Lynn Walsh

A story written for the Radio Television Digital News Association, RTDNA:

Resumes: Is There a Right Way?
Oct 25 2010
By Lynn Walsh, Texas Watchdog

A few weeks ago I was critiquing resumes at the Society of Professional Journalists 2010 conference. While there I critiqued resume after resume and along the way noticed some common mistakes being made. Here they are:

1. Multiple Pages. As a journalist trying to get that first job or if you have only been in the industry a few years this should be a no-brainer. While all of the campus jobs or volunteer organizations are great and should be included, they should not make your resume two pages. One way to show all of the information is by listing all of your positions that may not fit on one page online. Try your LinkedIn profile, a longer version on your website, etc.

2. Don’t bury the lead. Just like a news story, do not wait until the last sentence or bullet point to share the most significant accomplishment you have made in your career so far. Whether it is the order of the jobs you have had or the description you write to go along with one; lead with what is going to get you the job!

3. Chronological order may not always be the best. You were a copy editor at your last job, but you really want to be a reporter. You are applying for a reporting position and have four years of experience as a reporter. The copy editing position is your most recent job the reporting job was a year ago. Which comes first? Most people put jobs, positions, etc. in chronological order, I am not sure that is always best. Lead with what will show the news director or editor that you are most qualified for the job you are applying for. Now, there are times where this may not be the best idea–especially if it has been a long time since you have had the position, but if all of the jobs and positions are fairly recent, I think leading with experience is best.

4. Mailing address. My first question is: how often do you get mail? My second question is: who sends you mail? In the digital age an address may not even be needed, especially if you are sending a cover letter (which will have your address if properly addressed). I also do not think there is any harm in having a mailing address on your resume, just make sure it is up to date and will be for a few months after you send the resume out to prospective employers.

5. Skills. If utilized correctly a skill section can be helpful. The key I believe is placement on the page and what you are listing. If you are applying for a journalism job and are not proficient in Microsoft Office any any of the individual programs you may have a bigger problem on your hands. Lead with what sets you apart from others in your field. Do you know HTML? Flash? Lead with those programs and leave MS Word and Excel for the end of the list.

6. List and use social media accounts. If you have a twitter account you use for journalistic purposes INCLUDE it on your resume and prominently. Do you have a website? It should be one of the first links a potential employer sees. I would leave Facebook and LinkedIn accounts off (due to their lengthy url’s) if the potential employer is viewing it on paper. If you are sending it electronically be sure to include it on the resume, linked to the words “Facebook” and “LinkedIn,” in your e-mail signature or in linked boxes or logos.

7. Do not hide awards. You wrote, produced and/or reported a great story and were recognized for it – make sure that is clearly visible on your resume. Do not hide it in a size eight font under five other bullets of the position description. Lead with it or use a terms like “award-wining producer” or “nationally-recognized investigative journalist.” You could also try making a separate category for awards or setting them apart in a box or to the side.

8. Do not lead with unrecognizable titles, confusing organizations, etc. Names of news stations can be very complex and unrecognizable to someone who has never lived or worked where you have. While the station may be number one in Lincoln, Nebraska a news director on the east coast may have no idea what the call letters or catchy show name mean. Hand your resume to someone who does not know the news industry or someone that is from out of town–if they ask you what the organization or station is, change the name. Don’t use “Dayton’s News Source,” use the call letters or the station affiliation (at least on first reference.)

A few things to always do:

1. Cater your resume for the specific position. It is fine to have one generic resume, but you should never send the generic resume to a potential employer. Each resume should be specific to the job you are applying for: change the skills, rearrange the order of positions, etc.

2. Research who is going to receive your resume, where did they used to work, what seems to be their news style, etc. If a news director is more conservative, be more conservative on your resume and format. If they like to try new news styles and push the limits you may be OK to be a little non-traditional.

3. Always sell your skills and your experience. So what if it was just an internship; if you gained experience make sure that point is clear. You may have made copies of rundowns once a day-but what else did you do? Lead with what you learned and skills you became better using.

