FREE CHECKLIST: Tips to Inspire Viewer Trust and Loyalty
I believe passionately that news organizations can and should be a force for good in the world. Not as advocates for any particular point of view, but as diverse organizations that ethically explore diverse points of view and do their best to tell the truth about what they find. Our communities need journalists who can do that – and do it in a way that wins hearts as well as minds – now more than ever.
I started as a videographer and worked my way up to news director, holding a variety of positions in the newsroom along the way. I understand how hard it is to achieve excellent performance under relentlessly tight deadlines.
At the end of the day, how your team delivers on the air depends on how they work together off the air. My intimate knowledge of how newsrooms work, my ability to speak the language of all journalists, and my understanding of how everything your team does is interrelated helps me understand how the sausage is made – and that helps me help you and your team make it more efficiently and cost-effectively.
If you think coaching might help your team work together to support your goals for your newsroom and your newscasts, I’d love to talk with you about how I can help.
Kevin is a Poynter Institute leadership fellow and visiting faculty member, former chairman of the Radio, Television, Digital News Association, former board chair for the Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism, and former chair of the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters. He’s worked extensively with network and local news organizations owned by Fox, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Scripps Howard, Graham Media, and Telemundo among others.
Kevin knows what it means to lead newsrooms and newsteams in times of immense cultural and technological change.
He has become one of the industry’s leading experts and coaches on diversity in newsrooms and news coverage. And he personally led the launch of two of the most innovative media organizations in the country — News 8 Austin, Time Warner Cable’s fifth 24-hour local news channel; and CultureMap Austin, the city of Austin’s digital lifestyle magazine.
Kevin began his broadcast journalism career as a nationally recognized, award-winning news photographer – first at KTBC-TV in Austin, Texas, then WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina. He spent 8 years at KPRC-TV in Houston where he was one of the industry’s original MMJs.
Following stints on the assignment desk and as an assistant news director, Kevin launched News 8 Austin and spent over 11 years there as News Director.
Under his guidance News 8 Austin received national recognition with two Sigma Delta Chi awards, the National Edward R. Murrow award, three National Walter Cronkite awards for excellence in Political Journalism and was a finalist for the DuPont-Columbia Award.
In 2011, Kevin moved to creating digital content as Editor-in-Chief of CultureMap Austin. He and his team built a digital magazine that quickly became the most-read culture and lifestyle source in the city. Promoted to General Manager, Kevin took over marketing and sales, creating a sustainable business model.
Kevin is former Chairman of the Radio, Television, Digital News Foundation (formerly RTNDA); a Poynter Institute leadership fellow and visiting faculty member; a Carole Kneeland Project fellow, trainer, and member of their Board. He also served as Chairman of the Texas Associated Press Broadcaster’s board of directors and is a founder of the Southwest Broadcast Workshops.
Kevin is well-known as an inspiring, engaging speaker, newsroom coach and professional trainer. He’s presented to thousands of journalists and mentored hundreds one-on-one while working with the Poynter Institute, the RTDNA, the Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism and many other related organizations.
My experience enables me to look at the entire news operation – from lighting and audio to content creation – and understand how it all affects what viewers ultimately experience through your anchors and reporters on-air. Fundamentally, your talent cannot do their best work unless everyone that supports them is doing their best work – and doing it together. That’s why I don’t just coach news talent. I coach news teams.
I’m an especially good partner for leaders who are designing and managing change in their newsrooms – leaders who are working to keep the journalism strong while winning hearts and minds in new platforms and formats. I understand the challenges because I’ve done it myself. During my 11 years as News Director, the 24-hour news station I launched in Austin became the most recognized news and weather brands in the city – while winning some of journalism’s most prestigious rewards. We did good TV and we did good journalism. We’re living and working in a time now when both have never been more important.
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