October 2009 June 2010 DIVERSITY DILEMMA · GoogleTV Threat Local TV News Faces a New Competitor for Viewers Page 4 Saluting the Best Black, Hispanic Journalists to Fete Their Own

News atPromax Stations MineEntertainmentTips for NewsPromotion Page 20

October 2009

$5.00

June 2010

GoogleTVThreat Local TV NewsFaces a NewCompetitorfor Viewers Page 4

Salutingthe Best Black, HispanicJournalists to FeteTheir OwnPage 15

DIVERSITYDILEMMA

Minority JournalistGroups Struggle to BeUnited and MaintainDistinct Identities Page 10

This year “the place” sells itself… We’ll get you out and about in the only still fully intact ecosystem

in the lower 48. We’ll hear from leading scientists about the threats facing this ecosystem and see and

feel the impacts to fl ora and fauna from climate change and other disturbances.

We’ll have a plenary on The Changing West, headlined by Nobel laureate Steven Running, and

another on Western Energy Frontiers, where we’ve invited Tom Friedman and Energy Secretary Steven Chu. We’ll have a group of European reporters join us, and we’ll hear renowned Western

authors regale us with a sense of place. We’ll have a three-part video training workshop and a

Western environmental law workshop and a post-conference tour to Glacier and beyond that’ll beat all.

And, yes, it’s SEJ’s 20th anniversary, and we’ll do it up right at the Montana Snowbowl Lodge in the

mountains outside of Missoula with our blowout party, where surprise VIP guests are expected.

SEJ 20 th An niversary

w w w . s e j . o r g

T e a m C o v e r a g e o f p l a n e t e a r t h

Wild Rockies and the Changing West

SOCIETY OF ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS

HOSTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA–MISSOULA

20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

October 13-17, 2010

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by

the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the

rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are

theirs. I am haunted by waters.”Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

If you go anywhere this year… come to Missoula in October!

EDITORIAL OFFICESPh: (212) 210-0706 Fax: (212) 210-0772SUBSCRIPTION HOTLINE (877) 812-1257

VP-Publisher: Robert Felsenthal, (212) 210-0262

Editor: Tom Gilbert, [email protected] (323) 370-2420Art Director: Jeanine Dunn Copy Editor: Angel Musker

ADVERTISING SALESPh: (212) 210-0748 Fax: (212) 210-0772

Executive Producer:Jeff Reisman, [email protected] (212) 210-0748

Producer: Danny Schreiber, [email protected] (503) 723-9688

Production Manager: Nicole DionneGroup Circulation Director: John LaMarcaCirculation Manager: Nicole Chantharaj

THE AD AGE GROUPVP-Publishing and Editorial DirectorDavid S. Klein

Contents

June 2010 | NewsPro | 3

NewsPro (ISSN 2151-1764), Volume 1, Issue 9, is publishedmonthly, except for combined issues in January/February andNovember/December at Crain Communications Inc, 711 Third Ave,New York, NY 10017. / Periodical postage pending at New York,NY, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send addresschanges to NewsPro, Circulation Dept, 1155 Gratiot Ave, Detroit,MI 48207-2912. / Subscription and Customer Service (877) 812-1257.Subscription price for US and US Territories is $59, Canadaand Mexico is $69, all other international is $89 per year.

Keep up to date with the news industry with NewsPro.To subscribe call (877) 812-1257. 1 year $59 (US)

[ Visit us online at TVWeek.com/Newspro ]

FROM THE EDITOR

Diversity in the news industry has come a long way. Who is covered,what is covered, who is covering it — all have changed considerably inthe past two decades. Today’s news not only reflects the world aroundus more accurately, it more adequately addresses all the people livingin that world.

To be sure, the achievement of diversity in the field of journalismhas been a struggle. And even with the huge strides that have beenmade, the struggle continues — albeit with a different set of challenges.

Now it’s not so much getting the job as it is finding a job to get. And not so much movingahead in the job as finding the opening for opportunity.

The dearth of news jobs has been especially painful to those groups making up UNITY,Journalists of color — the Asian American, Native American, Black and Hispanic newsprofessionals — which find their memberships and revenues shrinking due to the ranks ofthe unemployed and underemployed who can no longer afford to attend annual conventionsor, in some cases, even to belong.

As Dinah Eng’s insightful cover story reveals, industry turmoil and the economic crunchare imperiling the futures of those individual organizations, which are being urged by thecost-conscious recruiting media companies to merge their efforts into a single annual eventunder the UNITY umbrella. But while that approach may make things economically feasiblefor all involved, opponents fear it will endanger the specific interests of each minority group.

If concerns over the bottom line win out, it could well mean bad news for the individualorganizations. Whatever the outcome, the undeniable good news is that due to thesustained and concerted efforts of all of the groups, diversity is clearly here to stay.

—Tom Gilbert, Editor

CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

Chairman: Keith E. Crain President: Rance CrainSecretary: Merrilee Crain Treasurer: Mary Kay Crain

Executive VP-Operations: William A. Morrow Senior VP-Group Publisher: Gloria Scoby Group VP-Technology, Circulation,Manufacturing: Robert C. Adams VP-Production & Manufacturing:David Kamis Chief Information Officer: Paul Dalpiaz

Corporate Circulation Director:Kathy Henry Founder: G.D. Crain Jr. (1885-1973), Chairman Emeritus: Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr.(1911-1996)

NewsPro® is a registered trademark of CrainCommunications Inc.

FEEDS l 4When Google TV debuts in the fall, offeringconsumers yet more viewing options, it couldmean serious competition for local TV newscasts.* Jobs in the TV news industry are approachingprerecession levels.* Hispanic journalism executives see newopportunities for ambitious professionals.* Veteran broadcast journalist Maria Hinojosaundertakes a new endeavor.

DIVERSITY IN JOURNALISM l 10As job recruiters call for a single, unifiedconvention, financially strained minorityjournalists groups struggle with maintaining theirown annual gatherings and individuality.* The Natonal Association of HispanicJournalists will put its focus on multimedia at itsupcoming convention, which will honorbroadcasters Gloria Campos and Ray Suarez.* The National Association of Black Journalistswill pay tribute to broadcasters Soledad O’Brienand Paula Madison when they gather in July.

PROMAXBDA l 20News promotion executives continue to find valuein the radically changed PromaxBDA conference.

TECHNOLOGY l 24BUSINESS l 26HEALTH BEAT l 28NEWSMAKERS l 29SIGN OFF l 30

The United State of Diversity

4 | NewsPro | June 2010

Feeds INFORMATIONAND ANALYSISFROM THEWORLD OFPROFESSIONALNEWS

*

By Debra KaufmanAs if local news didn’t haveenough competition to contendwith, now comes Google TV,which sits squarely in the sweetspot where TV, the Internet,video content and search meet.

Want to watch a TV program?A search will give you options toview it on cable, satellite or online,including channels such as Huluand Netflix.

Though over-the-top TVsolutions have linked the TVand Internet before, thesesystems have largely beenkludged. Google TV takes themost popular search engine andmarries it to Androidtechnology, the Chromebrowser, Intel processors andFlash capability.

Coming This FallAnd it’s gone way beyond agood idea: Google TV deviceswill be on Best Buy’s shelves inthe fall. Sony and Logitechannounced they would be thefirst manufacturers to the party.Logitech is manufacturing aset-top box, as will Sony, whichwill also offer Google TVreceivers and Blu-Ray players.The Dish Network is the firstvideo provider to featureGoogle TV.

What impact will GoogleTV have on local broadcasting?Is it the death knell of the localstation and, by extension, localnews? RTDNA chairmanMark Kraham, who is newsdirector at NBC affiliate

WHAG-TV in Hagerstown,Md., doesn’t think so.

“I don’t know that it’s anydifferent a challenge than anystation has already faced fromthe Internet in general or froma competitor or with theproliferation of hundreds ofchannels,” said Kraham. “It’sanother voice vying forattention, and all the morereason that a savvy broadcasterneeds to deliver a product thatpeople want.”

Not Hyper-LocalKraham pointed out thatGoogle hasn’t announced anyplans to actually produce localnews, or any other TV content.“When that time comes, I’llworry about it,” he said. “Ithink it would be difficult forthem to become hyper-local.”

San Francisco-based mediaconsultant Alan Mutter, whoteaches mediaeconomics/entrepreneurship atthe Graduate School ofJournalism at UC Berkeley,isn’t nearly as sanguine. “Thetipping point is not yet at hand,but the economics of localbroadcasting may begin tounravel as dramatically — andirretrievably — in the next fiveyears as they did for newspapersin the last five years,” he wrotein his blog. “The reason in bothcases will be the unparalleledconsumer choice made possibleby a growing mass of (mostlyfree) content on the Internet.”

It is true that, despite recordnumbers of viewers watchingbroadcast TV, audiencescontinue to fragment. BobPapper, chairman of Hofstra

CONVERGENCE

A New Competitor for Local Eyeballs

Is Google TV the death knellof the local station and, byextension, local news?

habits and thus a bigger threatto the broadcast TV model.But in the short term, at

least, the impact of a GoogleTV on local news isn’t clear.Google’s achievement is insearch, not content creation,Papper pointed out. “What isGoogle going to bring to thetable?” he asked. “The criticalthing it will bring is easieraccess. Will that help news? Orsimply give people moreoptions instead of news? I don’tknow the answer to that — noone knows the answer to it.And, frankly, I think it’s aslikely to help as it is to hurt.”

More Thought NeededThe onus is on the localstations to put out a newsproduct that stands out,something tough to do in lightof the layoffs and survival-

mode operations holding swayat so many stations. “There’s anawful lot of reporting based onwhat’s cheap and easy to do asopposed to what people reallycare about,” said Papper. “Theproblem is that that takes morepeople and more thought. Iwould argue at the end of theday, meaningful content welldone will succeed.”Which leads back to

RTNDA chairman Kraham’spoint of view. “Let competitioncome as it may,” he said. “Youcan spend a lot of time lookingover your shoulder when youshould be focused on theproduct you’re delivering andyour own work.” �


yearly subscription to accesslistings. (Television stations arenot charged. They are required bythe FCC to post listings onservices that widely disseminatejob information.)“They were wholesale getting

rid of people to keep the stationafloat,” said Holloway, whostarted the service in 1994 after atelevision news career in SanDiego. “Once they got throughthe initial purge, it seemed to methat they went after high-dollaranchors and reporters and shedthat expense of talent.” Now, he said, stations are

looking for multiple skills in

one position that is oftentermed “multimedia reporter”or “Web reporter,” meaning theapplicant has to shoot, edit,write and report.