In my opinion there is not an absolute “right” way to write a resume and the way you format a resume is not going to be liked by every potential employer, but there are certain things to keep in mind while preparing one, along with certain preparation that should be done beforehand. Make sure it is clear, concise, easy to read and do not lead with your education. Beyond that be positive and sell your skills, experience and yourself. And remember, as journalist we do a lot of writing, this is your future employers first look at your writing abilities, make sure it is editor friendly! (Hitting spell check wouldn’t hurt either…)

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Katy school system’s closed-door speech may have violated state sunshine law
Wednesday, Oct 27, 2010, 02:44PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

The Katy school system may have violated the state’s open meetings law when its superintendent delivered his “State of the District” speech to an audience of political heavy hitters but kept out the public and the media.
No admittance sign

More than 250 people made the guest list a couple of weeks ago to hear Katy Independent School District Superintendent Alton Frailey discuss the successes the suburban school district had this past year. The public and the media were left off of the list — and weren’t even notified that the speech was being given or the meeting was being held — but according to InstantNewsKaty.com, a lot of big-name folks made the cut:

“Those on the guest list included a host of high-profile movers and shakers in the Katy area, with elected officials, corporate CEOs, business leaders and chamber of commerce and economic development officials all invited to the event.

The list of invitees included the entire Katy ISD Board of Trustees, the entire Katy City Council, state senators, state representatives, school district administrators and county commissioners representing the Katy area from both Fort Bend and Harris counties.”

The leader of an open-government advocacy group in Texas, the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said the speech should have been open to all.

“As a matter of principle, FOIFT believes that a ‘State of the District’ speech should be given not just to the ‘movers and shakers,’ but to the other parents and taxpayers as well,” FOIFT Executive Director Keith Elkins said. “If parents who were left out are upset, I don’t blame them. They can, and should, voice that frustration and make it matter at the ballot box.”

According to school system spokesman Steve Stanford, the school district did not publicly announce the speech or distribute any sort of press release. “It (press release) just didn’t happen. We did not think to send one out, we just did not think about it. It’s not that we decided against it, it just wasn’t thought about at all,” Stanford said.

The school district doesn’t think it did anything illegal, Stanford said. “It was just a presentation that the superintendent made regarding the state of the district. There was no business being discussed, there were no decisions being made,” he said. “There was a cross section of community members that were invited but I would say, looking around at the end of the speech, 90% of the attendees were school district staff.”

Elkins had a different take.

“As a legal matter, given there were quorums of several governmental bodies in attendance and the subject matter involves business for which they have responsibility, there also appears to have been a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act which would require notice and mandate citizen access,” Elkins said.

Stanford said he is not worried about legal action being taken against the district, and said it was the first time Katy ISD ever held such an event. He was not sure whether it will be held next year. “I was not a part of the planning and I have not spoken to those that were involved so I do not know if it will be done the same way next year,” Stanford said.

The entire guest list, obtained by InstantNewsKaty under the Texas Public Information Act, can be viewed here, though it was unclear how many of the invitees made it to the event.

Do you think Katy ISD should have invited the public and news media? Do you think the school district violated the open meetings law? We want to hear from you. Contact Lynn at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Austin-area school system uses accounting loophole to use money against voters’ wishes, watchdog group says
Wednesday, Oct 27, 2010, 10:18AM CST
By Lynn Walsh

An Austin-area school system is spending voter-approved bond money without getting approval from the district’s board of trustees, and it’s all thanks to an accounting loophole, a citizen-watchdog group says.

The Eanes Independent School District is asking voters to approve a $150 million bond program at the polls on Tuesday, but one group of concerned citizens is coming out against the proposal because of how the district previously spent voter-approved bond funds.

According to The Citizens for Academic Excellence in Eanes, the school district did not spend money from a previous bond in 2006 on the projects it promised it would. According to a recent post on its website:

Eanes ISD voters approved $53 million of school bonds in 2006 based on representations by the Administration that monies would be spent for specific projects, including $3 million for Safety and Security and $12 million on technology. The Administration has only spent $1.5 million on security and $9 million on technology, an approximate $4.5 million shortfall for their intended use.

In an interview with Austin’s KXAN television station, an Eanes ISD district spokeswoman said, “The money that was spent for the 2006 bond program was reclassified for accounting purposes but absolutely all of that money was spend the way it was defined.”

