NPR gets $1.5 Million grant to cover race and ethnicity?

The national radio program producer and digital news provider was accepting the two-year grant Thursday at UNITY 2012 Convention in Las Vegas, where hundreds of minority and gay and lesbian journalists gathered for the quadrennial convention assembled by UNITY Journalists Inc.

NPR said in a news release that it is using the money to "launch a major storytelling initiative focused on the racial, ethnic, ideological and generational issues that define an increasingly diverse America." The team will include two digital journalists, a correspondent, two reporters and an editor. The team will have a web site and blog within NPR.org.

Gary Knell, NPR CEO and president, said this team approach on race, ethnicity and culture would help "turbocharge" coverage with deeper stories that can make a difference. The grant allows NPR to invest in people who will come to work with race and ethnicity coverage as their first order of business every day, he said.