One-Man Bands“That’s where the largest trendis,” said Holloway. “There havealways been one-man bands insmaller markets, but now it’shappening in larger markets aswell.”“What really has come on is

backpack, multimediajournalists,” agreed MarkShilstone, the owner andmanager of Medialine, anotheronline job service, which chargesapplicants to access job listings

By Hillary AtkinThere is finally some good newsin an industry that has undergonea serious retrenchment over thepast few years: Hiring in thetelevision news business appearsto be closing in on prerecessionlevels, although the salaries maynot be as high and more skills

may be demanded.Before the economic pullback

there were about 2,000 jobs listedon TVJobs.com at any given timefor reporters, producers,photographers, editors and othernewsroom and television stationpositions. During the recession,that number fell to about 400 to500 positions. It’s now reboundedto about 1,700 job listings, eachof which stays up on the site for30 days.“A year ago, the trend was to

get rid of people, but I’ve seenthat level off in the last sixmonths. The dark days arebehind us,” said Mark Holloway,president of TVJobs.com, whichcharges job seekers a $39.95

EMPLOYMENT

News JobsBack onthe Rise

University’s department ofjournalism, media studies andpublic relations, agreed that thehuge amount of choice isfragmenting audiences, but hepointed the finger at thestations themselves. “Thestations run more and morenews,” he said. “Stations arelargely doing it to themselves.”

Power of InertiaRegardless of the undeniabletrend of audiencefragmentation, even Mutterdoesn’t think the entire edificeof local broadcast is gettingready for a tumble. “There’s ahuge industry that’s evolved inbuying advertising, and inertia issustaining mass media,” he said.“That and the retransmissiondollars from cable companies arewhy I don’t think anything willfall apart overnight.”

He did point out, however,that “the flow is diminishing”as audiences fragment anddemographically olderaudiences die off. “If you watchthe ‘CBS Evening News,’ everyother commercial is aimed at anolder demographic, with Lipitorand Depends,” he said. “It’sgeared towards a very, very senioraudience. When that audiencegoes away, who watches the‘CBS Evening News’?” Within that context, Google

TV — which offers viewers thechance to shop, message andplay games in addition towatching programs — is abetter fit for the youngerdemographic’s multitasking

The onus is on the localstations to put out a newsproduct that stands out.


Feedsand post their reels and resumes.“In March 2009, the number ofjobs started rebounding from thepast two years, which were at thelowest levels we’ve seen sincestarting the business in 1986 as atelephone hotline,” he said.

Never to ReturnHolloway noted that a lot ofjobs that disappeared won’t becoming back because manystation groups centralized theirmaster control and graphicsdepartment operations andoutsourced engineering.Attrition and an

unwillingness to do more workfor the same or less money wasalso a contributing factor.“Some of the old guys, like ananchor who had been on thedesk for 15 years, were asked tostart reporting and carry acamera. They’re dinosaurs, theyretire,” Holloway said. “The new guys carry a

camera and are Web-savvy. It’sa completely different type ofperson. Not that these olderguys couldn’t do it. When theystarted, the technology wasn’tthere, and they’re not easilygoing to adopt a newtechnology. They end upretiring or going to work as aspokesman for a hospital orsomething like that.” �

DIVERSITY

HispanicExecsSeeNew Inroads

advantage,” Contreras said. “AtScripps, we’re reorganizing sothat managers oversee byfunction, rather than just bygeography, which creates moreopportunities to be recognizedinternally. We’ve decided one ofthe most valuable pieces ofcurrency we have is the ability topromote from within.”On the broadcast side, Hugo

Balta, formerly vice president ofnews and news director ofWNJU Telemundo 47, is now asenior producer for MSNBC,overseeing some of the newsprograms at the network in NewYork. He also founded PicaflorMedia Group, a media companythat produces news content forTelemundo and other newsorganizations in Latin America.Balta said there are fewer

management positions intelevision today, as the trendtoward consolidation of functionshas continued.“You might have had three

producers on a story before, andnow you have one,” Balta, NAHJvice president of broadcast, said.

“There are fewer opportunities,but the ones that exist are filledby more diverse people thanbefore the industry changed,because what is availablerequires more diversity andmore unique skill sets.”

Common Challenges He said the challenges forHispanics who want to rise inmainstream media are the sameas those that face otherminorities. For example,Anglos often don’t realize thatHispanics come from differentethnic backgrounds, and thatbeing bilingual does notautomatically mean that afamily is newly immigrated tothe United States.“We face the same

difficulties and discriminationbased on ignorance from lack ofunderstanding,” Balta said. “Inmarkets like South Florida,where you have a strongcommunity of Cuban-Americans, or Los AngelesCounty, where the majority areHispanic, you have companiesthat recognize the value ofHispanics in newsrooms. Thereare other newsrooms wherethere’s resistance to change,which is human. But change is inevitable.”

Money TalksFor those who work in Spanish-language media outlets, pay isoften a factor in deciding whetherto remain a reporter or move intomanagement.“In my experience, media

promotes valuable journalists toeditors, and you lose their pen onthe street,” said Ruben Keoseyan,editor of LaRaza in Chicago.“Media should remuneratejournalists on the streets, andmake them happy being ajournalist, rather than theirhaving to rise up in managementto make more money.” �

By Dinah EngThe number of traditionalmanagement positions hasdiminished as changes in themedia industry have forcedrestructuring of newsrooms, butHispanic executives say theremay be more opportunities forthose who want to climb thecorporate ladder.Since media companies are

looking for new, innovative waysto do business, those who haveideas on how to save andgenerate new revenue streamsare more likely to be recognizedand promoted.“In trying times, you have to

exhibit a greater degree ofcommitment and passion tomake yourself more valuable tothe organization,” said MarkContreras, senior vice presidentof newspapers for E.W. Scrippsand chairman of the NewspaperAssociation of America. “Forpeople looking to redefinethemselves, it opens up doors toadvancement that haven’t beenthere in the past.”Contreras said the need for

great leadership has never beengreater, but most companies havewhittled down managementpositions, so those who want to become decision-makershave to raise their hand higherto be noticed.

Changed ExpectationsThose in the managementpipeline today, he added, face adifferent set of expectations. ForHispanics, that may be a plus.“If you have other skills, like a

second language, and broadermultimedia skills, that’s an

Stations arelooking formultipleskills in onepositiontermed“multimediareporter.”

HUGO BALTA

MARK CONTRERAS


ONLINE

Making the Bestof Comments

Free speech,as everyeditorknows, canbe fraughtwith peril.

By Jarre FeesIn the heyday of newspapers, readers couldmake their opinions known by writing to theeditor. The best or most interesting of theseletters were edited and published, usually onSundays, and often provided a spiritedcommunity forum.

That practice, morphed into a section calledReader Comments, is thriving on the Internet— only now you can say the first thing thatpops into your head, comment about anunrelated topic or even include a link to yourbusiness. Generally no one follows you with aneraser unless your comments are profane, andeveryone calls what you wrote free speech. Andfree speech, as every editor knows, can befraught with peril.

With many news organizations facing staffshortages, including a dearth of editors, who’sminding the comment sites?

Will Sullivan, interactive director at the St.Louis Post-Dispatch, said the paper has“amped up its moderation” significantly, butdenied the paper was censoring comments.

“People get confused by the wordcensorship,” he said. “There’s no realcensorship — it’s your website. If someonecame into your house and started spray-painting vulgarity, you would put a stop to it.It’s not the same thing as going to a publicsquare, where you can say what you want.”

Frustrating Road

Section 230 of the Communications DecencyAct passed by Congress in 1996 says in part,“No provider or user of an interactive computerservice shall be held liable on account of (A) anyaction voluntarily taken in good faith to restrictaccess to or availability of material that theprovider or user considers to be obscene, lewd,lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing,or otherwise objectionable, whether or not suchmaterial is constitutionally protected.”

Jon Hart, legal counsel for Online NewsAssociation and author of “Internet Law: AField Guide,” said online publishers have touse their editorial skills.

“One of the reasons Congress passedSection 230 was to encourage publishers to

exercise editorial judgment,” he said. “Section 230provides websites immunity from liability based oncontent generated by users, but publishers and journalistshave to edit their own work.”

“Technology can help to a certain point,” Sullivansaid. “There are a lot of sites where people can vote downcomments that are offensive.

“We used to delete profane comments straight away,”he added. “Now we write right over them. We want to letpeople know there’s no profanity here; we’re watching.” ❑

Mexico-born Maria Hinojosabegan in journalism as host ofa Latino radio show while atBarnard College, where shemajored in Latin Americanstudies, political economy andwomen’s studies. Since then, she has worked

at a wide variety of public andcommercial media outlets,both radio and television, inEnglish and Spanish, fromNPR to CBS News to V-Meto New York’s WNBC-TV,where she hosted “Visiones.” She has hosted NPR’s

“Latino USA” since itsinception in 1995, and from1997 to 2005 covered urbanissues as a New York-basedCNN correspondent. In 2005,she joined “Now on PBS,”where she was a seniorcorrespondent. Her many honors include

the Robert F. KennedyJournalism Award, the RubenSalazar Lifetime AchievementAward from the NationalCouncil of La Raza and theOverseas Press Club’s EdwardR. Murrow Award. She is alsothe author of two books.

With the end of “Now” inApril, Hinojosa formed TheFuturo Media Group, anonprofit dedicated tocommunity-based journalismand to fostering dialogue, whichhas taken over production of“Latino USA” and iscollaborating with StoryCorps,PBS and the BBC. Hinojosa recently discussed

her career with NewsProcorrespondent ElizabethJensen. An edited version ofthat interview follows.

NewsPro: You’ve spent yourcareer jumping back andforth between commercialand public media.

Maria Hinojosa: I always feltthat I was going to have abetter editorial perspective if Iwas working in the nonprofit,public medium and that wastrue to a degree. When CNNcalled I was ready for a differentperspective. After doing CNNfor eight years there was a sensethat maybe being at a networkwas not all that I thought.

NewsPro: What were thepros and cons?

Hinojosa: In public radio, itwas the time and the use ofsound. I think back now: I wasa young reporter, and I wasdoing 12-minute pieces. What was fun about being

at the networks was theextraordinary amount ofresources we had. If you had anetwork behind you, youdidn’t have to explain yourself.There was wide reach and thenetwork carried a certain levelof respect. What I liked about cable

was that it was not motivatedby the numbers when I firststarted; what I came to dislikewas that it came to be onlyabout the numbers. What the public media —

television and radio — giveme is time [and] the ability ofthoughtfulness.

NewsPro: You started out inradio, and eventually addedtelevision. Was that an easyleap?

Hinojosa: I think that it’s justthat I happened to be at theright place at the right time... I started my career incollege radio, and I alsostudied acting. When peopleasked me to go on camera Iwasn’t afraid.It was a transition to

understanding how to reportfor television. Throughouteach change I felt frustratedfor the first five years, alwayslike I wasn’t getting it quiteright. And that’s a really goodway to feel. … A certain levelof discomfort propels you inthe right direction.

NewsPro: The issues you havecovered — gangs, guns,maternal health in Haiti,taxing the poor — are toughtopics to find a home for in the

media. Is it getting harder?