Because the money from the bonds was given a new accounting classification, the EISD board of trustees did not have to approve the spending changes associated with the bond money, according to CAEE.

The ability of the district to reclassify the funds allows the district freedom to spend the money they way they want and not necessarily the way voters want, the watchdog group said.

“Our Board and Administration have great latitude to spend this money as they see fit, despite representations to voters.”

Watch the KXAN story below for more.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

HISD candidates Juliet Stipeche, Judith Cruz rake in big-bucks contributions from big-name politicos in final push to Election Day
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2010, 07:00PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Five candidates have collectively raised more than $60,000 this month with hopes of filling the vacant District 8 seat on the Houston school board.

Two candidates, lawyer Juliet Stipeche and teacher Judith Cruz, brought in the most money — Stipeche with more than $30,500 in contributions, and Cruz with more than $25,000.

Dorothy Olmos and former teachers Roberto Centeno and Peter Schwethelm are also running for the Houston Independent School District’s position for District 8, which was left vacant after Diana Davila stepped down in July, more than a year before her term was to end.

The election is week from today. Early voting is going on in Harris County through Friday.

Texas Watchdog has published all of the campaign finance reports for the Oct. 25 filing deadline online for the public to view (just follow the link attached to a candidate’s name in this story or scroll to the bottom of the page for the listing.)

Cruz and Stipeche both received generous donations from some big names in Texas politics and the education community here in Houston.

State Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, and the Houston Federation of Teachers each donated $10,000 to Stipeche in the last month. Stipeche also received $2,000 from state Rep. (and former Houston City Councilwoman) Carol Alvarado and another $250 from state Rep. Armando Walle.

Former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier and his wife, Elyse, donated $250 to Cruz. Lanier, a Republican and real estate developer, served as the city’s mayor from 1992-98.

Cruz also received a $10,000 donation from the Houston Business Education Coalition PAC. Former HISD Superintendent and U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige and 13 other business and professional leaders are members of the political action committee.

The law firm Linebarger Goggan Blair and Sampson donated $1,000 to both Cruz and Stipeche. The law firm has received more than $7.2 million from HISD this year and more than $16.5 million since October 2008, according to the HISD check online check register.

Check out the links below for more information on the five candidates running for office:

* Juliet Stipeche campaign finance report.
* Judith Cruz campaign finance report.
* Roberto Centeno campaign finance report.
* Peter Schwethelm campaign finance report.
* Dorothy Olmos campaign finance report.
* Video: Cruz, Stipeche and Centeno discuss parent involvement at a candidate forum sponsored by Parents for Public Schools of Houston.
* Parents for Public Schools of Houston Q&A with candidates.

Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Former magnets chief: No sense to HISD magnet funding patterns
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2010, 02:00PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

The method of funding for the 100-plus magnet programs in the Houston Independent School District does not make any sense, the former head of the district’s magnet programs said.
Magnet

“The problem is that they established a funding formula at a time well before any money was being given to programs for gifted students or special ed students,” said Dottie Bonner, who retired in August after seven years as head of HISD’s magnets.

“There is not a written formula at all, and even back then, there was not a whole lot of sense to how it was given,” she said. (Texas Watchdog published the most recent funding data for magnet programs in HISD at this link.)

Bonner began working in HISD in 1981 as an English teacher at Yates High School and was also involved in developing the district’s English curricula.

The hope is that the discrepancies will be ironed out as a national education nonprofit, Magnet Schools of America, finishes a review of the 113 magnet programs in the district. The review, which will cost the district up to $275,000, is expected to be complete in December.

Bonner recalled that magnet funding dates back to the early 1970’s, when school systems, HISD included, provided additional money to campuses for after-school programs. The after-school programs soon began to make their way into the classrooms during regular school hours — the origins of the first magnet programs.

“The funding makes no sense. I can guarantee that if you ask the schools, ‘Why are you getting this money?’ they do not even know why,” Bonner said.

Most of the magnet money a school receives must go toward personnel costs, Bonner said. “If the school is making the magnet program a priority, then they have to make classes and teachers available to the students,” Bonner said.

