This panel explores strategies, tools, and newsroom practices that enable local television stations to deliver effective hyperlocal news coverage. It is connected to the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont, that promotes and supports campus media as a means of serving underserved audiences, but also recognizes challenges for local market commercial TV stations in maintaining local audience engagement, recognizing that audiences seek information that directly impacts their neighborhoods, communities, and daily lives. Panelists will provide specific scenarios demonstrating that TV stations have a unique opportunity to strengthen engagement through localized and specialized storytelling. The session will examine how local broadcast-based news can identify community-driven topics, leverage digital and social platforms, use data and audience insights, and create content that reflects the concerns and interests of specific demographic categories. Attendees will learn practical approaches for building audience engagement, increasing audience loyalty, and positioning their stations as essential sources of timely, relevant, and community-focused journalism. The panel will also help student media managers learn more about how they can benefit from engagement with the Center for Community News. Moderator: Tony DeMars, Texas Wesleyan University Panelists: Mike Arnold, Indiana University Kevin Swift, University of North Carolina-Pembroke Tony DeMars, Texas Wesleyan University Clejetter Cousins, University of North Carolina-Pembroke
In a time when journalists are under greater scrutiny from the general public as well as those holding political power, the requirements of a journalist’s job continue to need reassessment. Several instances on the national level involving confrontational exchanges between President Donald Trump and mainstream media journalists have garnered national attention and sparked conversation regarding best practices for how journalists should respond and handle their composure during such confrontations. However, local journalists are and have been dealing with these same issues from hostile witnesses and lower-level politicians (e.g. county board members, city council members, etc.) across the political spectrum of ideologies who have been emboldened to treat the press in the same manner. In this panel, we will explore not only the well-known examples of Trump confronting journalists in public venues but local journalists experiences with confrontational sources and how, if at all, those journalists and those around them should respond. Tips for handling tense moments while gathering and reporting the news involving those in power will be discussed from both an academic and professional practice perspective. Moderator: K. Megan Hopper, Illinois State University Panelists: Bob Carroll, Illinois State University Colleen Holden, Illinois State University Steve Suess, Illinois State University
Director of Radio/WZND Faculty Advisor, Illinois State University
I am the Faculty Advisor of four-time BEA Signature Station winner WZND Radio at Illinois State University. I have been in this role for eight years and am also an alumnus of the program. My professional experience in broadcasting is primarily in live sports, news/talk, public affairs... Read More →