Hinojosa: It has always beenhard, and it will always behard, when you believe youhave to tell certain truths … alot of times those truths arereally hard and no one wants tosee them.When I put gang members

on NPR, the hate mail I gotwas amazing. … There was alot of resistance to that, but itmade me feel more committedto tell those stories. If you are ajournalist, in this because youfeel there is a mission to tell atruth, to reveal something, toshed light, to uncover, if that’swhat motivates you, then youneed to be prepared to befrustrated a lot of the time. I think part of being a

journalist is you learn that you’regoing to have to fight for certaintruths, and it helps youunderstand what matters to you.

NewsPro: With ‘Now onPBS’ ending, you’ve decidedto strike out on your ownwith a new productioncompany. What are yourhopes for that?

Hinojosa: I realize that I amone of very few journalists ofcolor that have a nationalaudience…. That made meunderstand I just had to stepup to this challenge. I do it inthe name of all the otherpeople I’ve met along the paththat have done much greaterthings than me.[At the close of ‘Now’] one

of the younger women staffersgave me a talking to. … Shejust basically said you have tounderstand there are youngjournalists who look up to you,respect you and are waiting tosee what you’re going to doand what you’re going to say.And we believe that you cando this and you must. I takethat very seriously. �


FEEDS NEWSPRO Q&A

When “Now on PBS” ended in April, senior correspondentMaria Hinojosa formed a nonprofit media group.

A New Chapter Begins ForJournalist Maria Hinojosa


By Hillary AtkinWhat does a group ofexperienced broadcast journalistsdo as an encore to theirtelevision careers?

If you’re like veteran reporterRusty Dornin, you join forceswith some other colleagues fromCNN to form a website thatprovides expert sources across avariety of disciplines from med -icine to law to environ mentalism.

Filtering the ChoicesLaunched in March after a betaversion, the Atlanta-based serviceis called News Certified Ex-change. The concept is to expandthe typical journalist’s “go-to” listof people as trusted sources innews stories, many of whom canbe used for on-camera interviews.

The organization’s missionstatement states that it “providesthe global news media with asearchable database of credible,interview-ready experts and storyideas that are accessible 24/7. Weare committed to increasingjournalists’ access to a diverse

NEWS RESOURCES

New HelpIn the HuntFor ExpertSources

group of well-prepared expertswhose perspectives will furtherenrich our public conversation.”

So far, there are about 350experts on board, from formerU.N. ambassadors to oil spillcontainment experts.

News Certified profits bycharging a subscription fee tosuch people and media trainingmany of them. The fees rangefrom $2,000 to $4,000 fortraining and to be listed on thesite for three years. Mediatraining is done by formerbroadcast news professionals incities including New York,Washington, Atlanta, SanFrancisco and Los Angeles.

An expert must meet thecriteria established by theorganization to be establishedas newsworthy. Those whodon’t make the cut to be ontelevision have a photo but nota video along with theirprofiles. In addition to listingtheir accomplishments andareas of expertise, experts onthe site are free to suggest otherstory angles for which theymight be appropriate.

News Certified does notguarantee its certification toanyone who applies and hasrejected some people for lack ofproper qualifications. It recentlytrained nine people at the NatureConservancy, seven of whomhave videos online, enablingreporters to “road test” the

sources’ on-camera presence.The organization edits down atwo-minute clip from 15minutes of raw video of thesource being interviewed.

Editorial Board“We do take the business of jour-nalism seriously and even have aneditorial board which we are inthe process of establishing,” saidDornin, who is vice president ofstrategic alliances. She said the

board includes a managing editorat Forbes, the director of theGlobal Media Institute atGeorge Washington University,the head of Emory’s journalismprogram and a former ABC cor-respondent, among others.“We’ve also established an al-liance with Medill, Northwest-ern’s graduate school of journal-ism, and are in the process of es-

tablishing alliances with othersas well,” she said.

Dornin is spending much ofher time right nowdemonstrating the service tonews organizations includingBloomberg, CBS and ABC,where it has gotten a receptivewelcome. It is free tojournalists, who can find outwithin minutes whether apotential source has an ISDNline or Skype for a video

interview. Another option is forthe source to go to an affiliatein his or her city.

“We don’t get kickbackswhen the experts get press,”Dornin said. “I’m hopeful toexpand internationally anddomestically. We want to bethe source for one-stopshopping for journalists to talkabout variety of subjects.” ❑

NEWS CERTIFIED EXCHANGE PROVIDES ACCESS TO EXPERTS WHO MEET SPECIFIC CRITERIA.

Crested Butte, CO 1-970-349-5836www.ddgtv.com

THE FIGHTOVER UNITYThe annual gatherings of the individual minority journalist groups are facingserious financial challenges. With cash-strapped media companies calling forcentralization of their expensive recruitment efforts under a single UNITYumbrella, are the organization’s core member associations destined to disappear?

By Dinah Eng

COVER STORY


N ational conventions have long been an annual summergathering for the four minority journalists associations, butchanges in the news media and an uncertain economy are

forcing members of the UNITY alliance to look at whether thoseannual events can continue.

Each year, the National Association of Black Journalists, NationalAssociation of Hispanic Journalists, Asian American JournalistsAssociation and Native American Journalists Association have put onconventions in different cities, largely sponsored by media companies.

The gatherings create opportunities for training, networking andsupport for the journalists, as well as revenue to fund each association.For media companies, the conventions are a way to show support fordiversity in the newsroom, recruit minority candidates and learn aboutcultural differences in the workplace.

Fewer Jobs, Fewer RecruitersBut in the past couple of years, as media companies have merged orfolded, the number of jobs has plummeted. Recruiting efforts at theminority association conventions have fallen off, and media companiesare quietly pushing the idea of holding a UNITY convention morefrequently so that recruiters don’t have to attend four separateconventions a year.

The idea is not being well received by the minority journalists.“There’s been talk of having UNITY every two years, instead of

every four years, and our organization says that’s not what we want todo right now,” said Gustavo Reveles Acosta, growth andtransportation reporter for the El Paso Times and NAHJ secretary.“Our members have become accustomed to our conventions, whichare different from UNITY.

“I think as the industry has moved toward a period of uncertainty,the budget and the concern for diversity has died off. Companies arenot coming to the convention anymore, and journalists of color are notbeing sought out in any organized way now.”

Attendance Takes a HitThe average attendance at NAHJ conventions in past years was 1,600to 2,000, but last year, the number of participants fell to 850, notesIvan Roman, NAHJ executive director.

“This year, it looks like it may be lower than that,” said Roman,about the NAHJ convention June 23 to 26 in Denver. “We noticepeople wait later and later to decide to come, so we extended our earlybird registration rates. Many people have been laid off, and others arefearful because they don’t know if they’re going to be laid off.”

Some members, he said, may not be able to get the time off fromwork to attend because newsroom staffs have shrunk, leaving few tocover tasks when people are away. Where some media companies paidfor convention registrations in the past, members tend to pay for theirown participation now.

MEDIA COMPANIES ARE QUIETLYPUSHING THE IDEA OF MORE FREQUENT“ONE-STOP’ UNITY CONVENTIONS


DIVERSITY IN JOURNALISM


Roman said that NAHJ has signed hotel contracts for conventionsthrough the UNITY 2012 gathering in Las Vegas, but it’s holding offon hotel commitments past that date.

“One of the challenges for all the associations is to not depend onconventions so much for organizational finances,” Roman said. “Wehave to change the convention model, and how we fund ourselves.”

New Revenue Streams SoughtAt AAJA, the annual convention has accounted for about half of theorganization’s operational cash flow. Sharon Chan, technology reporterfor The Seattle Times andpresident of AAJA, said theassociation is now workingon strategies to diversifyrevenue streams.

“Our Executive Lead -ership Program is putting onthree media demonstrationprojects now that havebrought in new funding,”Chan said. “This longtimeprogram is serving diversityand communities in new ways.We’re working with ethnicmedia in Chicago, Arab-American students in Detroit,and experimenting with mob -ile news in New York.

“We’re looking at possibleprograms to create profitcenters within AAJA, and arereaching out to individualdonors and nonmedia sponsors in a way that remains true to ourjournalistic mission.”

Chan said media companies have pushed for more frequent UNITYcon ventions to cut costs for them selves, and AAJA is talking with otherassoc iations about convention models that could save money for theminority groups as well.

One suggestion would be to partner with another association and go to

the same city at the same time, allowing the two associations to negotiatemore favorable hotel contracts. Programming would remain separate forthe two organizations, to serve each group’s membership needs.

“Diversity has never been more important to the future ofjournalism,” Chan said. “Putting the same lack of diversity online is liketaking a dead battery and putting it in a new car, hoping it will work.

“Our convention lost money last year, leading to a deficit in 2009 forthe whole organization. Hundreds of our members lost their jobs, mediacompanies couldn’t come in at the same level of support, and we had tonegotiate a buyout of one of our hotel contracts. But we’re now about 40

percent above where we werelast year at this time forconvention registration, sowe’re optimistic.”

AAJA’s convention will beheld Aug. 4 to 7 in LosAngeles, and like each of theminority associations, theprogram will center ontraining and convergence.

“Now you see printjournalists doing broadcastthings, and broadcastjournalists are doing things

they never did before,” saidGeorge Kiriyama, newsreporter for NBC Bay AreaNews in San Jose andAAJA vice president ofbroadcast. “We want tomake sure AAJA con ven -tions stay relevant.”

He said AAJA, like its UNITY partners, is stra tegizing on how toretain its membership and bring in new members after the massiveindustry layoffs that have taken place over the past two years.

“UNITY, when we meet every four years, is a great opportunity to meetand learn from other minority organizations,” Kiriyama said. “But I thinkthere are specific issues oriented to Asian-American journalists, and my fearis if we go to a UNITY model, the four organizations will disappear.”

“Diversity has never been moreimportant to the future of journalism.”

-Sharon Chan, AAJA

ATTENDEES ATTHE MOSTRECENT UNITY‘CONFERENCE, IN2008.


Each of the minority associations say it’s important for their membersto continue to bond and support each other at separate gatherings becausethe cultural issues each deals with are unique.

“We’re such a small group, and have different problems andsituations,” said Rhonda LeValdo, a media communications instructorfor Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and NAJA vicepresident. “A lot of our tribes don’t have freedom of the press. If a reporterwrites something that the tribal government objects to about thegovernment, they could be fired.

“The tribal newspapers are going full steam, and have not beenaffected by the economy. We had a couple of mainstream journalists inmajor city markets who lost their jobs, and that is particularly significantbecause their voices are no longer heard. Being able to band together, seeeach other and talk about what’s going on at conventions is important.”

This year, NAJA will hold a joint convention with Native AmericanPublic Telecommunications, which helps Native Americans producedocumentaries and films, July 21 to 24 in St. Paul, Minn.

LeValdo said this alliance offers NAJA members access toprogramming they wouldn’t have otherwise, extending the idea of mediaconvergence to include documentary filmmaking, and will save bothorganizations money.

She said NAJA is not in favor of holding UNITY conventions morefrequently because many NAJA members can’t afford to attend UNITYconventions, and NAJA workshops were given short shrift in schedulingat past UNITY conventions.

