New job duties. New technology. New competitive business pressures. The disruption in the media industry never ends. Newsrooms continue to undergo unprecedented change that can leave employees exhausted, frustrated and worried. Change may not always be easy or fun, but there are ways to make it a smoother process. In this interactive session guided by a change management consultant, participants will work on personal techniques to navigate uncertainty. Specific topics include mindfulness and meditation exercises, tools to assess your personal strengths and work style and how to better collaborate as part of a team. Participants will leave this session with a “change toolbox” to help others in their organizations.
Speakers: Chad Graham, Marty Kaiser, Jason Knowles, Mira Lowe
CHAD GRAHAM has a decade of experience building digital and social media strategies and teams for news brands. He’s currently pursuing a master’s in learning and organizational change at Northwestern University and working on various human capital consulting projects. Graham previously served as director of digital content strategy for KPNX-TV, the NBC affiliate in Phoenix. He also built and grew the social media strategy for azcentral.com, Arizona’s largest local media website and has served as a reporter and/or editor for The Advocate magazine, the Des Moines Register, Associated Press and Hollywood Reporter.
MARTY KAISER is a Senior Fellow for the Democracy Fund Public Square Program. He is a nationally recognized media consultant specializing in leadership, digital innovation, ethics, investigative reporting, and editing. He has worked in the United States, Canada and Europe. He was Editor/Sr. Vice President of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from 1997 to 2015. Under his leadership, the Journal Sentinel earned a national reputation for its journalism and digital innovation. Kaiser’s newsroom won Pulitzer Prizes in 2008, 2010, and 2011 and was honored as a finalist six other times from 2003 through 2014. While he was editor, the Journal Sentinel won awards in almost every major U.S. journalism contest. Columbia Journalism Review wrote that the Journal Sentinel had one of the most acclaimed watchdog teams in the country, period.
JASON KNOWLES was promoted to consumer investigative reporter at ABC7 Chicago in January 2014, becoming a member of the station’s prestigious I-team investigative unit. His strong and incisive investigative reporting background, and his in-depth segments as special projects producer at ABC 7, made him the perfect fit for consumer investigative work. Prior to joining the I-Team, Knowles was a morning reporter covering breaking and developing stories in the field every day. He joined ABC 7 Eyewitness News as a reporter in February 2009, and has covered countless breaking stories which have made national headlines. Knowles first came to ABC 7 in 2004 as a special projects producer, where he tracked down exclusive stories for the 10 p.m. news. Before joining ABC 7 as a producer, Knowles spent eight years on the air as a reporter at various stations including WTVG-TV, the ABC-owned station in Toledo, Ohio, where he was their investigative reporter and consumer troubleshooter. He also worked as a reporter and anchor at WKAG-TV in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
MIRA LOWE is director of the Innovation News Center (INC), a public media newsroom serving 19 North Central Florida counties where student journalists produce content for multiple media platforms, including WUFT-TV, WUFT-FM, ESPN 95.3, WRUF-FM, WRUF-TV, WUFT.org and Noticias WUFT. Prior to joining UF, Lowe was a senior editor at CNN Digital in Atlanta where she managed the planning, execution and programming of various special projects across a global portfolio. She previously led the Features team, overseeing the entertainment, lifestyle, tech, travel and heath sections for domestic CNN.com and mobile.