Don’t let the doubt produced by imposter syndrome keep you from giving your best in the newsroom.
WBA Hall of Famer, Bill Plante Chair in Leadership & Media Integrity, Loyola University Chicago, and Freedom Forum Fellow in Women’s Leadership, Jill Geisler, wrote on this topic for the Journalism Institute.
Here article titled “7 ways to outsmart ‘Imposter Syndrome’ is available here.
A morning show co-anchor at WSAW-TV in Wausau is moving to Milwaukee.
Emerson Lehmann will be a reporter at CBS 58 (WDJT-TV). Lehmann grew up in Milwaukee.
He starts his new job in November.
A reporter at KBJR-TV in Duluth is being promoted to assistant news director.
Jessie Slater joined the station in January 2017 and has served as weekend anchor, 5 p.m. anchor, and 10 p.m. weekday lead reporter. She led coverage of the Duluth City Council and Duluth School Board.
Her promotion comes after Assistant News Director Briggs LeSavage was promoted to news director.
Slater graduated from Lyndon State College’s Electronic Journalism Arts program. After graduation she became the morning/noon news anchor and producer for WOAY-TV in Oak Hill, West Virginia before joining KBJR-TV as reporter.
She will continue to anchor the news weekdays at 5 p.m.
Assistant News Director Briggs LeSavage has been promoted to news director at KBJR-TV in Duluth.
A Duluth native, LeSavage started at KBJR-TV as a co-anchor, producer, and reporter in 2016. She’s a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota where she studied communications and journalism.
“Our viewers are very fortunate to have some excellent journalists from outside of our area who call Duluth home,” Todd Wentworth, KBJR VP-general manager, said. “Our newsroom is just as fortunate to have a ‘home-grown’ leader in Briggs LeSavage. I am so proud to have promoted a person from within who has grown up here. In the end, our market and our viewers will benefit from Briggs’ journalistic instincts and dedication to the area … her hometown.”
“It’s been a huge honor to tell stories in the community I grew up in,” LeSavage said. “Now, I’m grateful to be able to continue that work in a new role; one that will allow me to be an even greater voice for my neighbors across the Northland. I recognize the extreme value local news plays in today’s world and I am very much looking forward to taking that to new heights here at KBJR 6/CBS 3.”
The media attention on the case of Gabrielle Petito has some media critics using the case to point out how some missing person cases get more attention than others.
Check out this article from the New York Times.
Your WBA is offering free training to newsrooms on how to report on suicide deaths. The free training comes from the Poynter Institute. It was held Sept. 15 and the recording is now available here.
Here’s more about the session:
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, in fact far more people die of suicide than homicide, yet it gets a fraction of our media coverage. This workshop will help you find ways to cover this epidemic of preventable deaths by boosting your awareness, knowledge and skills in covering this vital topic.
We will:
-Explode some myths about suicide including
“It was a total surprise… nobody had any idea this was coming.”
Almost always there are signs that a person is considering ending their own life.
“He just snapped.” Suicide almost always has many ingredients.
“We can’t talk about suicides because it will cause more of them.”
You can cover the story while minimizing the harm that careless coverage may cause.
-Document some of the most vulnerable populations. Young people, seniors, transsexual, gay, lesbian and bisexual populations are all at a greater suicide risk. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year old Americans.
-Gun violence is a major part of any discussion about suicide. Far more gun deaths are cases of suicide than homicide, yet it is homicide that makes the news every night.
-Eighty to ninety percent of people who seek treatment for depression are treated successfully using therapy and/or medication. We want this discussion to encourage you to talk to your audiences about self-care.
-This workshop is focused on reporting about deaths by suicide, not ignoring it. The more confident journalists are in their abilities to responsibly cover difficult topics, the more likely they are to tackle tough issues and raise public awareness.