There are also administrative costs associated with magnet schools that are used to fund a magnet coordinator for the magnet program. Last year HISD spent more than $5.6 million paying the salaries of more than 90 magnet coordinators, according to an HISD salary database obtained by Texas Watchdog through the Texas Public Information Act.

“I have been in education for 40 years and I know money does not make a good school. It really does depend on the quality of the teachers and the quality of the classroom,” Bonner said.

What do you think of the way magnet programs are being funded in HISD? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

See the data for yourself: Houston ISD magnet school funding and enrollment numbers
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2010, 01:30PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Funding for magnet programs in the Houston Independent School District varies drastically — and Texas Watchdog is bringing you the complete data from the school system so you can see for yourself.

Some programs do not receive any additional funding from HISD, while others will receive more than $450,000 from the school system this year. As a story in yesterday’s Houston Chronicle explains, there is no set formula that dictates how much money a magnet program will receive from HISD.

Examples of funding disparities between elementary, middle and high school programs are numerous, as are funding discrepancies between similarly-themed schools.

To see for yourself, view the spreadsheet Texas Watchdog is making the data public.

We’ve also added a column to show each school’s the most recent accountability ratings from the Texas Education Agency. Keep in mind that the rating from TEA is for the entire school and is not specific to the magnet program; it is possible to have a successful magnet program at a failing school, as the state does not differentiate the accountability ratings.

Magnet programs in HISD are categorized based on theme and set-up. More details about how the magnet programs in HISD are classified can be found here.

The amount of magnet funding a program receives is in addition to the other money that the host school receives, along with school-specific grants, funds for the Apollo 20 program for failing schools, and other federal, state or local money.

Vanguard magnets are for students who are extremely smart or talented in certain subjects and are labeled as “gifted and talented.”

Some observations:

* All of the Apollo 20 middle schools — Key, Attucks, Fondren, Dowling and Ryan — get additional magnet money from HISD.
* Three of the four Apollo 20 high schools receive additional magnet funding: Lee, Sharpstown and Kashmere.
* HISD will spend $11.5 million in magnet funding on elementary magnet programs this year, $3 million on middle school programs and $2.4 million on high school programs.
* Architecture/graphic design magnet-themed programs will receive the most money this year. Foreign language-themed magnets will receive the second-largest amount of money, and integrated technology programs receive the least.

Keep in mind, too, that the table below may have more columns than your browser window can easily display at one time (depending on the size of your monitor) — so use the horizontal scroll bars to see the additional columns on the right.

An investigation for Texas Watchdog:

HISD spends $18 million in stimulus cash to pay salaries of 200+ workers it doesn’t need

Thursday, Oct 21, 2010, 07:22AM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Houston’s public schools are spending $18 million in federal stimulus money to pay the salaries of more than 200 employees the district admits it doesn’t need.

That’s because the Houston Independent School District is getting more federal money than ever for special education, even though it has nearly one-quarter fewer special ed students than five years ago.
Much of the extra special ed money HISD is getting from the federal stimulus program — starting last school year and running through next year — is paying workers such as teachers’ aides and occupational therapists for special ed students.

But while the number of special ed students plummeted in the past few years, mirroring a national trend, HISD didn’t cut employees’ jobs, leaving roughly as many people working in that department today as there were in 2005, when the district had nearly 5,000 more special ed students.
Fever charts

“Perhaps that was something that was not looked at over the last several years, and we are trying to straighten that out,” said Sowmya Kumar, HISD’s new assistant superintendent for special education. She spent more than a dozen years as a regional administrator for HISD’s special ed programs before being promoted this summer.

“We have a fresh new team here and some fresh new eyes,” she told Texas Watchdog. “When you take a fresh new look at things, you start to ask questions about data.”

The 200-plus workers will be laid off at the end of this school year, she said. A district-wide special education audit, intended to identify the overstaffing, is underway and is expected to be completed by December.

“We need an overhaul in our special ed department, and we need to be a lot more receptive to what parents need,” HISD trustee Manuel Rodriguez said.