UNITY Reviewing the IssueBarbara Ciara, president of UNITY, Journalists of Color and

broadcast journalist with WTKR NewsChannel 3 in Norfolk, Va., saidthe issue of holding UNITY conventions more than once every four yearswas reviewed by the UNITY board of directors following the 2008UNITY convention in Chicago, which drew more than 7,500 journalistsof color and media executives.

“The board concluded it was in the best interest of the alliance partnerorganizations to support and maintain the current convention model,”Ciara said. “There is some concern, and rightly so, that a UNITYconvention every two to three years would siphon sponsor support fromalliance conventions.

“The UNITY convention is always a financial windfall for all of the

alliance organizations — we share costs, we share profit, we all benefit.The economy and layoffs in the industry had an impact on attendancenumbers in Chicago, but overall, it was a financial success.”

The next UNITY convention is slated to be held Aug. 1 to 4, 2012,in Las Vegas.

For NABJ, which historically has had the largest membership of thefour associations, the economic downturn and industry changes meanta large financial hit last year when penalties had to be paid to severalhotels for unfilled room blocks.

Kathy Y. Times, evening anchor for WDBD-TV in Jackson, Miss.,and NABJ president, said the group has planned for lower attendancethis year at its San Diego convention, July 28 to Aug. 1, but it’s stillconcerned about meeting its room block commitment.

Turnout Suffered in 2009“We had been getting 3,000 people at our past conventions, and got halfthat much last year,” Times said. “Then the bottom of the economy fellout. When we saw what happened in Tampa [in 2009], we cut our roomblock in half for San Diego. The good news is the recruiters are comingback, and media companies are buying more booth space than last year.”

Bob Butler, a freelance reporter at KCBS Radio in San Francisco andNABJ vice president of broadcast, said the group has a Facebook pagewhere convention attendees can find roommates if they’re concernedabout the hotel cost.

“We know that at the last UNITY convention, Will Sutton and JuanGonzalez, two of the founders of UNITY, said they’d like to see UNITYhappen every two years,” Butler said. “The media companies would likethat because it means they could do one-stop shopping.”

Times said the four minority associations know that their conventionmodels have to change, and NABJ has a committee working onrecommendations for how NABJ should handle the issue.

NABJ has contracted with hotels through 2015, and Times said eachyear’s commitments can be adjusted according to the previous year’sattendance. “It was to our advantage years ago to do this in advance,”Times said, “before the bottom fell out.” ❑

Dinah Eng is a syndicated columnist for Scripps Howard News Service anda past president of both the Asian American Journalists Association andUNITY, Journalists of Color.



By Hillary AtkinDenver will be abuzz withcamaraderie, networking and pro -fessional training as the 28thAnnual National Association ofHispanic Journalists MultimediaConvention and Career Expotakes up residence in the MileHigh City’s Colorado ConventionCenter June 23 to 26.

“We continue to place emphasison the training our members need tokeep their jobs or get new ones,” said NAHJ President O. Ricardo Pimentel,who is the editorial page editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Therecent ongoing economic distress has resulted in a lot of our members losingor fearing for their jobs. The emphasis will be on multimedia and socialnetworking and general professional skills — things they will need to knowto evolve with the industry.”

700 Expected to AttendAbout 700 attendees are expected at the conference, which featuresprograms geared to various levels of experience, from those just starting outto seasoned veterans of the news business.

Nearly 40 sessions will focus on multimedia training and new skillsrequired for journalists. “It is recognition that sometimes journalists are beingthrown into new skill sets without proper training, and our aim is to givethem that,” said Pimentel. “We know social networking is becomingextremely important, as well as marketing their own stories. Tweeting and

Facebooking are the tools du jour, so we are providing that training. Weknow that folks are having to reinvent themselves, so digitalentrepreneurialism is one avenue.”

Pimentel has been involved in NAHJ since its founding in 1984, whenit grew out of the California Chicano News Association. “I’ve seen usbecome more numerous,” Pimentel said. “Before, when you went to anewsroom, it wasn’t unusual to be the only Latino, or one of a few, whichnowhere reflected parity in the community.”

Recent figures released by the American Society of News Editorsshow Hispanics make up more than 13 percent of newsroomemployees, a number that has declined in the past few years due tocontraction in the industry.

“It’s a complex problem, and part of it is the last hired is the first fired,”said Pimentel. “Minority journalists tend to be fairly junior in a newsroom.Others have taken buyouts, or have had doubts about the future ofjournalism and have gone to other careers.”

With the theme “El Grito (Shout) Across the Rockies,” attendees canparticipate in workshops on such topics as the stress of a layoff, ethics inSpanish-speaking media and boot camp for nonphotographers. Othersubjects include building your network, managing your time, turning yourstory into a book, marketing yourself in a multimedia world, creating yourdigital resume, reinventing yourself, writing tight and bright and using 3-D graphics and animation.

A training project for journalists who want to be entrepreneurs is also partof the confab with a preselected group taking part in a day-and-a-half-longsession sponsored by the Ford Foundation and Unity: Journalists of Color.

Online Business PointersAnother group will participate in a daylong workshop on starting their ownnews and information business online. What they learn in the NAHJ E-JSeries is complemented by three days of training at the convention on othermultimedia and career skills including starting a website from scratch, a techcorner featuring demos and the latest software and tools for journalists, anda financial corner at the Expo, with information on what foundations andventure capitalists are looking for in projects they support.

Social and political subjects will be a big part of the conversation atthe conference, with discussions about immigration reform, the violencewrought by Mexico’s drug cartel wars and how to appeal to a Latinosports audience — a timely topic because of this summer’s World Cupsoccer competition.

The NAHJ Hall of Fame will add two new members during theconference, with the induction of veteran journalists Gloria Campos,longtime anchorwoman at WFAA-TV, Dallas’ ABC affiliate, and RaySuarez, senior correspondent for PBS’ “The NewsHour.”

“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the business, but the world is always goingto need good reporters and communicators,” said Campos. “Because of thechanging nature of the business, you may have to wear a lot of hats. But ifyou’re determined to be the best, you’re still going to make it.”

“We have to as an organization not only address problems in the businessin terms of what it means to Latino journalists, but we have to worry aboutsaving the business,” said Suarez. “We have to be part of the answer to thequestion of how to save the business.”

“These have been tough times, and we’ve weathered the times, and we’rehere to give people the training they need to be relevant,” Pimentel said.“More broadly, our mission is to ensure Latino employment in the mediaand to ensure fair accurate and balanced coverage of our communities.” ❑

Multimedia Key at NAHJ Meet

O. RICARDO PIMENTEL

RFK Journalism Awards honor outstanding reporting on issues that reflect Robert F. Kennedy's concerns,including human rights, social justice and the power

of individual action in the U.S. and around the world.

Call for submissions for 2011. . . coming soon!www.rfkcenter.org

CONGRATULATES THE

2010 RFK JOURNALISM AWARD WINNERS

Winning entries provide insights into the causes, conditions and remedies of injustice and critical

analyses of relevant public policies, programs, attitudesand private endeavors.

ROBERT F. KENNEDYCENTER FOR JUSTICE & HUMAN RIGHTS


NAHJ’s Hall of Famers 2010

and make it happen,” she said. “I never dreamed I would talk to thepresident and first lady and cover inaugurations. I want to let them toknow to dream big.”

Ray SuarezOn any given day, Washington,D.C.-based senior correspondentRay Suarez’s schedule calls forconducting an interview, shooting ataped piece or doing a live report forPBS’s “The NewsHour.” On theroad, he’ll often shoot photos anddo a separate narrative for the onlineversion of his broadcast reports.

Servicing another distributionplatform is one of the biggest changes Suarez, one of this year’sinductees into the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Hallof Fame, has seen since he started working in the news business 35years ago. His career has included stints as a correspondent for CNNin Los Angeles, a producer for the ABC Radio Network in New York,and a reporter for CBS Radio in Rome and for various newsorganizations in London.

“When I look back at what newsrooms looked like, I was one of theonly Latinos,” Suarez said. “Things have changed remarkably, almostbeyond description. Now in bigger metro areas, at all the networks,cables and big newspapers, that would be impossible.”

Suarez joined “The NewsHour” in 1999 after six years as host ofNational Public Radio’s nationwide call-in news program “Talk of theNation.” He also hosts “Destination Casa Blanca,” a weekly programon Latino politics for HITN-TV, a public service network for Hispanicsfound on cable, satellite, on demand and online, as well as the monthlyradio program “America Abroad” for Public Radio International.

Although public broadcasting’s audience is not heavily Hispanic,Suarez is pleased at the opportunities to tell stories of impact andeducate the audience about important issues like immigration reformand the current hot-button issue Arizona’s passage of SB 1070.

“A lot of work I’ve done over the years is a bridge in a sense, takingaudiences to hidden places in their own country, and also representingLatino aspirations as well,” he said.

Suarez is also the author of several books, the latest being “America,The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America.” ❑

Gloria CamposGloria Campos grew up in a smalltown in Texas dreaming of being inthe television news business. Nearly34 years after earning her degree injournalism at Texas State Universityand starting her career back in herhometown of Harlingen, Texas, thereality has exceeded her dreams.Campos is one of the most suc -cessful anchors in a major market in the business.

Campos, one of this year’s inductees into the National Association ofHispanic Journalists’ Hall of Fame, landed a job shooting, editing andreporting at KGBT-TV in Harlingen, following a college scholarship.

“As far as Latinas, I was a trailblazer,” she said. “I was the only one for atime, the only trained female reporter. The others were secretaries or modelswho did talk shows. I had a couple male cohorts who were Latinos, but mostof the people on the anchor desk were white males.”

Campos joined WFAA-TV in Dallas in 1986, again breaking newground by becoming the station’s first Hispanic anchor. Twenty-six yearslater, she co-anchors the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts — along with pullingadditional anchor duty every other week on the ABC affiliate’s 5 p.m. show.

“Just about everything has changed from when I first started out,” shesaid. “Most of all it’s the technology that has changed.”

Campos said that more importantly, she’s seen an evolution in the waystories that impact Latin communities are covered in a marketplace that hasexperienced a growing Hispanic population, estimated at about 25 percentof the total.

With decades of experience behind her, Campos devotes much attentionto educating the next generation coming up. She’s endowed severaljournalism scholarships in her name at her alma mater, and speaks frequentlyat schools about the importance of education, particularly to young Latinas.

“I let them know they can dream the grandest version of themselves

By Hillary Atkin

MORE PEOPLE ATTRIBUTED A BIBLE VERSE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA THAN THE BIBLE.*

If we don’t cite the Source . . . who will?

