"“What's interesting to me is less the volume than what the audience came looking for,” Michael Olson, deputy digital managing editor at MPR, told me in an email. “They weren't chasing breaking alerts.” He continued: They were looking for context and wondering what is true and trustworthy in a highly charged environment flooded with disinformation. Stories that explained or contextualized stood out and earned the time of our audience."
"He continued: “They were looking for context and wondering what is true and trustworthy in a highly charged environment flooded with disinformation. Stories that explained or contextualized stood out and earned the time of our audience. We also saw high social shares from our followers, who appeared motivated to help their friends and family understand what was happening in Minnesota.”"
"“They wanted the people they care about to get the information from a credible source that provides full access freely available without a paywall.” The top-performing single story from that period was about a police chief in the small town of St. Peter getting federal agents to release a resident they'd taken into custody, Olson told me."
"Donations also picked up tremendously during this period: according to Jeff Moores, MPR's director of membership, the station pulled in 25,000 new members and counting in fiscal year 2026, up from 14,000 in FY25 and 8,000 in FY24. That's the most new members MPR has ever gained in a single year, driven by both the station's coverage of ICE and by cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; 4,000 new members signed up in December and January alone."
MPR ranked highest among public media websites for traffic related to ICE coverage in late 2025, and that pattern continued into early 2026. Visits rose by about 7 million from December to January, with growth linked largely to coverage after federal agents killed Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Audience behavior showed people sought context and trustworthy information rather than breaking alerts. Stories that explained events and addressed disinformation performed best, and social sharing increased as followers helped friends and family understand what was happening in Minnesota. Donations also surged, with MPR gaining about 25,000 new members in fiscal year 2026, far above prior years, including 4,000 new members in December and January. The top story involved a St. Peter police chief securing the release of a resident held by federal agents.
Read at Nieman Lab
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