How WITF is using texting to engage audiences on climate and energy reporting

StateImpact Pennsylvania reporter Rachel McDevitt drives a 2022 Chevy Bolt from H & H Chevrolet in Shippensburg on Feb. 14, 2022.

Ask and ye shall receive! That’s the case if you get in contact with a reporter at WITF in Central Pennsylvania. Every reporter at the station has a texting club tied to their beat, and there's an overall WITF club as well. So far, the climate and politics clubs have the most sign-ups so far (their texting club invitation pages are great!) Digital and on-air promos are continuing for all of the texting clubs. At least three reporters have found sourcing or ideas for stories already.

We talked to energy and environment reporter Rachel McDevitt about how she used the texting platform Subtext to crowdsource questions for her recent story: Driving an EV in Pennsylvania: range anxiety, charging and maintenance.

Tell us who you are, and share a brief summary of the reporting project?

I’m Rachel McDevitt, a climate, energy, and environment reporter with StateImpact Pennsylvania and WITF public radio in Harrisburg, Pa. For this project, I rented an electric car for one week, then shared my experience through a radio and a video story. I also answered questions about what it’s like to own an EV in a written article and about maintenance for an EV in a video piece.

How did community engagement inform your reporting? 

We posted a form online for our audience to submit questions and concerns about EVs. I am also using Subtext to reach people engaged with climate issues. I asked subscribers for questions and some sent them directly through the app. The questions helped me focus my reporting on a few areas. Most people were curious about maintenance for an EV and what charging would be like, but some had very specific questions about emissions impacts.

How did you build trust in the community you were reporting on?

I kept the Subtext group updated on where I was with my reporting, as the project from start to end took about six weeks. I hope the presentation of the written story as a Q&A, using their questions, showed that I was directly responding to their input. I also hope the anecdotes and conversational tone of my reporting helped people trust the information I presented.

How are you bringing this reporting back to the community?

We shared the story on social media, reminding them that we asked for their questions on EVs before I wrote it. I sent it to the Subtext group. A radio feature aired and that audience was told they could find more answers to their questions at our website. The written piece has also been translated into Spanish for use by partner news organizations. 

What lessons do you take away from this project in terms of strengthening your engagement?

This type of engagement likely reaches people who are already interested in our work. The challenge is in reaching new people.