Project management isn’t just for developers and engineers. Newsrooms can benefit from the practice as well, according to Robin Kwong, New Formats Editor at the Wall Street Journal.
An interview with Kwong was published by Poynter and is available here.
The abrupt rebranding of Twitter to X this week will mean stations will have to make some decisions about their relationship with the platform.
NewscastStudio has compiled some areas of thought for newsrooms.
Local radio and TV stations are putting more minutes of news on the air, according to a study from RTDNA and Syracuse University.
“Both local TV and radio stations reported double digit increases in the minutes of local news they broadcast in a given day: 18 minutes more per weekday for TV and 21.2 minutes for radio.”
You can read more here.
Addiction is a complicated disease that affects every community in America. In their work to cover this complex issue, members of the press can inadvertently perpetuate problematic narratives about drug use and addiction that can increase stigma and discrimination towards people with active addiction, in treatment, or in recovery.
In this free, day-long training, Reporting on Addiction co-directors Jonathan JK Stoltman and Ashton Marra will help reporters and editors build their knowledge of the science of addiction, its medical definition and how the brain disease works. Then, we take a deeper look at how addiction stigma manifests in news publications, and translate the science into tips for better reporting – from pitch to publication – that you can use today.
The session is Friday, Sept. 29 from 9:a.m. to 3:45 p.m. at Vilas Hall on the UW Madison Campus
Ashton Marra is the co-director of Reporting on Addiction and the executive editor of its founding partner 100 Days in Appalachia, a 2021 national Edward R. Murrow award-winning nonprofit digital publication. There, she oversees the work of a team of editors, contributors and reporters across Appalachia to create content by Appalachians for Appalachians. Ashton is also a teaching assistant professor in the West Virginia University Reed College of Media, where she teaches news writing, video storytelling and community-focused journalism. She’s spent more than a decade working as a professional journalist for both public media and commercial news outlets, on local, statewide and national platforms, including NPR and ABC News.
Jonathan JK Stoltman is co-director of Reporting on Addiction and Director of the Opioid Policy Institute. In 2019, he completed his PhD in Lifespan Developmental Psychology from West Virginia University and has worked as a researcher focusing on opioid addiction treatment for the past decade. Jonathan’s academic work has appeared in leading journals and at national conferences. Their current work focuses on addiction stigma, the media, and digital approaches to addiction treatment.
Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSczhnzy-P7fb0FYc8pXJk7ymbTj983wJs0QcnS8W8dfxZYZWg/viewform
TMJ4 (WTMJ-TV) in Milwaukee is adding a Kenosha-embedded reporter to its news team.
Veteran journalist Jeffrey Zampanti, who has been covering the Kenosha community for nearly three decades, is a 1991 Tremper High School graduate and has spent the last 20 years as a sportswriter and multimedia journalist at the Kenosha News and as Director of Content at Kenosha.com.
“Jeffrey is a strong reporter and I know that he has covered everything from sports to homicide trials during his time in Kenosha,” Tim Vetscher, News Director at TMJ4, said. “We are thrilled to have someone of his experience and local knowledge on the news team.”
A Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Media Person of the Year, Zampanti covered five state baseball championships and was a frequent contributor to Baseball America and MLB.com. In his previous role, Zampanti directed Kenosha.com’s talented team of editors and journalists and quickly built the start-up digital media company into one of Kenosha’s primary media outlets.
In May 2023, Zampanti was appointed by Kenosha County Executive Samantha Kerkman as the local media representative for the Kenosha County Emergency Planning Committee.
A lifelong Kenosha resident, Zampanti is passionate about many things, including his leading role as storyteller for the many outstanding people, places, and events in the Kenosha community.
Zampanti is a proud father of two children (Ben, Grace) and a diehard Marquette basketball, Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Milwaukee Brewers fan. He enjoys staying active by playing tennis and relaxing on the golf course.
Zampanti begins on the air in early August.
Poynter is offering a free webinar to show journalists how they can use CDC-maintained public databases to learn how to use them to access national-, state- and county-level injury and death data, including deaths by suicide, gun violence and more.
“Acquiring basic skills in these databases will allow you to quickly supply valuable context for a wide range of news, including stories on breaking news, public policy, community initiatives and fact checks.”
The 90-minute webinar is on Aug. 30.
A new analysis is suggesting that newsrooms reconsider their connections to social media.
“The shift away from social media is not a step backward but a strategic realignment toward platforms that better serve the needs of local news broadcasters. The future may not lie within the realms of Facebook, Twitter or Instagram but in emerging digital platforms that afford control, foster genuine connection and respect privacy.”
In early April, I requested some records from the Madison Police Department regarding what it said was the sole disciplinary action taken against an MPD officer or employee in the first three months of this year.
It was an exceedingly minor matter — a sergeant who got a one-day suspension for sending an “unprofessional email to command staff.” And all I wanted was to see the complaint that would disclose what the email said and some document that explained how the matter was concluded. Just a few sheets of paper.
The response I received said the request had to go through the MPD’s records custodian, Julie Laundrie, who informed me: “I am currently at 14 months for personnel requests to receive [a] reply.”
Fourteen months?
Laundrie’s official explanation is that she puts requests for personnel records into a queue with other, often voluminous requests, which are handled in order. (The office now says it may just be a few more weeks.) But the real reason for the delay is that the department, like too many other public agencies in Wisconsin, does not devote enough resources to handling records requests.
It’s a problem that has grown markedly worse in recent years, as agencies have gotten bolder in exploiting the lack of specificity in the state’s open records law regarding the question of “How long is too long?”
The Madison Metropolitan School District, for instance, has been at least five times since 2021 for long delays in responding to records requests, while a staff position for records work went unfilled. Like some other records custodians, the district seems to think “We’re busy doing other things” is an acceptable reason for not providing records in a timely fashion. It isn’t.
The state’s open records law, enacted in 1981, directs all state and local government officials to respond to records requests “as soon as practicable and without delay,” but sets no precise time frames. The state’s attorney general’s office, which has statutory authority to interpret and enforce this law, has long advised that “a reasonable time” for responding to most simple requests is ten working days, although actually providing the records may take longer.
Gov. Scott Walker passed executive orders in and that set tighter response times for state agencies — requiring them, for instance, to fulfill and not just respond to “small and straightforward” requests within 10 business days when possible. But those rules did not apply to local governments and are no longer considered binding past Walker’s term.
The AG’s Office of Open Government, under both Democratic and Republican leadership, has not taken a hard line against records custodians for taking too long. And indeed, a by the Wisconsin Examiner found that the office itself had more than three dozen records requests that remained unfulfilled after more than a year. The office met its own 10-day guideline for just 46% of the 924 records requests it received in 2022.
This is not okay. A vital but often overlooked part of the open records law providing records in response to requests “is declared to be an essential function of a representative government and an integral part of the routine duties of officers and employees whose responsibility it is to provide such information.”
If an agency lacks staff to handle the volume of requests it receives, it should allocate more staff, as recently with the city attorney’s office in Green Bay, which had fallen behind in handling requests.
Responding promptly to record requests is not just a good government best practice. It’s the law. And sooner or later, the courts are going to have to enforce it.
Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (), a group dedicated to open government. Bill Lueders is the Council’s president.
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