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By Joe Arney

Like a river, a good story has a beginning, a middle and an end. So, when Luke Runyon was experimenting with a new format to tell the story of the Colorado River, he traced its geography to help move listeners along.

He’s not the first to tell the story of the Colorado River from its high-altitude headwaters to its Mexican mouth. But as he experimented with long-form narrative for a six-part podcast series, Runyon found bringing his listeners along on a journey down the river made for more compelling storytelling.

“I really wanted this series to focus on human stories—the people who are adapting to water scarcity and climate change in real time,” said Runyon, co-director of at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information. “When it comes to covering water, you can get bogged down in the day-to-day negotiations between states or policymakers, and for this series, I wanted to dispense with the bickering and share what was happening on the ground.”

That series, drew widespread acclaim upon its release in spring 2023. Last month, the project won a national Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association, awarded to projects that exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community. 

It’s among the most prestigious honors in journalism and is quite the honor for a reporter and editor who, when he first moved from covering agriculture to water issues, wasn’t sure he’d have enough news to cover.

“I was a little worried, at first,” Runyon said of moving from the agriculture beat at Harvest Public Media and KUNC to covering water full-time for the NPR member station in 2017. “But now, I could name 10 other reporters throughout the West focused solely on water. There has been an explosion of interest in the river in the last four or five years, and a lot of pent-up demand for these stories.”

‘One of the best things I’ve ever done’

That demand is driven by a growing population that has strained the complex compact apportioning water in the Southwest—a troubling trend exacerbated by a changing climate. But Runyon’s work resonates with his audience because he is effective at finding the right voices and showing how, even amid partisan paralysis, concerns about water are making unlikely bedfellows—like between ranchers and rafters.

Runyon augmented his storytelling skills through a Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism, which he completed in 2022. He called the experience “one of the best things I’ve ever done,” whether it was auditing courses that gave him a broader perspective on the topics he tackled in “Thirst Gap” or meeting like-minded colleagues who supported him as he broke ground on the project.

“It really was helpful for me to be thinking about these bigger, broader questions as I was getting into that series,” said Runyon, who was quick to credit his editor and sound designer for helping each episode shine.

The Scripps fellowship is administered by CMCI’s Center for Environmental Journalism. Hillary Rosner, the center’s assistant director, recalled Runyon’s enthusiasm for the program as a fellow; he organized a field trip to Estes Park, Loveland and other locations to demonstrate how water is moved across Colorado.

“As a fellow, he was a real asset—partly because of his enthusiasm and partly because he really understands how water in the West intersects with so many aspects of our lives,” Rosner said. “He’s able to share that knowledge in a way that I think can inspire new ideas, and you see that in the podcast, especially.”

The Murrow award, she said, is incredibly validating for CEJ and the fellowship, which attracts journalists from National Geographic, The New Yorker, CNN, The Guardian, PBS, NPR and others eager to sit in on classes to broaden their perspectives and spend time digging deep into important environmental issues.

“Luke’s podcast is exactly the kind of in-depth project that is really hard to do in the absence of something like this fellowship,” Rosner said.   

Guiding other reporters on the path

Now, in his role with CMCI’s Water Desk, Runyon is helping other reporters engage these crucial issues. On any given day, he may be fielding calls from journalists struggling to make sense of water policy, running webinars or training events for newsrooms, or offering an editor’s perspective on how partner news organizations can collaborate to pursue a project.

“I was looking to flex some different journalistic muscles and learn some new skills in a news landscape that’s changing very rapidly,” Runyon said. “Journalism is a lot more collaborative now—you get a lot more done via partnerships, due to limited resources that news organizations have—and my goal is to be a resource for reporters and make sure the water journalism happening in the West is the best it can be.”

The podcast format itself presented a new challenge for Runyon, who is more used to writing a few minutes’ worth of copy for a broadcast. But he relished the chance to try something new.

“It was refreshing to find a new way to tell a story that I think of from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep,” he said. “I’ve been on this beat now for seven years or so, and I’m still learning and still finding things that are surprising. And that’s what keeps me so interested in my work.”