Is the Bible Still Relevant?Technology and Bible Consumption

Annual Bible StatisticsGlobal Bible Penetration & Engagement

The Millennial Generation and Bible LiteracyThe Untold Story of Genocide and Jesus in the DRC

The Impact of Multimedia Bible InnovationsRebuilding Haiti by Rebuilding Haitians

For more information, contact Autumn Black, Director of Media Relations

212–408–1215*Results of survey conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of the American Bible Society


By Hillary AtkinThings are certain to get off to a celebratory start at the NationalAssociation of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair in San DiegoJuly 28 to Aug. 1 when the 1,200 attendees kick things off at a welcomereception on board the USS Midway.“It couldn’t be a better place to be welcomed to the city,” said

convention chair Elise Durham. “From the flight deck, you can see theentire San Diego Harbor. It’s a great opportunity to get into the San Diegospirit, and appreciate the history of the Navy. I think the membership isgoing to love it.”The opening festivities will be the first of three nights of NABJ After

Dark following days filled with programs and panels and plenary meetings.With six tracks of sessions and workshops, the conference — under the

thematic umbrella of “NABJ@35: The Power of Change” — offers up aplethora of learning opportunities for participants at every stage of theircareers. The tracks are titled accordingly for various levels of experience,from “The Lobby” for beginners to “The Executive Suite” for those at thetop, and places in between like “The Elevator,” “The Training Room,”“The Conference Room” and “The Business Center.” And for everyone,regardless of experience level, there is “The Water Cooler,” whereattendees can debate and discuss breaking news and hot topics affectingthe industry.“What is most important to me and valuable is not only the


extraordinary networking opportunities as it pertains to job cultivation,but that you are literally in an atmosphere bumping heads with people thatcan change your life and your career,” said Durham, who attended her firstNABJ conference about 20 years ago. “Even more, it’s like a big reunion,a family. It cultivates you as a person and as a professional.”The opening plenary session will feature Dr. Mehmet Oz being

interviewed by former CBS anchor and author Rene Syler. They’ll take alook at top health stories involving African-Americans, and howjournalists can stay healthy in a profession that is often filled with longhours, little sleep, stressful deadlines and unhealthy food. They’ll alsoexamine Dr. Oz’s success in developing himself as a brand and what blackjournalists and media professionals can do to emulate that in their owncareers. Capping off the session, gospel singer Donnie McClurkin isexpected to perform.

Google Guest Another highlight will be the W.E.B. DuBois Lecture given by

Google’s chief legal officer and senior vice president of corporatedevelopment, David Drummond. “What is most interesting is that asGoogle continues to transform, it’s this man who leads the charge as theylaunch into new platforms, not just in journalism, but in informationdistribution,” said Durham. “For journalists looking at an ever-changinglandscape, it will be fascinating to hear how he envisions the future and

Power of ChangeBlack Journalists Meet to Explore Learning Opportunities

JOURNALIST AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST EARL CALDWELL WAS INDUCTED INTO THE NABJ HALL OF FAME AT LAST YEAR’S CONVENTION IN TAMPA, FLA.


By Allison J. WaldmanIn the highly competitive, rapidlychanging world of television news,Soledad O’Brien is a prime exampleof an award-winning journalistwho’s succeeded in a variety of ways. O’Brien, anchor and special

correspondent for CNN/U.S., whohas been chosen the NationalAssociation of Black Journalists’Journalist of the Year, will joinother honorees at the association’sJuly 31 Salute to Excellence Galaduring the NABJ’s 35th AnnualConvention in San Diego July 28to Aug. 1.She praises the organization for its programs and its purpose.“NABJ contributed to my education,” said O’Brien, who has been a

member for two decades. “I took seminars on how to write a good story.NABJ also has the ability to bring people together to network. It’s alwaysbeen in the forefront of conversations about where journalism is going,what’s the status of minority journalists in the country.”

Long a Proponent of DiversityThe diversity cause has long been important to O’Brien, whose motheris of black and Hispanic extraction. “Diversity is one of those thingsthat we’ve been pushing for in television newsrooms across the country,everywhere I’ve worked, for 22 years. The audience is changing, andif you want to be able to connect with a diverse audience, you certainlybetter have access to the kinds of stories that the audience is interestedin. That’s the biggest change that I’ve seen.”O’Brien’s seven years at CNN have included her co-anchoring

“American Morning” from 2003 to 2007. Today, her beat is CNN’sacclaimed “In America” franchise, a series of documentaries behindwhich she has been the driving force. “In America” began in 2008 withCNN’s “Black in America,” a groundbreaking documentary that tookan in-depth look at the challenges confronting African-Americans. O’Brien also has been responsible for the creation of CNN’s

recently created “In America” news documentary unit. “Our first piecewas the Haiti documentary.” she said. “We’ve done ‘Gary & TonyHave a Baby,’ which [is airing] under the umbrella ‘Gay in America.’‘Black in America’ will air in October, and then we have anotherKatrina documentary.”O’Brien, the fifth of six children, credits her parents, who were both

immigrants — her mother was from Cuba, and her father from Australia— with giving her the words of wisdom she applies to her profession.“You should never settle. Don’t be satisfied or think you’ve gone far

enough when you get to whatever. Think in terms of striving to takethe next step up. … If you look at it like that, you don’t ever getfrustrated. If you’re really fighting for equality and opportunity, thefight never ends, so stop looking for a day when you won’t have to doit. The good news is that we’re making progress.” �

Diversity’s StarCNN’s O’Brien a Vet of the Cause

Soledad O’Brien JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

how that will impact freedom of speech.”In the past, workshops have fit into tracks of broadcast, print or online.

But now that the lines have blurred, many of them focus on hands-ontraining for digital skills, including a multimedia workshop where a projectwill be taken from inception to completion over the course of two days.“As our industry has imploded and changed, it has turned into

something very different,” noted Durham. “Change can be intimidatingbut can also be empowering — if you know how to embrace it.”

Dealing With the New RealityAlong with empowering participants with new skills, the sessions willexplore new career opportunities.“We’re shaking it up,” Durham said. “Reality shows — is that where

jobs are, to produce or star in them? For older journalists, it’s not evena consideration. Now it’s a new avenue of employment. In other sessions,we’ll look at topics like navigating the matrix from producing tomanager, the power of contract negotiation and skills needed totransition to other careers.” All in all, there are 54 workshops. New this year are four “lunch and

learn” sessions, looking at subjects including digital distribution, healthcare reform and genealogy. There is also an all-day learning lab entitled“It’s all About Business: The Journey From Journalism toEntrepreneurship,” run by Sheila Brooks. The “Our Hollywood” panel features creative talent including Lee

Daniel, Jennifer Hudson and Bill Duke in a session moderated byGayle Hurd.

Conference participantswill get their own mini-upfront, with NBCUniversal President andCEO Jeff Zucker pre -senting the new actiondrama “Undercovers.”The Salute to Excell ence Gala will award dis tinction in categories of

new media, radio, newspapers, magazines and television. NABJ willbestow its Journalist of the Year Award to CNN anchor and specialcorrespondent Soledad O’Brien, and will award NBC News and its localTV stations with the organization’s annual Best Practices Award. NBCUniversal Executive VP Paula Madison will receive its Legacy Award.Ending on a high note, the conference concludes with a gospel brunch

featuring gospel artist CeCe Winans. “We’re going to start and end withinspiration,” Durham said. �

NPR’SMICHELENORRIS,BELOWRIGHT,RECEIVEDNABJHONORS IN2009.

Q&A:NBCUniversal’sPaulaMadison,NABJLegacyAwardWinner

presidents, more executive producers, more generalmanagers, more producers and managers who areAfrican-American then any other network division orowned station group. That for me was huge. I takeparticular pride in that. We’re not only focused ondiversity, we’re getting our jobs done.

NewsPro: Is promoting diversity an imperative forNBC Universal?

Madison: We all would welcome the day when thatfilter of making sure that there is representation in theproduct and in the room doesn’t have to be applied.The fact is that history has shown that unless there isattention paid and an effort made to have diverse voicesand diverse offices inside your businesses, that it doesn’treally happen organically.

NewsPro: How are things now since committing tomore diversity?

Madison: What we’re seeing today is more of amulticultural approach, although we have a programlaunching in the fall, J.J. Abrams’ new show“Undercovers,” which is the only show, I think, wherethe two leads are diverse in network prime time. BothBoris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are African-American. It’s fiction, but it’s a reflection of reality,too. It’s not easy to produce a hit show. What we doknow is that this is a society that’s becoming moremulticultural by the moment. Since 2000, when wecreated our diverse writers program, we have launchedthe careers of 115 racially diverse writers. The point isto make the writers room look as diverse as society.

NewsPro: How important is NABJ to a mediacompany like NBC Universal?

Madison: Well, you’re asking someone who’s verybiased. I’ve been to every NABJ conference exceptthe first, only because I didn’t know it had beenfounded. NABJ puts you in contact with journalistswho share your culture and in some instances yourexperiences. It also provides a training ground forpeople interested in moving up the ladder. We havehad workshops at NABJ bringing in people to talkto journalists about how to write for television,including people who had made the transition, likethe late David Mills of HBO’s “Treme.” He was awriter for the Washington Post. �

The National Association of Black Journalists ispresenting Paula Madison, NBC Universal executivevice president of diversity, with its Legacy Award at itsannual Salute to Excellence Gala during the NABJ’s35th Annual Convention, being held in San Diego July28 to Aug. 1.NBC News and its local TV stations will also be

presented with the NABJ Best Practices Award duringthe event. In official NABJ terms, the Legacy Award

recognizes “a pioneering black print, broadcast orphotojournalist of extraordinary accomplishment whohas broken barriers and blazed trails.”Madison, a 34-year NABJ member and former

board secretary, has been an NBC Universal executivefor 18 years. She began her career as a print journalistand after becoming a television news manager, workedher way up to become the first African-Americanwoman to be general manager of a top five network-owned television station, KNBC-TV in Los Angeles.Madison recently spoke with NewsPro

correspondent Allison J. Waldman about the NABJhonors and her role promoting programs that mirrorthe diversity of NBC’s customers, clients and audiences.

NewsPro:What’s your reaction to receiving theLegacy Award from the National Association ofBlack Journalists, and NBC News and its localTV stations being recognized with the BestPractices award?

Paula Madison: The personal award, the LegacyAward, I’m very honored to receive. I’m grateful, butlike most people, I’m a little embarrassed because Ifeel like I’m just doing my job. I’m much morethrilled and excited about the Best Practicesrecognition that NBC News and our local mediadivision are getting. That made my heart sing. Thereare literally hundreds of people who are involved inthe processes that brought about that recognition. Weseek diverse talent, we groom and grow diverse talent,and then we promote diverse talent.

NewsPro: This wasn’t a competition. You didn’thave to fill out an entry form or present numbers,right?

Madison: Yes, NABJ recognized us independently.They told me we had more presidents, more vice


An NBC Legend


At the group and local TV station level, brandingand imaging was a casualty of the dramaticdownturn in the industry. While stations

struggled to stay afloat amid layoffs and plunging addollars, everything from outside media buys to new setsfor the local news broadcast went on the back burner.

Jonathan Block-Verk, president-CEO ofPromaxBDA, is just one person who thinks that’s beena bad idea. “One of the critical mistakes that a lot ofthese local stations and affiliates have made is cuttingback in the very place they should have beenexpanding,” he said. “They should have been investing.”

