community,” Somma said.

In addition to engaging religion reports and dialogue, HartfordFAVS.com also provide tools to help community members explore beliefs within and outside their traditions, including:

• A faith-based directory of houses of worship, businesses, organizations & educational institutions
• A calendar of community events and religious holidays
• Press release listings
• Obituary notices

The site takes over the former Creedible.com website, the first faith hyperlocal website in Connecticut, created by the current editor of SpokaneFAVS.com, Tracy Simmons. Content from Creedible, as well as some of its contributors, is part of Hartford Faith and Values.

HartfordFAVS.com was developed by Religion News LLC in an initiative to create local religion news sites in the U.S. where faith coverage is underreported or could be expanded. Its partners are the national Religion News Service, SpokaneFAVS.com (Wash.), WilmingtonFAVS.com (N.C.) ColumbiaFAVS.com (Mo.) and ToledoFAVS.com (Ohio).

RNLLC and RNS are headquartered at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. The community news sites are part of a $3.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 4, 2012
Contact: Tiffany McCallen
TiffanyMcCallen@ReligionNews.com

(Toledo, Ohio) — Religion News LLC this week launched its fourth faith and values (FAVS) community news site — ToledoFAVS.com. The site is a unique combination of professional and community-driven, daily content that covers all faiths, values and ethics through stories, blogs, panel questions, multimedia storytelling, social media forums and more.

Managing the site is veteran religion editor and award-winning reporter David Yonke, formerly with The Toledo Blade.

“I have been working for daily newspapers for more than three decades, including the last 12 as religion editor for The Toledo Blade, and am excited to be making the transition to a web-based news site with ToledoFAVS.com,” Yonke said. “I share the vision of the Religion News Service and everyone involved in establishing FAVS sites around the nation that these informative, user-friendly and interactive websites will help people keep abreast of all matters pertaining to Faith & Values in their local community”

In addition to engaging religion reports and dialogue, ToledoFAVS.com also provide tools to help community members explore beliefs within and outside their traditions, including:

• A faith-based directory of houses of worship, businesses, organizations & educational institutions
• A calendar of community events and religious holidays
• Press release listings
• Obituary notices

ToledoFAVS.com is the latest news site from Religion News LLC, the parent company of Religion News Service, to create local religion news sites in the U.S. where faith coverage is underreported or could be expanded. Its partners are the national Religion News Service, SpokaneFAVS.com, WilmingtonFAVS.com and ColumbiaFAVS.com.

RNLLC and RNS are headquartered at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. The community news sites are part of a $3.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 9, 2012

Contact: Tiffany McCallen
TiffanyMcCallen@ReligionNews.com

(Columbia, Mo.) — ColumbiaFAVS.com, a community online news publication that covers faith and values news for Columbia and mid-Missouri, is officially open for business.

In the two weeks since the URL went live, Editor Kellie Kotraba has already tackled stories on Missouri’s recently passed “Right to Pray” Amendment 2, Westboro Baptist Church’s protest of local soldier’s funeral, the Chick-fil-A gay marriage controversy, local reaction to the Sikh temple shootings, Ramadan, area Vacation Bible Schools and more.

In addition to engaging religion reports and dialogue, ColumbiaFAVS also provide tools to help community members explore beliefs within and outside their traditions, including:

• A faith-based directory of houses of worship, businesses, organizations & educational institutions
• A calendar of community events and religious holidays
• Press release listings
• Obituary notices

ColumbiaFAVS.com is the third website in a three-year initiative of Religion News LLC, the parent company of Religion News Service, to create local religion news sites in the U.S. where faith coverage is underreported or could be expanded. The sites cover beliefs, ethics and ideas from a non-sectarian viewpoint and feature daily news and opinion content from professional and citizen journalists. Its partners are the national Religion News Service, SpokaneFAVS.com, WilmingtonFAVS.com and local NPR station KBIA-91.3 FM.

RNLLC and RNS are headquartered at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. The community news sites are part of a $3.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.

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July 25, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tiffany McCallen
TiffanyMcCallen@ReligionNews.com

(Columbia, Mo.) — When ColumbiaFAVS.com launches this month—the third community religion news site from nonprofit Religion News LLC—fans of faith and values news will find well-crafted religion news coverage. They’ll also regularly hear professional, radio-style news stories, thanks to a new partnership with local NPR affiliate KBIA 91.3 FM.

The partnership is the brainchild of RNLLC President Debra L. Mason and KBIA News Director Janet Saidi, who have both played roles in similar agreements with other media outlets. ColumbiaFAVS Editor Kellie Kotraba will oversee the weekly audio briefs and longer features that will be on both KBIA and the local ColumbiaFAVS.com.

“Stories about faith and values in our culture are some of the most important stories playing out in our communities, and I think public radio is the perfect venue for those stories, and to nurture the connections and conversations between the faith community and the media,” said Saidi. “So we’re really excited about the FAVS desk at KBIA and the reporting that Kellie Kotraba has already begun to produce for our listeners.”

In addition to audio reports from its KBIA partnership, ColumbiaFAVS.com will include coverage from citizen journalists, the site’s main partner, the nationally-recognized and award-winning Religion News Service, and the project’s sister websites: SpokaneFAVS.com, WilmingtonFAVS.com, ToledoFAVS.com (launching August 2012) and HartfordFAVS.com (launching August 2012).

