Thank you to all the newsrooms doing their best to serve Wisconsin throughout the year, but especially those who are away from their families today because the duty of broadcasting has them in the field or the newsroom over the holiday.
Wisconsin’s broadcast newsrooms have many reasons to be proud.
No Thanksgiving is complete without reliving this classic report from Les Nessman:
An upcoming FREE webinar led by WBA Hall of Famer Jill Geisler is aimed at helping men who want to be allies to women, people of privilege who want to do more to fight inequity, and powerful individuals who want to be better advocates for change.
The “Do You Qualify as an Ally” webinar will teach:
The webinar is from the Power Shift Project.
Do you have a great idea to improve fact-finding in journalism?
Apply for the Fact-Finding Innovation Initiative, a joint project of the Facebook Journalism Project and the International Fact-Checking Network at the Poynter Institute. Grants will be given out at $15,000, $50,000, and $70,000.
The first round of applications closes on Dec. 8! Learn more and apply here.
If you’re busy in the newsroom, you might not be aware of all the work engineers are currently doing to prepare your TV station for new technology that could affect viewership.
RTDNA is providing an update with this article about visual experiments that could be paradigm changing for TV.
The new technology could be attractive to new, younger viewers.
The WBA is offering a workshop and numerous webinars to help prepare journalists for the 2020 elections.
We told you earlier about this Poynter workshop featuring Al Tompkins which will take place in Madison on Jan. 25. Just this week we’ve added a two part webinar titled “Covering the 2020 Elections” which will also be with Al Tompkins. The workshop on Jan. 25 will be far more in-depth, but if you can’t make it, the webinars, held Dec. 3 and Dec. 10, are free to WBA members.
There are also two webinars on Jan. 16 titled “2020 Election Cycle FAQ” at noon (CT) and “2020 Election: Making Local Reporting Resonate” at 2 p.m. (CT).
Both are also free to WBA members. We hope you can take full advantage of these training resources ahead of the 2020 election.
Eight Wisconsin broadcasters won 22 awards last weekend from the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
The following awards were handed out Saturday in Chicago:
Outstanding Achievement for News Programming – Evening Newscast: Smaller Markets (51+)
WISC, Madison: Historic Flooding in Southern Wisconsin
Stephanie Fryer, Producer; Sierra Linton, Director; Gary Cannalte, Erik Franke, Anchors; Keely Arthur, Adam Duxter, Rose Schmidt, Reporters; Leah Linscheid, Kobe MacDonald, Editors
Outstanding Achievement for News Programming – Newscast: Smaller Markets (51+)
WGBA, Green Bay: Winter Storm
Brooke Hafs, Anchor; Michael Fish, Gino Recchia, Meteorologists; Emily Beier, Reporter; Eric O’Neil, Director; Elyse Maccabee, Alice Reid, Producers; Matt Kohls, Kyle Spoelstra, Photographers; Ben Anderson, Editor; Stacy Engebretson, Executive Producer; Jonathan Gneiser, Assignment Desk Editor; Tyler Wood, Editor
Outstanding Achievement for News Specialty Report/Series – Arts/Culture/ Entertainment
WITI, Milwaukee: Things That Go Ding
Carl Deffenbaugh, Reporter; Andrew Konkle, LeeAnn Watson, Producers
Outstanding Achievement for News Specialty Report/Series – Environment
WITI, Milwaukee: The Last Straw
Ted Perry, Reporter; Andrew Konkle, Sara Smith, Producers
Outstanding Achievement for News Specialty Report/Series – Health/Science
WITI, Milwaukee: Bedside Baritone
Ted Perry, Reporter; Andrew Konkle, Sara Smith, Producers
Outstanding Achievement for News Specialty Report/Series – Human Interest
WMTV, Madison: Making A Difference
Curt Lenz, Jeremy Nichols, Producers; Tim Elliott, John Stofflet, Reporters
Outstanding Achievement for News Specialty Report/Series – Military
WITI, Milwaukee: Feast Of Crispian
Carl Deffenbaugh, Reporter; Andrew Konkle, Sara Smith, LeeAnn Watson, Producers
Outstanding Achievement for News Specialty Report/Series – Sports (Award to the Reporter/Producer)
WITI, Milwaukee: Godzilla Power
Brandon Cruz, Carl Deffenbaugh, Reporters; Aaron Frye, Samuel Gaudet, Anna Hull, Jonathan McWalter, Producers
Outstanding Achievement for News Specialty Report/Series – Weather
WITI, Milwaukee: Storm Chasing
Rachael Kaye, Reporter; LeeAnn Watson, Kale Zimny, Producers
Outstanding Achievement for Documentary Programs – Cultural
PBS Wisconsin: Hip Hop U: The First Wave Scholars
Trevor Keller, Ryan Ward, Producers; Christine Sloan-Miller, Executive Producer