He is particularly concerned that some stationsreplaced the marketing director with the already over-burdened news director. For that reason, he urged bothmarketing executives and news directors with marketingresponsibilities to attend the 2010 Promax/BDAconference, which takes place in Los Angeles from June22 through 24. “We’re trying to give them the skills andinsight and tools into the new marketing paradigms,”said Block-Verk.

There’s plentiful evidence that both TV stationgroups and local stations need all the help they can get.At 602 Communications, a marketing, consulting andresearch company that works with broadcast TV, the


By Debra Kaufman

cable industry and Fortune 500 companies, PresidentGraeme Newell said that TV stations are againspending money, “and we’re seeing a tremendousamount of it going towards marketing.” But, like Block-Verk, he’s seeing the stress of previous layoffs as anobstacle to innovative marketing.

“All these marketing people are much busier anddoing jobs they never had to do before,” he said. “Thatmeans they’re feeding the beast as fast as they can. Themanager who wrote the branding plan and did thecritiques is often gone. What that means is that thebranding of TV stations has stayed like it was. Thereisn’t a lot of evolution.”

Research CurtailedInnovation in marketing comes from research thatgives insights into new directions, said Newell. “Butthose research budgets have been cut, so stations aremarketing blind,” he said. “When you don’t havethe research to base your work on, you have to takesmall steps. You can’t take bold steps or you’llprobably be wrong.”

Just as several TV station groups streamlined budgetsby centralizing broadcast operations, some havecentralized marketing. Cox Media Group’s senior

OFF THE AIR

PROMAXBDA 2010

StationsTurn to New

Platformsfor Branding


director of marketing, Winston Warrior, noted thatCMG was officially formed in August 2009 to do justthat: consolidate operations of all of the company’sbusinesses, at the same time that “individual propertiesstill take responsibility of marketing.” A coremarketing team in Atlanta supports the local brands.“My goal now is to provide our local brands with

a centralized resource for creative, strategy andmarketing solutions, so we leverage the power ofthose brands nationwide,” he said. “We are stilldiscovering ways to maximize efficiencies. Given thatone size doesn’t fit all, my team and I are providinglocal brands with marketing materials with a commonlook and feel that they can customize.”Newell said he’s seeing the trend of regional

marketing directors, but he’s less than enthusiastic.“That will save a lot of money,” he said. “But howeffective can you be if you live in Kansas City and aredoing the marketing for Des Moines? Local newsand local marketing go hand in hand.”At the Meredith Corp. station group, Tom Cox,

VP of marketing, said the marketing dollars areincreasing. Outside media spending will increase by25 percent in 2011. “It’s pretty much going totraditional places,” he said, further noting, “the moniesthat we are budgeting don’t necessarily include thedollars that we might have from a syndicator or anetwork or a retransmission consent deal.”The migration to HD is also instigating some

spending on marketing. Dan Devlin, creativedirector of Devlin Design Group, a set designcompany for broadcast, cable and the Internet, saysthe past two years have been the best in the

company’s history. “Everything we’re doing rightnow has HD in mind,” said Devlin, who namedKVAL-TV (Eugene, Ore.), KTVK-TV (Phoenix),and KTVX (Salt Lake City) as three May ratingsprojects. “Some people are now just making the switch.Some are replacing one HD set with another. It’s allHD.” Devlin Design Group currently has four call-letter stations and one new cable network launch on thebooks for summer/fall 2010.

Meredith and TwitterFor Meredith stations, nontraditional media is also abig play, said Cox, with efforts occurring on a station-by-station level. At Cox’s WGCL-TV, a CBSaffiliate in Atlanta, the news department has had greatsuccess with Twitter, becoming the most retweetedstation in the area. WSMV-TV, an NBC affiliate inNashville, also has 5,757 Twitter follows and 8,470fans on Facebook (the investigative news team hasover 1,000 fans). Cox noted that, although “the overall station brand

extends into whatever the platform is,” new media suchas online offers more flexibility. “You can haveconversations with people as opposed to the traditionalbroadcast TV model,” he said.That’s a big step in the right direction, said Newell.

“It’s not my Doppler can beat up your Doppler, or Ihave more breaking news than you do,” he said. “Arelationship with local viewers is not defined by productsbut by how the customers see themselves. We have tobe more responsive to the emotional needs of theaudience and match the product to where it helps themachieve their own goals.” �

MEREDITH’S TOM COX, ABOVE; 602COMMUNICATIONS’ GRAEME NEWELL,BELOW.

THE MIGRATION TO HD ISINSTIGATING SOME STATIONSTO ALLOT MORE RESOURCESTO MARKETING.

PROMAXBDA 2010


DirectingTrafficNewsMarketersStill FindValueinTransformedPromaxBDA By Jon Lafayette

If you’re out to learn about how to write a topical spot that will attract morepeople to tonight’s 11 p.m. newscast, at first glance, today’s PromaxBDAmay not seem to be exactly what you’re looking for.

Not that long ago, the annual gathering of promotion executives featuredthe promo professionals from hundreds of network-affiliated stations.

But in recent years, revenues at local stations have dropped through thefloor, leaving little cash for promotion departments, let alone trips topromotion conventions. That means the convention now has moreattendees who promote entertainment programming.

At the same time, there’s less on the agenda about cutting news spotsbecause in a digital age, relying solely on 30-second spots to sell televisioncontent simply won’t cut it.

‘Ask the Right Questions’ “It’s going to take a little more work on the part of the news attendee to getout of Promax what they need to get out of it,” said Frank Radice, formerexecutive VP of advertising and promotion for the NBC Agency, who nowis the expert in residence for digital ad agency and post production companyDefinition 6. “It’s not going to be fed to them on a silver platter like it usedto be. But I think the same amount of stuff is available if you know whatyou’re looking for and you recognize it and you ask the right questions.”

Given the state of the industry, a move away from concentrating onpromoting news was inevitable for Promax.

“They’ve made a smart evolution so that it’s not really just the 400 peoplein a certain profession sharing the same tricks that they all use, but reachingout to people that are successful and finding the smart duplication of oneperson’s world to another,” said Alan Ives, ABC executive producer andcreative director of ABC News.

So instead of learning how to make promos, Scot Safon, CNN executiveVP and chief marketing officer, will go to Promax to hear about howmarketing pros across the TV business are working with social media.

“Everyone’s dealing with the same exact challenges and opportunitiesin that space,” Safon said. “We’re all pretty confident that thoseconversations that go on in social media do help build interest in yourtelevision product. So how do you play in that area? It’s not like making aspot; it’s not like making a print ad or an outdoor billboard. You’re actually

going to have to create something else.”Promax President-CEO Jonathan Block-Verk acknowledges that the

focus of the conference has changed.

Station Attendance Plunged in a Decade

“Ten or 11 years ago, Promax was 6,000 promo people from the affiliatestations. Now it’s like a couple hundred, so it’s not comparable. We havemore local station attendance this year than last, but that’s not sayinganything. That’s the sad fact.”

Block-Verk said Promax now takes “a much broader look at marketing,of which promotion is a major component. It’s about television marketing.”

But he added that Promax is still valuable for people in news promotion.In fact, he said it’s more valuable that it’s ever been.

“Yes, we’ll have the sessions about doing a better promo,” he said, “butgetting a bigger, more robust context to the business and understandingwhere promo fits into the context of the entire business, that’s critical. It’sfar more critical than making a more effective 30-second spot.”

What else is valuable about Promax?“I’ve always found the most valuable thing has just been the ability

to spend a couple of days in the presence of other marketing andpromotion people from many different disciplines just talking about thesubjects that are keeping them awake at night or hearing them talk aboutthe stuff that excites them and the stuff that really worked for them in

the past year,” said CNN’s Safon. And news people also can learn

from professionals who promoteentertainment content.

“If they don’t they shouldn’twork for me,” said ABC’s Ives. “Ifmy business is telling people what’son at 10 o’clock tonight and that’sit, then we’re out of business. It’smultimedia and it’s different waysto reach targeted and niche groupsto actually convert who you needto convert and reach out and growan audience.” �

“Everyone’sdealingwiththesame exactchallenges andopportunitiesin that space.”

-Scot Safon, CNN

PROMAXBDA2009:JOURNALISTSTUART ELLIOTINTERVIEWSCANOE VENTURES’DAVID VERKLIN,LEFT; MARKETINGCONSULTANT LEEHUNT.


NewsMustKeepUp

Q&A:PromaxPresidentJonathanBlock-Verk

with ‘Glee.’ If KCRW or whoever can repurpose ortranslate the strategic execution of that marketinginitiative to news, they’re going to win big as well.

NewsPro: Is social media going to be a big chunk ofwhat’s going to be discussed?

Block-Verk: A huge part of what we’re talking about.And again, we have one session that we’re doing for thefirst time that I could absolutely see becoming anannual session, which is it’s basically the best of apps,social and augmented reality and all of the very coolstuff that’s going on and the innovative socialmarketing-driven initiatives that are going on in theinternational television industry.

NewsPro: Should promo people be attuned tobusiness models to successfully do their job?

Block-Verk: Ones who want to be successful and havea future in the business, yeah. There’s always going tobe room for the people churning out promos. But thefact of the matter is if they want to develop and evolvein their careers, yes, they absolutely have to have amuch wider context to the overall industry and theirrole within it to be successful promotion executives.That’s absolutely what they need.

NewsPro: At this point are the news promo peopleahead of or behind the curve?

Block-Verk: Way, way behind the curve. I’m paintingwith a very broad brush. There are people out therewho are doing amazing things, but I assume we’retalking about local news. Take a look at the [profit andloss] of the local market. It’s not a pretty picturebecause you have in general terms an industry resistantto change. They’ve done what they’ve done for so longand made a colossal amount of money from it thatthey would rather try to figure out how to squeezemargins by doing the same thing rather thaninnovating and experimenting with new businessmodels to adapt to the very real here and now of theway people consume media. The idea is, do the newsorganizations see Twitter as an ally or as an enemy?The ones who see it as an enemy are going to pooh-pooh it and dismiss it, but the people who see it as anally and figure out how to integrate these technologiesinto their business models are the ones who are goingto succeed. They’re the ones who are reaching a farlarger audience, a new audience. �

The annual PromaxBDA conference originated 54years ago as an association for promotion andmarketing professionals working in broadcast media,and for decades was a must-attend gathering forpromotion executives from television stations acrossthe country.

But the economic turmoil and resultant bud -getary restraints of recent years have cut severely intostation promotion departments, which have alsobeen affected by the sea change in promotionoptions and techniques wrought by the Internet. Asa result, the complexion of the crowd attending theannual event has shifted toward entertainmentprogram promotion professionals.

PromaxBDA President-CEO Jonathan Block-Verk recently discussed his organization’s changingfocus and its enduring value to television promotionprofessionals with NewsPro correspondent JonLafayette.

NewsPro: What’s new at this year’s Promaxconvention?

Jonathan Block-Verk: We have lots and lots offorward-looking innovation sessions about the newmodels of promotion and how content providers andproducers are marketing and promoting thoseprograms and that content across every conceivableemerging platform and media outlet.

And we have an amazing session that Ed Wilson,former chief revenue officer of Tribune, is puttingtogether. It’s called ‘Changed Media: How TraditionalMedia Is Changing the Face of Traditional Media.’And we have Clear Channel, the L.A. Times andTribune Television talking about what they’re doinginternally and externally to adapt to the new mediareality and how they’re adapting to the ways that peopleare consuming and will pay for content. So we’re goingto be talking newspapers, we’re going to be talkingradio, we’re going to be talking television; not what hasbeen done, but what’s being done and what will bedone in the next 18 to 24 months.

NewsPro: Do these lessons apply equally to newscontent as they do to entertainment content?

Block-Verk:Absolutely. Of course there are differencesbetween marketing ‘Glee’ and marketing the 6 o’clocknews. But the fundamentals of marketing remainabsolutely the same. For example, what Fox has done


By Debra KaufmanLast year, despite being in the midst of theindustry’s epic layoffs, the 12-station Meredithgroup bought gear. But that sizable purchase,mostly equipment from Harris Broadcast, hada cost-saving goal: By centralizing accounting,master control and traffic, Meredith planned toreduce expenses associated with operations atlocal stations.

“In the past, our capital expenditure wasmore day-to-day investment in the TVstation,” said Larry Oaks, Meredith Corp. VPof technology. “Where we’re putting thedollars has changed. Now it’s focused onimproving efficiencies and costs. And I see thattrend continuing.”

Staff StabilizationAccording to the latest annual RTNDA/Hofs-tra Survey, the draconian layoffs of the past cou-ple of years seem to have tapered off. The per-centage of TV news directors saying they expectto increase staff in 2010 shot up by 145 percent,and over 60 percent of TV news directors saythey expect staffing levels to remain the same.

And stations are beginning to spend moneyagain on their news operations, but for veryspecific goals.

One of those goals is to push the migrationof local news to HD. Although the penetrationof HD sets into U.S. households has soared, themajority of local stations are still broadcastinglocal news in standard definition. HD localnews is a competitive edge, and people like JVCassistant VP of marketing Dave Walton say thepurse strings are loosening. “We have seen inmarkets of all sizes there has been a freeing upof resources in order to proceed with the capitalmigration to HD,” he said.

Walton pointed to recent purchases to provehis point. In the past three months, JVC hassold ProHD cameras to London Broadcasting’sKBMT-TV, an ABC affiliate in Beaumont,Texas, eight stations in the Nexstar BroadcastingGroup and Hearst Television.

Hersley, who noted a bump in purchases justbefore NAB. “There are usually one or tworeasons: They’re continuing their HDmigration as well as putting in systems thatbring them more efficiencies. That way they gethigh-quality product to air as well as minimizehead count in the process of delivering it.”

Al Tompkins, group leader for broadcastingand online at the Poynter Institute, corroboratedthat spending is tied to smaller staff levels atlocal stations. “A fair number of stations areworking up plans to equip one-man-bandvideojournalists with ‘prosumer‘ gear,” he said.“I don’t hear anybody other than networks folkstalking about buying high-end camera gear atthis moment.”

Tompkins reported that broadcast groupsthat have already centralized master control

TechnologySpending to Cut CostsStations Are Making Equipment ExpendituresAgain, but With Very Specific Goals in Mind

STATIONS IN ALL SIZE MARKETS ARE INVESTING IN HD EQUIPMENT AS PURSE STRINGS LOOSEN.

operations might follow that up by centralizinggraphics.

With capital spending centered on affordablesolutions and workflows that do an end runaround traditional, more expensive ways ofoperating, it’s no surprise then that systemsintegrators are not seeing their business comefrom call-letter stations.

“I’ve never seen the business like this,” saysveteran systems integrator Marc Bressack,executive VP of Azzurro Systems Integration(ASI). “When I was with my former company,

The migration to HD isn’t the only placethat stations are spending money. Centralizingoperations is a trend directly related to the recentlayoffs. “There’s no question that [local stations]are retooling,” VIZRT Americas president Isaac

a good 20 to 30 percent of our business was call-letter stations. We are not currently bidding anycall-letter station projects.”

That doesn’t mean that systems integratorsare out of work — far from it. In addition tojobs for Scripps Network’s DIY and Fine LivingNetworks, ASI has been very busy buildingnews bureaus for Time Warner Cablethroughout the country. “It’s a good businessmodel for them,” said Bressack. “Cablecompanies need something that sets them apart,and local news does that.”

With relentless competition from cable aswell as new media, that’s another good reasonthat call-letter stations can’t afford not to spendmoney. How strategically they spend in 2010and beyond will determine how well they’ll beable to compete in the future. �


Cablevision’s success in that suit might havesurprised content carriers and providers whothought the First Amendment protected themon the Internet.

Traditional LiabilityAttorney Jon Hart, of the Media andInformation Technologies Practice at DowLohnes and author of “Internet Law: A FieldGuide,” said ordinarily “a publisher is liable,under traditional notions of agency liability, fora libelous statement made by one of itsemployees or freelancers.”

So how do bloggers, freelancers andpublishers protect themselves from similarlawsuits? The easiest answer is liability insurance.

“Big publishers all consider media liability anabsolute necessity and have done so for years

and years,” Fenstermacher said.“Smaller publishers, book authors,freelancers — in many cases theylook at online insurance as a luxury.” David Ardia, director of the

Online Media Legal Network anda fellow at Harvard University’sBerkman Center for Internet &Society, said it was “very advisable”for freelance journalists who canafford liability insurance to purchaseit, but added that carriers thatprovide coverage for individuals orsmall companies “tend to be fairlyexpensive. “There are other ways for smaller

entities and individuals to protectthemselves,” Ardia said, noting thatinsurance coverage is “a backstop,and doesn’t protect you from makingmistakes in the first place.”

Ardia said both journalists and publishersneed to use a combination of education andself-policing to help protect themselves.One of the cheapest ways of doing that is

simply to pay attention. “With cutbacks in the newsroom,” Hart

said, “you have to learn to self-edit. It’s morelikely that errors will creep into publicationswhen we remove traditional layers of editing. “There is a very important role that editors

play,” he added. “Their job is to ask lots ofquestions, and when you remove them fromthe process more errors occur.”Ardia also acknowledged the “editorial strata

is getting thinner,” and that means writers andpublishers alike have to take due precaution. “We live in a world where most journalists

now have to have some expertise in all the areas:headline writer, copy editor, fact checker,”Ardia said. Certain types of journalism pose greater

liability risks, Ardia said, and publishers andjournalists “need to be familiar with the laws

BusinessWeaving a Web of Liability Bloggers, Freelancers and Publishers IncreasinglyFace Legal Responsibilities of Internet Journalism

A 2009 BLOG REPORT THAT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL’S CHRISTMAS SHOW MIGHT BE CANCELED RESULTED IN A DEFAMATION SUIT.

“Investigative reporters need to beespecially cognitive of risks they take.”

-DAVID ARDIA, ONLINE MEDIA LEGAL NETWORK

By Jarre FeesOn July 24, 2009, the blog Cityfile: New York(now part of gawker.com) published a storyquoting an anonymous Rockette andspeculating that Radio City Music Hall’sannual Christmas show might be canceled byJames Dolan, CEO of Cablevision, whichowns Madison Square Garden and RadioCity Entertainment, which in turn operatesthe Rockettes. Three days later, Dolan, Cablevision and

Madison Square Garden filed a defamationlawsuit against Cityfile, its publisher and thereporter who wrote the piece. As part of thesettlement, Cityfile agreed to a retraction andpurged the item from its website. “That had a huge, chilling effect on Internet

journalism,” said media insurance consultantRick Fenstermacher. “Here’s a blogger justpublishing an item from his reporter, andCablevision sics the seventh largest law firm inthe world on him.” P

HOT

OGR

AP

H B

Y B

RY

AN

BE

DD

ER

, GE

TTY

IM

AG

ES


that pertain to the work they’re doing.“Investigative reporters need to be especially

cognitive of risks they take,” he said. A fewareas are especially high-risk; developers, Ardiapointed out, “historically have been very quickto file defamation suits.”

When you’re writing or publishinginvestigative or critical pieces about largecorporations, Ardia said, “Remember they viewlegal expenses as a small part of their costs. Youhave to step back and be extra careful.”

Business vs. Personal Assets

Ardia also recommended that individual blog-gers and freelancers “create a business entityaround themselves,” a limited liability company,or LLC, to separate business assets from per-sonal assets.

Most state government websites have LLCforms available online, Ardia said, and “mostindividuals can [form a company] by themselves.That limits their liability to whatever assets areowned by the business — even if their businessassets might just be a computer.”

And there might be insurance coveragealready in place that could cover some of the

legal expenses in a defamation or similar suit.If a journalist is blogging and “not making

any money at it,” she might be covered underher homeowner’s insurance, Ardia said. “If youown a trucking company and do a littleblogging on the side, you might be coveredunder your business insurance” if a lawsuit isfiled against you.

“When [blogging] changes from hobby toprofession, some insurance companies mightdraw the line,” he said. “And if you have afull-time, salaried position, the question ofliability insurance is almost always handledby the employer.”

Ardia, whose legal network (www.omln.org)helps journalists find free or affordable legalrepresentation, said that journalists need toeducate themselves on copyright anddefamation laws.

“As news organizations get smaller andsmaller,” he said, “they won’t be able to speaktruth to power, because those largeorganizations can make it expensive todefend yourself.”

But Ardia said there are people andorganizations that are “trying to provide a

RICK FENSTERMACHER,LEFT; JON HART,BELOW LEFT; DAVIDARDIA, BELOW.

counterweight and level the playing field.Even someone who is perfect can face alawsuit, and it’s important for folks to beaware of what resources are available. Thereare lawyers out there who are willing to help.”

To help educate journalists, Citizen MediaLaw Project offers Online Media Law: TheBasics for Bloggers and Other Publishers, afree course at www.poynter.org /column. -asp?id= 01&aid=150968. ❑

Sign up for your free subscription at www.tvweek.com/newsletters

Your online source for the mostimportant industry news.


ay 14, 2010, marked my eight-yearanniversary working in TV news.

At the beginning of my eight years Iwas a neurologist in private practice,going back to school to earn a master’sdegree in journalism. The news directorat Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV (CBS,Channel 2) offered me an internshipand kept me on as the medical reporter.

With contemporary newsroom pressures I’m not sure that wouldhappen as readily today. I feel fortunate to work in a specialtynewsroom, where, in addition to anchors, sports and weather, we havea political reporter, three investigative reporters, a consumer reporterand (gasp) even a features reporter. I cover the health and medicalnews of the day.

This level of specialization and proficiency is rare in the industry.The trend these days in most newsrooms is toward generalism. Areporter might cover crime one day, politics the next, entertainment

Health BeatLooking Back at Eight Years on the Air

the day after that, and then maybe something medical. The trend isdoing more with less. But it elevates utility at the expense of mastery.