This workshop is led by The Poynter Institute’s Al Tompkins and Kelly McBride who have taught thousands of journalists worldwide how to ethically cover difficult issues. Tompkins is Senior Faculty at the Poynter Institute. Kelly McBride is the Institute’s Senior Vice President and leads Poynter’s ethics program. Together they combine more than 65 years of journalism and teaching in newsrooms including the biggest networks and newspapers to the smallest markets in all 50 states, Canada, South Africa, Egypt, Japan, Ecuador, Iceland, Czech Republic and beyond.
Free to WBA members. Watch here.
The President of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council will be inducted into the National Freedom of Information Coalition’s State Open Government Hall of Fame.
Bill Lueders is one of four to be inducted Sept. 30.
The Coalition wrote of Leuders:
Bill Lueders is editor of The Progressive and author of “An Enemy of the State,” the biography of the late editor of The Progressive, Erwin Knoll. Lueders was news editor at Isthmus, Madison’s alternative weekly, for 25 years, and won dozens of state and national awards. In 2011, he moved to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative
Journalism, where he became one of Wisconsin’s leading investigative reporters. He joined the staff of The Progressive in 2015, and was named editor in September 2018. He has been the President of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council for two decades, and has been the driving force behind the Open Government Road Show and other efforts to educate the public in transparent governance.
“In our hyper-partisan environment, Bill is even-handed in his praise and scorn for public officials on matters of open government, regardless of political party and Bill’s personal orientation as editor of The Progressive,” said Christa O. Westerberg, co-vice president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council. “Bill’s opinion matters, and politicians can count on Bill to publicly ‘call it as he sees it,’ no matter their views on other issues.”
The inductees will be honored during a ceremony at the NFOIC’s 2021 FOI Summit, conducted online Sept. 28-30. The Hall of Fame Ceremony will be 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30.
The following comes from NAB:
September is Suicide Prevention Month. For reporters covering suicides, reporting best practices can help to reduce suicide contagion. One study found that there was a 13% increase in deaths following celebrity suicides. Save.org and Cisco have joined forces to support journalists and content creators to reduce the risk of additional suicides by providing this tool to review article text and suggest best practices.
Across the country, local broadcast stations are also using their platforms to raise awareness about suicide prevention resources in their communities. WTWO/WAW in Terre Haute, Ind., interviews local leaders working to reduce the impact of suicide. “Help is always available,” says Missy Burton with Hamilton Center, a local behavioral health system.
Denver’s CBS4 encourages viewers to check in with loved ones. “We want to encourage anyone struggling right now to really engage in social interactions and talk to those trusted people in their lives about what they’re feeling,” says Whitney Kearney, a licensed counselor in Denver.
Chicago’s ABC7 highlights an award-winning film with local ties that aims to “encourage conversation to check on your friends and family and inform them of the help that’s available and to raise awareness of suicide prevention.”
By highlighting local connections and resources and providing the most-trusted information in their local communities, broadcasters have the power to effect meaningful change on issues like suicide prevention. Learn more about broadcasters’ important work around the country at WeAreBroadcasters.com.
If you or someone who know needs help, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to 741741.
The Reynolds Journalism Institute is holding a session next month about bridging the gap between journalism research and practice. Here’s more:
Despite the looming crisis in journalism, a research-practice gap plagues the news industry. Journalism Research that Matters argues that an underappreciated factor in the news crisis is a potentially symbiotic relationship between journalism studies and the industry that it researches. This panel will explore how collaboration between professionals and researchers can generate positive change for the future of the news industry.
Join us: Journalism Research that Matters
Date: Oct. 8, 2021
Time: Noon CST
Heather Foster is leaving the anchor desk at WSAW-TV in Wausau to spend more time raising her family.
Foster made the announcement Monday. She’s decided to stay home and raise her infant daughter.
She and her husband will remain in the Wausau area to raise their family.
“I started my career in Texas and am hanging up my anchor mic here in Wisconsin,” Foster said. “It’s been an incredible journey and I have truly loved my job.”
WBA Newsroom