Federal law prevents the school district from spending the extra $18 million on anything outside special education — a sadly ironic situation for school employees, as HISD earlier this year laid off employees in other departments. And a program to try to fix the system’s most troubled schools, called Apollo 20, is still short by $6 million, forcing HISD officials to ask for donations from private foundations.

Kumar isn’t the only HISD official saying that some workers should have gone years ago. HISD’s top financial officer, Melinda Garrett, gave school system trustees a presentation in June, saying stimulus funds would pay for positions in special ed “which should have been reduced based on prior years’ declining enrollment.”

While HISD administrators say the 200 workers aren’t needed, to people in the special education community, having additional staff on hand these past couple of years has been helpful.

“Some people may say it is a waste of money, but these 200 teachers are a drop in the bucket,” said Jimmy Kilpatrick, a member of a Houston-based group that provides national advocacy and research on special education issues.

“You need quality teachers, especially with special-needs children, and it presents an opportunity for less of a workload for the teachers … The problem is, sometimes an autistic child needs three adults around them at once, and that requires a high level of expertise.”

Said Rodriguez: “These past two years have been relatively quiet. I have not been getting the calls from parents who think their child is not getting the proper special education services they need. It could be that the parents have moved on, but I hope it is that the situation has been alleviated.”

More than $11 billion of federal stimulus money went to the states for special ed programs. Calls to the federal Education Department, which distributed the funds, were not returned.

However, DeEtta Culbertson from the Texas Education Agency — which was in charge of funneling the federal education stimulus money to the individual school systems — said the amount of money HISD received was based on a formula set by the feds, not by the state.

(See the HISD presentation on federal funds. June 2010,)

“In looking at the funding that HISD received, it is pretty much based on a formula that was laid out by the stimulus,” Culbertson, a spokeswoman for TEA, said. “We had to just provide the money as it was dictated to us.”

The Houston district’s drop in special ed enrollment, now at about 16,500 students, didn’t factor into it either, Kumar said.

“It is based on the population and poverty of the district,” she said. “Every district across the state received stimulus money; it was a big pot of money that was awarded to the state.”

Nearly four out of every five of HISD’s 202,000 students are considered economically disadvantaged, which the school system defines as qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

HISD has not been able to create new jobs using the stimulus funds, but as Kumar is quick to point out, creating jobs was not the only goal of the stimulus.

“We were able to save jobs with the money,” Kumar said. “The two goals of the stimulus were to create or save jobs.”

Fewer students in HISD and across the country are being enrolled in special ed programs today, in part because of better screening procedures. At the same time, more federal cash is flowing in to the district’s special ed programs than ever before, Garrett said.

The school system is also using some of the stimulus money to buy big-ticket technology items, like a new computer system to manage special ed student data and white boards.

“We’re buying things that, after we are done buying them, they will continue to create dividends for the district,” Kumar said.

The new computer system will manage student evaluations and assessments made by psychologists, Kumar said. It will be updated and tracked through a student’s entire career in HISD and will help the school system submit necessary data to state and federal education authorities.

In addition to the $42.7 million in stimulus funds, which must all be spent by December 2011, HISD is getting unusually big checks from the main federal program that helps school systems pay for special ed, known as IDEA. This year, the handouts from IDEA are currently running about $1.5 million more than last year.

But the district suggests that the extra federal money will, in the end, save HISD taxpayers money.

In addition to the federal and state money HISD gets, the district regularly uses some local money — largely from property taxes — to cover special ed expenses. Under the law, a school district cannot cut its local funding for special ed unless it loses special ed students or gets a boost in its IDEA funding — both of which have happened.

Aside from the 200 workers being laid off at the end of the school year, there are also 40 positions in special ed currently being funded by stimulus money that Kumar says will be needed next school year — when their costs will be borne by the district and its taxpayers.

Contact Lynn Walsh, Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

HISD launches $25K website on having an effective teacher in every classroom; site does not disclose how many current teachers aren’t effective
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010, 09:49AM CST
By Lynn Walsh

The Houston public school system has a new $25,000 website up and running to update the public on the district’s goal of having an effective teacher in every classroom within 5 years.
Web site

What you won’t find on the site: An assessment of how many current teachers are less than effective, or how much progress the district has made on getting rid of them.