Luckily, the nature of Pittsburgh lends itself to what I do. The cityhas a hardy medical infrastructure with major academic medicalcenters and strong community hospitals. There are lots of patientsgetting care, lots of research being done and an older population withan above-average interest in health and medical news. I help to deliverthat content.

Interpreting Medical IssuesMy background has been useful in my reporting. Some of the big hardnews stories I’ve covered include the Sago Mine disaster (carbonmonoxide poisoning), the death of the city’s mayor (primary CNSlymphoma) and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (concussions).

Ironically, all of these involved the brain — my organ of expertise. Icould interpret what the doctors were saying at the press conferences. Iknew what resources would help explain the events better to the public.

Having the formal training in journalism is a plus, too. When Iteach medical journalism to medical students, I’ve noticed that writingquickly, succinctly and conversationally (broadcast style) is not intuitiveto most doctors-to-be. Also J-school teaches the fundamentals of thecraft (process, principles, ethics, etc.) that a newsroom will not — thestuff that has to be automatic in the rough and tumble of the news day.

Ranks Shrinking I hope I’ll be around for another eight years, though patterns across“the biz” portend a poor prognosis for specialty reporting. I predictsmaller newsgathering and news producing staffs, more web personneland fewer medical reporters like me. But I hope, for the sake ofconveying health and medical information to the public in athoughtful, analytical, credible and insightful way, that there willalways be a place in TV news for the specialty medical reporter. ❑

Dr. Maria Simbra is an Emmy Award-winning medical journalist atKDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. She is vice president of the National Associationof Medical Communicators.

When I teach medical journalism to medical students, I’ve noticed that writing quickly,succinctly and conversationally(broadcast style) is not intuitive tomost doctors-to-be.

MARIA SIMBRA, M.D.

MWant to STAND OUT

from the crowd?Turn your NewsPro coverage into a Reprint

Contact Lauren Melesio at 212.210.0707 or [email protected] for information on how to turnyour Crain’s press coverage into great marketing.

Ask about our custom Reprint Products:

Hard Copy Reprints • Eprints • Plaques

Web Banners & Buttons • Newsletters

Trade Show Collateral • Postcards

NewsmakersWalter Allen has joined WSYX-TV inColumbus, Ohio, as reporter and fill-in anchorfrom KCWY-TV in Casper, Wyo., where hewas main anchor-reporter.

Sonia Baghdady was promoted to 5 p.m. and11 p.m. anchor at WTNH-TV inHartford/New Haven, Conn., from hermorning anchor position.

Kevin Benz, news director at News 8 Austin(Texas), has been elected chair-elect of theRadio Television Digital News Association.Benz will coordinate the 2011 RTDNAconvention, to be held September 2011 in New Orleans.

Jaime Chambers has been renewed as reporterwith KTLA-TV in Los Angeles.

Vince Dementri has joined WPIX-TV in NewYork as nightside reporter from WPRI-TV/WNAC-TV in Providence, R.I., where hewas morning and noon anchor.

Hakem Dermish has added weekend sportsanchor duties to his producing andreporting responsibilities at WRC-TV inWashington.

Kalee Dionne has joined WIAT-TV inBirmingham, Ala., as weekday morningweathercaster from WICA-TV in Champaign,Ill., where she was weekend weather reporter.

Michael Dupre has joined WTXL-TV inTallahassee, Fla., as anchor of the 6 p.m. and11 p.m. newscasts from KNBN-TV in RapidCity, S.D., where he was an anchor.

Mae Fesai has been promoted to weekendmorning anchor at KCRA-TV in Sacramento.

Julie Fine has joined WPXI-TV inPittsburgh, Pa., as a reporter from WKBW-TV in Buffalo, N.Y.

Ellen Goldberg has been renewed as leadreporter for KXAS-TV in Dallas.

Kelly Hessedal has joined KSAZ-TV in

Phoenix as a reporter from WREG-TV inMemphis, Tenn.

Andrew Humphrey has been promoted toweekday morning meteorologist fromweekend meteorologist at WDIV-TV in Detroit.

Kelly Jones has joined KCTV in Kansas City,Mo. as weekday morning anchor from atKFMB-TV in San Diego, where she was a reporter.

Kirsten Joyce has joined the weekend eveningnews team at KCPQ-TV in Seattle as co-anchor/reporter from KTVK-TV in Phoenix,where she was weekend anchor and reporter.

Shauna Khorrami has joined KSTU-TV inSalt Lake City, as a weekday morning anchorfrom KMIR-TV in Palm Springs, Calif.

Antwan Lewis has joined WNYW-TV in New York as a reporter from WGN-TV in Chicago.

Melissa Mack has been promoted toweekday morning weathercaster at WBZ-TVin Boston.

Kera Mashek has joined KWWL-TV inWaterloo, Iowa, as a reporter from KSN-TVin Great Bend, Kan.

Jonathan Myers has been renewed as noon and 5 p.m. meteorologist for WWL-TV inNew Orleans.

Rob Piercy was promoted to anchor atNorthwest Cable News in addition to hisreporting duties at KING-TV in Seattle.

Ted Scouten has been renewed as reporter withWFOR-TV in Miami.

Ron Smiley has joined WXIN-TV inIndianapolis as weekend meteorologist fromWDSU-TV in New Orleans.

Don Teague has been renewed as freelancenetwork correspondent with CBS News.

Jackie Tranchida has joined KMAX-TV/KOVR-TV in Sacramento, Calif., as areporter-anchor.

Jamison Uhler has joined WFTS-TV inTampa, Fla., as evening anchor from WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, where he has been ageneral assignment reporter and fill-in anchor.

Jonathan Vigliotti has been renewed as digitalreporter with WPLG-TV in Miami.

Jason Wheeler has been renewed as co-anchorof “We Are Austin Live” at KEYE-TV inAustin, Texas.


Career Coaching &

TalentRepresentation

www.NoWhiningTalent.com817-987-3600

BUILDING RESUME TAPES & CAREERSwww.talentapes.com

(706) 364-7564

Do you have......a product or service to sell?

...to the news business?

Advertise in

Contact Danny Schreiber503-723-9688


ou’ve likely heard the newsroom axiom, “Ifyour mother says she loves you, check it out.”The principle behind that piece of familial

advice is pretty clear: Assume nothing; verifyeverything. A healthy dose of skepticism isgood for your journalistic soul and couldprevent you from making embarrassingmistakes — or then again, judging from the

success of a recent hoax, maybe not.In May, lots of newsroom staffers in the Midwest learned some hard

lessons about the “maybe not” side of checking things out when theyfell victim to a hoaxter who goes by the name Kenny “K-Strauss”Strasser. Borat has nothing on Kenny, who managed to fool more thana half-dozen TV news operations into believing he’s a yo-yo master.Supposedly, Kenny’s real passion was saving the Earth. He told the

stations’ producers and editors that he travels to schools teachingchildren the joys of protecting the planet. Along the way, he raps andshows off his yo-yo skills. The combination of children and Earth-friendly hype helped him maneuver his way into live interviews onseveral morning TV newscasts on such stations as KQTV and KODE-TV in Missouri and WFRV-TV, WISC-TV and WMTV inWisconsin. During the awkward live interviews he rambled on abouta bizarre mix of topics, including his school appearances, failedrelationships and struggles with drugs and alcohol. Of course it was all bogus. The video of the live interviews, which quickly

went viral, is jaw-dropping — stupid and funny atonce. His attempts to demonstrate elaborate yo-yotricks are pathetic; during one demonstration heaccidentally hits himself in the head. So how did Strasser manage to string all these stations along? It took

an elaborate ruse of news releases, e-mails and the creation of a ZimZam Yo-Yo website, and included a promotional piece and follow-upcalls from a PR person. The news staff working “Sunrise 7,” the morning newscast on

WSAW-TV in Wausau, Wis., was another victim of the hoax. “Afterit, we met as a staff to see what we could have done differently,” saidSusan Ramsett, WSAW news director and evening anchor. “Wechecked him out online and did the typical emails back and forth withhis PR rep and asked all the questions. We did a background check onhim, like we do anytime someone says they’re working with children,and we used CCAP [the Wisconsin Consolidated Court AutomationProgram]. We put him in and there was nothing.” Added Lisa Malak, who anchors the “Sunday Morning” newscast

on WFRV-TV in Green Bay, Wis.: “We scheduled with him thinkingyo-yo tricks would be fun. Just before we were set to go on, he said, ‘Oh,

Sign OffCheck the Facts, Then Check ’em Again

I thought this was a sit-down interview. I don’t have a string in my yo-yo because I just had it waxed.’ Well, I’m no yo-yo champion, so itsounded reasonable to me and the crew in the studio, that he wouldn’tbring a working yo-yo if it was a sit-down, and not a demonstration.”The success of the K-Strauss charade brings to mind a few questions:

Is there some lesson from this hoax about how stations check out guests?

“I always remind my staff about attribution before assertion,” saidsaid Mark Kraham, news director at WHAG-TV in Hagerstown,Md., and new chairman of the RTDNA. “Don’t take this as criticism[of the hoaxed stations], but who says this guy is the world championyo-yo king, not just him or some Zim Zam website. It occurred to me,if this guy is on live, he could have said anything or done anything. Soit reminds you of what you’re buying into. But it’s always easier to lookback and say what we should have done”

Is K-Strauss’ success representative of today’s new reality of doing morenews with less staff? Is process getting lost along the way?

“I don’t think it has gotten lost in the dust,” said Kraham. “But yousure are working on less of a margin. Every one of us has said we wishwe had more human resources to throw at any given story we’reinvestigating or following.”

Yet WSAW’s Ramsett said this wasn’t an issue about staffing, and,like so many other stations, the morning newscasts at WSAW are apriority where they’ve put more resources.

What’s the fallout from the staff? Do you laugh about it now?

“I think the staff members who worked on the shift, where heappeared, think it a whole lot less funny than everyone else,” saidRamsett. “They feel taken advantage of. It was best expressed by Amy[Pflugshaupt], who did the interview with him. ‘I’m suddenly viralvideo and I have friends from college, who’ve never seen my work. Whydidn’t they see the nights that I had to wake up in the middle of thenight and go cover that fire? Instead they’re seeing me get punked bythis yo-yo guy.’ So no, it’s not harmless.”So what’s the lesson in all this? If you’re mother says she loves you,

check it out. But first make sure that she’s really your mother. �

The video of the live interviews, which quicklywent viral, is stupid and funny at once.

BY TOM PETNER

YThe Importance of Verification Reinforced After ‘Yo-Yo Master’ Punks Stations

CNN SUPPORTS DIVERSITY IN

JOURNALISM AND PROUDLY SALUTES

SOLEDAD O’BRIENRECIPIENT OF THE NABJ JOURNALIST

OF THE YEAR AWARD

WE ARE WHAT WE AIR. WE AIR WHAT WE ARE.

® & © 2010 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.

Documents

October 2009 June 2010 DIVERSITY DILEMMA · GoogleTV Threat Local TV News Faces a New Competitor for Viewers Page 4 Saluting the Best Black, Hispanic Journalists to Fete Their Own