June 10 Speaker: Boyd Huppert, “Land of 10,000 Stories”

Nate Bostrom introduced Boyd Huppert – a news reporter for KARE-11 television station in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Each week he adds another photojournalism episode of the “Land of 10,000 Stories” story, which has been recognized for its high-quality.  In 2007 Huppert received an Emmy Award for “Portrait of Compassion”, which ran on NBC’s Today Show. He has won 19 RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Awards, a National Headliner Grant Award, and the National Press Photographers Association’s Photojournalism Award for Reporting. His work is broadcast on Mondays as part of the 10:00 PM news

Boyd provided his family history and then examples of correspondence from viewers to illustrate divergent views of the same material.  He believes that media sources should provide a balance between the evil and good things that are happening in our world, including the Service Above Self attitude that Rotary embodies.  Another of his stories profiled a Salvation Army bell-ringer at the Mall of America.  Michael Gore was blind and had cerebral palsy but would not give up his collection efforts despite all his obstacles.  Boyd expressed the privilege of his profession that allowed stories like that to be told.  Huppert is always looking for a deeper layer story to answer “Why do you do this?”  He noted that in times of difficult divisions, it is imperative to find common ground.  Boyd will be helping other photojournalists accomplish this in his new position of “National Story-telling Coach”.

Our club was privileged to hear an addition to The Land of 10,000 stories – the impact of Boyd Huppert and his promotion of optimism and understanding!  The KARE 11 website has a link for submitting ideas to Boyd and his team; www.kare11.com.