Al Tompkins from Poynter has written ten essays aimed at helping broadcast journalists improve their skills for 2022.
The essays cover topics like “Tell big stories with small moments,” “To tell stronger stories, limit subjective adjectives,” and “To tell stronger stories, lead with tension.”
You can find all ten essays compiled here.
Happy New Year!
WAOW-TV meteorologist Mike Breunling is retiring after 25 years in the business. His last weathercast is Friday.
Breunling worked more than seven years at WAOW-TV in Wausau and more than 17 years before that at WSAW-TV, also in Wausau.
In a blog post announcing his retirement, Beunling wrote that his interest in meteorology started at a young age living in southwest Michigan.
“Although this was a different career path than most in graduate school, I always knew what I wanted to do…be a weatherman on TV! I benefitted from becoming involved in the Journalism School, and through another twist of fate came to know Emeritus Professor and Wausau native Jim Hoyt, who provided tutoring and helped me plan a strategy for getting started in the TV business. I gained some on-air experience from television production classes in the Journalism School, as well as through an internship at WTMJ in Milwaukee,” he wrote.
In retirement, Beunling said he plans to do the things he most enjoys: church work, tennis, fishing, music, travel, yard duties, and spending time with friends and family.
Poynter is offering a free leadership academy for diversity in media. Applications are due soon. Here are the details form Poynter:
In-person: Oct. 9-14, 2022
The Leadership Academy for Diversity in Media is a transformative, tuition-free leadership program that trains journalists of color working in digital media to thrive, professionally and personally.
In partnership with The Washington Post, the Poynter Institute is looking for the next 30 journalists of color to participate in its sixth academy. This group will join a network of 150+ graduates who regularly describe their experience as “life-changing.”
The program structure and curriculum provide participants the connections, confidence and skills to confront their challenges. Sessions are designed fresh each year to respond to industry trends, participant needs and evolving management challenges. Underscoring everything is Poynter’s expertise in leadership training and The Post’s expertise in digital innovation.
Cost: Free. Apply by Jan. 15, 2022.
RTDNA this week issued new guidelines for crime coverage which you can find here.
From RTDNA:
The new guidelines include the use of mugshots and police released video; the use of “suspect” or “person of interest” descriptions; non-violent crime reporting; and considerations for policies to update digital crime stories.
Keep this handy and share it with your newsroom.
Poynter is offering journalists a free opportunity to learn about inclusivity through case studies based in Chicago. Check it out:
Content Audits and Centering Audience
Self-directed course, start anytime
Learn about content audits, making inclusivity part of story workflow and growing subscribers in underserved communities from four Chicago-area newsrooms.
In the first two case studies, the Chicago Sun-Times and WGN-TV share their approaches to content audits. Next, the Associated Press Midwest Bureau describes its internal Inclusion Champions program. In the final case study, listen to the Chicago Tribune discuss subscriber-focused efforts centering underserved communities.
This is a quick, self-paced course with actionable resources and ideas you can apply to your newsroom, no matter your role in the organization.
Cost: Free, thanks to support from the McCormick Foundation.
Check out this opportunity from the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute:
The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute invites proposals from individuals and organizations who wish to partner with us on practical innovative projects that address current gaps, challenges and needs in the journalism industry.
Chosen projects often include devising new strategies or models to solve a problem, building new tools, creating a training workshop/program or building resources for journalists. All fellowship projects are built and implemented within the span of the 8 month fellowship.
Past fellows have built a and a fight discrimination. Our 2021 fellows are currentlythat address accessibility, equity and community engagement.
Applications open January 3, 2022. Read more here.
We’re all seeing the devastation from the tornadoes that ravaged four states on Friday, and some of the journalists on the ground are sharing their stories.
Poynter is writing about it here. Check it out.
A Poynter webinar held this week about battling bias is now available for viewing for WBA members.
You can find the recording here.
The session explores:
Be sure to register for our next Poynter webinar “Fighting Fakes and Truth Decay” on Jan. 4 from 11 a.m. – noon CT. More information is available here.
If you’ve ever wondered if your audience cares that you might be appearing in a newscast from your living room, a study seeking to answer that question says the audience seems fine with it.
Poynter reported on the study, which you can read about here.
The Donald W. Reynolds Institute at the University of Missouri is holding the 2022 Women in Journalism Workshop April 8-10 at the Institute.
The Women in Journalism Workshop is an annual workshop that focuses on challenges and issues specific to women in the journalism industry today. We want to help build safer, more diverse and innovative newsrooms to serve our communities worldwide. You will learn how to innovate the way you cover stories, the management of newsrooms and teams, and be trained in emerging skills and tools. The WIJ Workshop is committed to being an inclusive, supportive, private, positive and diverse space for discussion, collaboration and learning.
You can learn more and register here.
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