Eleanor Bennett is rejoining Aspen Public Radio this week as the reporter on a joint Social Justice Desk in collaboration with Aspen Journalism.
Bennett was an Aspen Public Radio reporter and the host of Morning Edition at the station for four years before leaving in May 2024 to pursue a summer-long Spanish intensive program. She was born and raised in Aspen and has a lifetime of knowledge of the area, alongside her reporting experience.
In this new role, Bennett is immersing herself in diverse communities and community groups from Aspen to Parachute to develop meaningful collaborative relationships with sources. Her work is driven by the experiences and insights of the people who are impacted by these issues — and the innovative solutions being explored to address them.
"I am thrilled to be back home in the valley reporting after a summer studying Spanish,” says Bennett. “I look forward to covering a range of challenges impacting our community, from a lack of affordable housing to mental health access barriers — as well as local efforts to solve these issues. I also hope to continue practicing my Spanish and building relationships with fellow community members."
Aspen Public Radio and Aspen Journalism are dedicated to this collaboration, working to deliver multimedia in-depth and investigative reporting that empowers community. This joint Social Justice Desk focuses on issues of equity and inclusion and will provide comprehensive, regional coverage that elevates diverse voices and fosters community dialogue. It aims to shine a light on the organizations, systems, policies and practices that create, conceal, allow, or perpetuate social injustice for people who live and work in our communities.
All stories produced on the social justice desk will be translated into Spanish, archived online as part of Noticias en Español, and provided at no cost to the Spanish News Collaborative for publication in our region’s weekly Spanish-language newspaper, Sol del Valle, to make this reporting widely available for Spanish-speaking residents, as well.
"With Eleanor’s continued passion for investigating social justice issues and her strengthened Spanish language knowledge, we couldn’t be more excited to have her back on the team and working in this collaborative way with Aspen Journalism,” says Aspen Public Radio News Director Kelsey Brunner.
Although this is a new endeavor between the two news organizations, it furthers an initiative Aspen Journalism has been building since 2021, when the independent nonprofit news organization first initiated a Social Justice Desk. In the three years since, AJ’s social justice reporting has been mostly conducted on a freelance assignment basis, or by the newsroom’s data editor Laurine Lassalle, who continues in her role. Bennett’s position, in which she will produce weekly coverage along with a monthly long-form feature in both written and broadcast formats, brings the effort to new heights.
“Coverage that concerns itself with questions of a just society has long been a priority for our newsroom, and I am thrilled to be deepening our partnership with Aspen Public Radio to invest a new level of resources into the effort,” says Aspen Journalism Editor and Executive Director Curtis Wackerle. “Working with Eleanor and bringing our teams together is exciting, and I am grateful for this new opportunity to drive impact and serve the public.”
“As we expand our coverage at Aspen Public Radio, it’s collaborations like these that bring a fresh perspective to local issues throughout our community," Brunner expressed.
Under Brunner’s newsroom leadership, Eleanor Bennett is joining Morning Edition host Megan Tackett, All Things Considered host and reporter Halle Zander, Edlis Neeson Arts & Culture reporter Kaya Williams, and reporters Caroline Llanes and Josie Taris. You can learn more about the Aspen Public Radio team here.
Aspen Journalism also employs Heather Sackett, a full-time reporter covering water in the Roaring Fork and other high country basins; Lassalle, who focuses on local environmental and socioeconomic trends; and a rotation of the greater Roaring Fork region’s best freelance journalists.To speak more with Eleanor Bennett about social justice issues in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys, email her at eleanor@aspenpublicradio.org.
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Aspen Public Radio broadcasts local newscasts and radio features from 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, within national programming along with producing a daily local news podcast each weekday morning and publishing daily to aspenpublicradio.org.
Aspen Journalism is a nonprofit journalism organization based in Aspen, Colorado, with a mission to produce investigative and in-depth journalism for those with a stake in the Aspen region, by virtue of their living, voting, owning, working, recreating or visiting here. Our work is published at https://aspenjournalism.org and is shared for republication with a wide range of collaborating news organizations without charge under a creative commons license.