Outstanding Achievement for Informational/Instructional Programming – Program/Special/Series/Feature/Segment
WITI, Milwaukee: Contact 6
Jenna Sachs, Reporter; Stephen Davis, Aaron Frye, Jerry Imig, David McAlister, Dave Michuda, Podkayne Miller, Tim Primeau, Varyl Seiber, LeeAnn Watson, Producers
Outstanding Achievement for Interview/Discussion Programming – Program/Special/Series/ Segment
WISN, Milwaukee: Project Community: Split State
Benjamin Hart, Renee Raffaelli, Executive Producers; Derrick Rose, Host; Sean Downs, Jason Hunter, Producers
Outstanding Achievement for Magazine Programming – Program/Special/ Series
PBS Wisconsin: Wisconsin Life #608 – “Go with the Flow”
Kelly Saran, Series Producer; Trevor Keller, Zac Schultz, Segment Producers; Christine Sloan-Miller, Executive Producer
Outstanding Achievement for Magazine Programming – Segment
PBS Wisconsin: Coffin Artist
Joel Waldinger, Producer; Christine Sloan-Miller, Executive Producer
Outstanding Achievement for Public/Current/Community Affairs Programming – Program/Special
Milwaukee PBS: 10thirtysix: A Hope for Tomorrow
Maryann Lazarski, Executive Producer/Segment Producer; Scottie Lee Meyers, Co-Producer; Erica Drehfal, Darin Malkowski, Associate Producers; Portia Young, Host; Raul Galvan, Bohdan Zachary, Executive Producers
Outstanding Achievement for Children/Youth/Teen Programming – Program/Special/Series
Milwaukee PBS: Kids in Crisis: You’re Not Alone
Maryann Lazarski, Scottie Lee Meyers, Producers; Rory Linnane, Co-Producer; Brian Ewig, Gail G. Grzybowski, Darin Malkowski, Chris Michalski, Justin Migliano, Bill Schulz, Associate Producers; James Fitzhenry, Raul Galvan, Bohdan Zachary, Executive Producers
Outstanding Achievement for Interactivity
WTMJ, Milwaukee: Project Drive Sober: Comprehensive Multimedia Journalism That’s Saving Lives
Nicole Buckley, Executive Producer; Shannon Sims, Anchor; Rachael Glaszcz, Producer; Paul Marble, Tamott Wolverton, Photographers; James Kust, Digital Director; Marty Hobe, Digital Producer
Outstanding Crafts Achievement for On-Camera Talent – Program Host/Moderator
Milwaukee PBS: John McGivern – Around the Corner with John McGivern
Outstanding Crafts Achievement for On-Camera Talent – Weather Anchor
WGBA, Green Bay: Cameron Moreland – Composite
Outstanding Crafts Achievement for On-Camera Talent – Investigative Reporter
WITI, Milwaukee: Amanda St. Hilaire – Composite
Outstanding Crafts Achievement Off-Air: Editor – News
WITI, Milwaukee: Andrew Konkle – Composite
Outstanding Crafts Achievement Off-Air: Editor – Program (Non-News)
PBS Wisconsin: Ryan Ward – Hip-Hop U: The First Wave Scholars
The full list of winners can be found here.
The American Press Institute is offering a paid summer internship in news analytics.
This person should be a college student or recent graduate with interest in the following:
This person will work with API’s Metrics for News team.
Learn more and find application information here.
A lawsuit announced Friday challenges the Madison School District’s decision to deny an open records request citing the unwillingness of the requester to identify themselves.
The suit alleges that the district is unlawfully insisting that the requester identify themselves before it will turn over records.
Tom Kamenick, President and Founder of the Wisconsin Transparency Project, is representing the requester. He said the law does not allow a request to be denied because the district cannot determine if releasing the records to the requester would be a security concern.
Journalists know well the importance of avoiding “officialese” when writing. That is, they know they should avoid using the same vocabulary as their sources and instead write using words that make their message as clear and concise as possible.
This article takes this to the next step by suggesting that critical thinking is the key to writing with clarity and precision.
Key quote from the article: “Is this the best way we can characterize [something] based on the facts we have?”
A resolution that would punish anyone who edits before publishing a news release about water conservation has been watered down and tabled after two Lafayette County meetings on Tuesday.
“Under no circumstances is the media allowed to glean information and selectively report it in order to interpret the results for their own means,” the original resolution stated. “Violators will be prosecuted.”
The resolution brought criticism from open government advocates and got attention from national media outlets.
Details of the outcome from Tuesday’s meetings are available here.
WBA Newsroom