A new “State of Public Trust in Local News” report from Knight and Gallup shows that local news is trusted, and is more trusted than national news organizations, but not as strongly as previously thought.
This article from RTDNA digs into the report to see what local newsrooms could do to bolster their position.
One of the takeaways is that the audience is looking for more accountability reporting. Read the article to learn more.
WSAW-TV morning reporter and weekend anchor/producer Emily Boyer has taken a job in Florida.
Boyer was at the Wausau station for two years.
She will be morning assignment editor and traffic anchor/reporter at WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Florida.
RTDNA is offering a webinar next month on how to improve newsroom hiring and retention.
The webinar will cover:
• How to hire a rockstar team that complements and builds your newsroom’s skills.
• How to avoid common mistakes that can even break the law.
• How to retain great employees, and when they do leave, how to use their success to hire amazing replacements, raising the bar for everyone.
• How to train your managers to hire as well as you do.
Journalists work with many public information officers these days, but at least one journalist-turned-PIO thinks the PIOs are underutilized.
Hannah Mohelnitzky was a journalist and is now a PIO for the City of Madison Engineering Department.
She produced this video for the WBA Young Professionals explaining how journalists can get the most out of their relationship with local PIOs.
The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association with partners Google News Lab, UW School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and The Poynter Institute are offering an intensive day of training to help journalists cover the 2020 Presidential election. This training is led by Poynter’s Senior Faculty Al Tompkins.
Al Tompkins
The workshop is perfect for reporters, MMJs, producers, news managers, online and social media producers and assignment editors. Stations are welcome to send teams to attend.
In addition to Wisconsin being a toss-up state, nearby Milwaukee is also where the Democrats will hold their National Convention. We will be hosted at the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism and Mass Communication. This is one of only four such sessions to be offered across the U.S.
The workshop will be held Saturday, Jan. 25 at the University of Wisconsin -Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The university has been doing national studies on voter behaviors and hot topics.
The day is aimed at helping journalists move beyond typical horse-race political coverage to deeply and meaningfully explore key issues that will shape the nation’s future.
The agenda will include:
How to cover big important election issues in a way the public will watch including:
What journalists need to know about election finances including:
What journalists have to know about polling including:
How the American electoral system works
RTDNA Executive Director Dan Shelley is using Free Speech Week as an opportunity to illustrate how free speech benefits local communities and what would happen without it.
In his column, Shelley highlights attacks on journalists and how journalists are charged with continuing to produce trustworthy journalism in the face of threats.
He also provides examples of Murrow Award winners who serve the public through journalism and combating the erosion of the First Amendment.
If you’re not familiar with Reddit, you might not realize the potential it has as a newsroom tool, but you might also not be aware of the ways in which it shouldn’t be used.
The Knight-Cronkite News Lab is writing about the best and worst ways newsrooms can use Reddit.
While Reddit can be a great source for news, journalists should know that it’s not a space that works for self-promotion.
A report from Amanda St. Hilaire on WITI-TV in Milwaukee is drawing attention to records about investigations of state lawmaker behavior that are not available to the public. She found that most state lawmakers didn’t care to comment on the practice.
The story includes comments from Wisconsin FOIC members April Barker and Tom Kamenick.
Rend more and watch the story here.
How much have you been charged to get copies of public records? Wisconsin law allows records custodians to charge a reasonable fee, but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “reasonable.”
The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council discussed this at a meeting on Thursday after this report of lawmakers using costs to deflect records requests. The Council also discussed the case of a records custodian in Wisconsin that, by policy, charges a minimum $55 for all records request. This is believed to be in violation of state open records statutes.
If you’ve ever got a question about open records fees, contact Your WBA at 608-255-2600 or contact@wi-broadcasters.org or call the WBA Legal Hotline.
The 2020 election might be more than a year away, but for newsrooms, it’s going to be a challenging year, especially with the rise of misinformation in election news.
The American Press Institute released this article this week about how newsrooms are preparing themselves for the fact-checking that will be needed over the next 13 months.
The article cites some examples about how other newsrooms are combating misinformation.
WBA Newsroom