ColumbiaFAVS.com is slated to launch by Aug. 1. Previews of Kotraba’s audio reports are available at KBIA.org.  Kotraba graduated in May with a master’s degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

About ColumbiaFAVS.com

ColumbiaFAVS (Faith And ValueS) is the third website in a three-year initiative of Religion News LLC, the parent company of Religion News Service, to create local religion news sites in the U.S. where faith coverage is underreported or could be expanded. The sites cover beliefs, ethics and ideas from a non-sectarian viewpoint and feature daily news and opinion content from professional and citizen journalists. RNLLC and RNS are headquartered at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. The community news sites are part of a $3.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.

About KBIA, 91.3 FM

KBIA is a University of Missouri-licensed public radio station broadcasting out of Columbia, Mo. KBIA has been a National Public Radio member station since joining the mid-Missouri airwaves on May 1, 1972, and also carries programming from Public Radio International, American Public Media and other national and local sources.

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CONTACT
Tiffany McCallen
Tiffany.McCallen@ReligionNews.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 18, 2012

Columbia, Mo. — Faith and values coverage in Mid Missouri is about to get a boost. This July, Religion News LLC, the parent company of Religion News Service, will launch ColumbiaFAVS.com, a community website dedicated to religion and ethics news. Serving as editor of the site is University of Missouri graduate Kellie Kotraba.

Kellie Kotraba

“Being the editor and community manager of ColumbiaFAVS seems like the perfect way to start my professional life,” Kotraba said.  “I love learning about what people believe and how that shapes what they do, and I’m excited to discover stories waiting to be told in different religious communities. Beyond that, I’m eager to engage with the community to spark thoughtful conversation about faith and values in Columbia.”

Kotraba holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Concordia University Irvine and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. She has reported for the Columbia Missourian, KBIA 91.3 FM (the NPR affiliate for Mid-Missouri), the Concordia Courier and The (Irvine, Calif.) Beat. Her master’s thesis examined how community newspapers frame religion, specifically online coverage.

ColumbiaFAVS (Faith And ValueS) is the third website in a three-year initiative to create local religion news sites in the U.S. where faith coverage is underreported or could be expanded. The sites — which began with SpokaneFAVS.com and WilmingtonFAVS.com — cover beliefs, ethics and ideas from a non-sectarian viewpoint and feature daily news and opinion content from professional and citizen journalists.

In addition to engaging religion reports and dialogue, the sites also provide tools to help community members explore beliefs within and outside their traditions, including:

• A faith-based directory of houses of worship, businesses, organizations & educational institutions
• A calendar of community events and religious holidays
• Press release listings
• Obituary notices

ColumbiaFAVS.com will partner with several local and national organizations to provide in-depth, diverse faith coverage. They include KBIA 91.3 FM, Religion News Service, regional FAVS sites and others.

Kotraba’s position began June 4. Her site, ColumbiaFAVS.com, is slated to launch mid-July.

Religion News LLC and Religion News Service are headquartered at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. The community news sites are part of a $3.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.

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Nonprofit niche news company hosted by MU School of Journalism

COLUMBIA, Mo. ­— In recent years, many newspapers have been forced to eliminate religion beat writer positions due to budget cuts, leaving religion news largely uncovered throughout many parts of the country. Now, the Religion News Service (RNS), which is headquartered at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, has launched a network of websites to cover national and local religion news thoroughly.

“The elimination of the religion beat at many media outlets presents a need for entrepreneurial journalists to fill,” said Debra Mason, a professor of journalism studies at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and director of the Center on Religion and the Professions. “Many meaningful faith and values stories are waiting to be told, which creates great opportunities for these niche religion website startups.”

Religion News Service is a wire service that recently converted from a for-profit to a nonprofit news outlet. In January, RNS relaunched its site, making all its content directly available to the public for the first time in its 78 year history. The main RNS website, www.religionnews.com, incorporates religion news and blogs from experts on different religious topics.

RNS is the national showcase that now connects to new locally based religion news sites, or Faith And ValueS (FAVS) sites located around the country. Mason, who is also the executive director of the Religion Newswriters Association, says these local news sites will be an important resource for communities.

“Religious beliefs motivate people in key aspects of their lives, yet media outlets in most small and mid-sized markets have abandoned coverage of religion,” Mason said. “We seek to seed communities with knowledgeable religion journalists, showcase RNS’ terrific coverage, and build on existing social networks to create a robust and economically viable model for local religion news.”

Currently, there are two FAVS sites located in Spokane, Wash., and Wilmington, N.C., that are operating. Religion News will launch a third site this summer located in Columbia and plans to launch more than a dozen sites around the country in the next few years. FAV site managers are chosen through an application process. These FAVS sites are already partnering with local media outlets, including newspapers and radio news stations, to provide a source for reliable local religion news and information, as well as an outlet for civil discourse within each community.

The local sites and expansion of Religion News Service is funded by a three-year grant totaling nearly $3.5 million from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded last year. Since 1937, the Lilly Endowment, a private philanthropic foundation based in Indianapolis, has focused its funding in the areas of community development, education and religion.

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CONTACT:
Debra Mason
573-882-9257