Audiences are conflicted about COVID-19 news. They want it, while also wanting a break from it.
So what is a newsroom to do?
This article from Poynter suggests newsrooms not let up:
“The press’ job is to keep accurate information coming — as much of it as it can and as fast as it can. If audiences want to step away from time to time for their own sanity, they should. But the media needs to keep being there. All the time.”
The Society of Professional Journalists is repurposing its annual Day of Giving to be a Day of Giving Back to aid journalists in need of financial assistance.
On April 30, instead of raising funds to support SPJ programs as it usually does on Day of Giving, SPJ will ask supporters to help provide financial relief for journalists affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through the creation of the Journalists’ Emergency Fund.
Donations will provide emergency support of up to $500 to cover rent, food and other ongoing expenses for affected journalists as we continue to battle through the pandemic. Follow and share the campaign on social media using #SPJGivesBack.
Journalists will be able to apply online and each application will be reviewed on a case by case basis. Because funds are often needed immediately, decisions will be made as quickly as possible upon receipt of the application.
Join RTDNA on Wednesday, May 20, at 1 p.m. CT for a workshop on understanding your creative evolution and learn how to leverage your personality type in your professional life.
The luxury of time is not something we often find ourselves with in the fast-paced environment of news. While COVID-19 has presented many challenges, it has also presented many opportunities to take a minute and learn how we, and the teams we manage, work best. The only way to grow yourself professionally IS to know yourself professionally. In this 60-minute webinar, we explore your Myers-Briggs personality type and dive into how you can leverage it professionally to be more productive, more creative and advocate for yourself as we all navigate this new WFH landscape. We will also go over ways to work and collaborate with each type so that you can better understand your team and colleagues as you begin to have a deeper connection with yourself.
Free to all, no RTDNA membership required. Register here.
A video and recap will be posted here and emailed to all registrants following the live event.
Speaker: Victoria “Vix” Reitano, a former journalist turned entrepreneur who has managed brands, social media and content at Time Inc, ABC, NBC and Telepictures. Reitano launched her own company, 6boro (Social + Studios), in 2015 (five years after graduating from Quinnipiac University) and has served over 100 clients since her agency began including The United Nations, CKO Kickboxing, Elite World Group and dozens of other businesses of all sizes – she even handled marketing for the ad:tech conference in 2017! She has served as a Society of Professional Journalists trainer with the Google News Initiative for the last five years and trained thousands of students, journalists and pros worldwide.
The Cap Times published an article this weekend about how TV journalists in Madison are coping with working under the COVID-19 pandemic.
The article profiles a few journalists and shows how they’re managing to do their work from their homes and social distancing.
You can check out the article here.
The Rick Jowett Fellowship was established in 2017 by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation to support educational opportunities for photographers and videographers who work in media in Wisconsin.
Recipients of the fellowship can use the grant for professional development in the areas of photography and videography. Applicants must specify how the funds will be used.
Potential uses include but are not limited to courses offered by the National Press Photographers Association, the Poynter Institute, or any accredited college or university.
This fellowship intends to award a total of up to $2,000 in grants annually to multiple recipients to cover part or all of the recipients’ expenses.
Submission deadline is June 1. Apply here
About Rick Jowett
Rick grew up in a media family. His grandfather was CEO of Forward Communications which owned several television stations throughout the country. His family was also involved in the print media, the Wausau Herald. While in high school Rick began his career as a photographer working for the Wausau Herald.
Rick Jowett completed his degree in journalism (UW-Madison) in the late 70s. Following graduation, Rick started his career in broadcasting as a still photographer at WMTV-TV, in Madison, Wisconsin.
Rick began working with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association in 1985 as the Association’s event photographer. He served graciously and unconditionally until his passing.
News audiences are hungry for local information about COVID-19, according to the Center for Media Engagement.
In this article Katalina Deaven outlines a survey in which they asked people what pandemic information they’re looking for from their local news outlets.
The takeaway: “People are turning to their local newsrooms for information they can’t get from national outlets. Of the news posts we looked at, however, only 65% focused on local information.”
Check out the article before your next editorial meeting.
The COVID-19 pandemic is changing habits, including how viewers consume TV news.
Research is showing growth in linear viewing of local news over video on demand views.
“In the March 2020 survey of more than 1,300 U.S. news consumers aged 18-64, SmithGeiger found that 85% of Americans have seen their lives affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Some journalists are contending with access issues as their local and state governments cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
RTDNA released today a letter to journalists calling on them to bring attention to situations in which reporters are being kept in the dark. It also released a list of standards to promote transparency during daily briefings.
You can find the letter here and the list of standards here.
After three years of covering sports at FOX 6 (WITI-TV) in Milwaukee, Kaitlin Sharkey is headed to Chicago.
Sharkey will be working for FOX 32.
Prior to WITI-TV, Sharkey covered sports for WBAY-TV in Green Bay and WSAW-TV in Wausau.
WMTV-TV anchor John Stofflet appeared in a video from RTDNA highlighting advice from anchor across the county on covering the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ten anchor leaders, alumni of the RTDNA/Loyola University Chicago Anchor & Producer Leadership Summit shared there advice here.
Stofflet appears at about 3:18.
WBA Newsroom