Nor will readers find data from the surveys taken this summer of the district’s principals and teachers, asking them for their views on teacher effectiveness and how the school system could address it — data the Houston Independent School District released months ago and which Texas Watchdog has already published.

But readers will find PowerPoint presentations including strategic plans and blue-sky thinking on how the school district can improve the quality of its teaching.

The site, www.HISDeffectiveteachers.org, which went live Friday, also includes a service where readers can subscribe to e-mail updates, a feedback section for parents and community members and dates of upcoming meetings at which committees will debate broad questions such as, what is an effective teacher?

The estimated cost for the site is $25,684.95, HISD spokesman Norm Uhl said. That will cover “the cost for the initial development, domain registration, hosting and maintenance of the effective teacher portal over the 5 year project,” he said in an e-mail.

The costs are being covered by a donation from the Houston Endowment. The nonprofit has previously given the district $250,000 for its effective-teacher initiative.

The site was built by a New York-based education nonprofit, The New Teacher Project, which has been consulting HISD since late last year on its hiring practices.

The website is part of TNTP’s four-phase, $8.4-million project that aims to help HISD attract and retain the best teachers with the hope of boosting student achievement. Phases one and two of the project are complete; the results of the surveys and the data the group has collected can be viewed here.

The HISD communications team and district leadership helped design the website with help from TNTP staff, Uhl said.

Last month, the district was awarded a $31.5 million five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education that will primarily fund performance pay for principals and teachers. Days before the money was awarded to HISD, a national study was published showing that rewarding teachers with cash bonuses does not necessarily mean higher test scores or better academic performance by students.

Have you used the new site yet? What do you think? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@Texaswatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

A story written for the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA):

Green Room Blog
By Lynn Walsh

Flashing lights, awards and a room full of inspiring journalists.

That was the scene Monday night in the Green Room at the Radio Television Digital News Association Edward R. Murrow Awards show as journalists from across the country accepted awards for excellent electronic journalism stories.

If you wanted to congratulate someone for a win or ask someone how they were able to produce, write, shoot or edit such a great story then the Green Room was the place to be. After receiving awards in categories ranging from best use of sound and best use of video to best feature report and hard news story.

Of course there was lots of picture-taking with some of the most well known broadcast journalists in the news industry (Ann Curry, Brian Williams, John Roberts, Harry Smith, Jim Sciutto, Keith Olbermann), but the Green Room was more than a photo-op; it was a room where colleagues could congratulate one another on a job well done and most importantly gain knowledge and insight from other award-winning journalists.

While interviewing the awardees for the RTDNA YouTube page I was reminded of two things; one the role and importance of new technology and two the need for great storytelling.

The winners Monday were able to tell a story to audiences across the country while eliciting emotions and providing valuable information.

The key to telling a great story many said is capturing great characters. Capturing great characters can mean spending a lot of time with the subject of your story, something many awardees put into action while working on their broadcast pieces.

But, it is not just the people in the story that make a broadcast narrative roll off the tip of the tongue. Many awardees expressed the viewers and listeners need for information and without fulfilling that need they will tune out and be left unsatisfied.

While storytelling may be more of an art than using new technologies that does not mean the newest gadgets available to journalists are not helpful when it comes to putting together award-winning stories.

Over and over again, awardees mentioned how by using an iPhone or small recording device captured they were able to capture the best sound in the story. Most of the winners did not have huge production crews but merely the phone in their pant pocket to capture the natural sounds and video that surrounded them at the scene of their stories.

Online tools, like Twitter, were also valuable to many of the awardees as they monitored breaking news and tracked down sources to interview.

The knowledge and desire in the Green Room Monday far outweighed the bright flashes of the camera—something, that in a time when some may say the future of the news industry is bleak, should be inspiring to journalists everywhere as we continue to search for the truth and tell stories that matter.

Videos produced for RTDNA Edward Murrow Awards multimedia coverage:

Brian Williams:

Ann Curry:

Keith Olbermann:

John Roberts, 2010 presenter:

John Roberts, 2010 presenter:

John Roberts, 2010 presenter: