Gray
The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative newsroom, has hired William Gray and Eleanor Bell.
Television producer Gray joins as media relations specialist, focusing on increasing the visibility and impact of CPI’s journalism. Gray previously worked at C-SPAN as an operations producer handling breaking news and live and overnight coverage for the cable broadcaster’s three networks. He also created and curates the Floor Charts archive, which tracks and tags props, charts and posters used by politicians.
Bell joins as multimedia editor. A native New Zealander, she spent several years reporting for Australia’s public broadcaster, ABC, where her 2011 multimedia investigation about at-risk children in disadvantaged communities won the country’s highest journalism honor, the Walkley Award.
Nonprofit news
The Investigative News Network has added two staffers. Melodie Iwai is director of finance; she will assist members in their work toward legal nonprofit status and answer questions on insurance subsidies, which INN provides news organizations to counter legal threats. Iwai formerly worked as an account manager for the Child Care Resource Center, a community organization helping parents, child care professionals and employers. And journalist Luis Gomez is the new editor and business reporter, focusing specifically on sustainability in nonprofit journalism. Gomez will document the experimentation and results of Knight Foundation INNovation Fund grantees, as well as aggregate and publish reports on the works of other nonprofit and independent journalism organizations. Most recently, Gomez worked as a digital producer for Southern California Public Radio; he also teaches digital media for Mediabistro and California State University, Fullerton.
Programming
Tracy Gaspari of Maryland Public Television has been promoted to the position of production supervisor/lighting designer. Gaspari, a 16-year veteran of MPT production services, is now responsible for the operation and maintenance of the station’s three Owings Mills studios and for creating lighting designs for MPT’s productions. She joined MPT as an assistant producer for the station’s national production of the National Geographic Bee. Gaspari is a two-time regional Emmy winner for lighting design and directing.
Bear
Fellowships
Charla Bear, a reporter and anchor at KQED Radio in San Francisco, is one of 12 U.S. journalists and innovators to win John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University for the 2014-15 academic year. The program promotes journalistic innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership by helping fellows pursue ideas to improve the quality of news presentation. Fellows work with each other, Stanford faculty and students and Silicon Valley engineers and entrepreneurs. Bear will focus on developing free, interactive massive open online training courses (MOOCs) to help journalists with multiplatform storytelling.
Management
Alice Recore, Mountain Lake PBS president for the last 11 years, will retire by the end of the year. Recore joined the pubcaster in 1997 as business manager, moving up to head the station in 2003. During her tenure, Mountain Lake produced more than a dozen documentaries, including two that aired nationally on PBS, and won awards including a Murrow. Recore will assist with the search for a successor.
Werth
Development
WTVI-TV in Charlotte, N.C., has named Jay Werth its development director, responsible for managing the station’s fund development from major gifts, foundations and grants, as well as assisting with member acquisition and renewals. Previously Werth managed fundraising campaigns National Community Development Services in Atlanta, which assists chambers of commerce and economic and community development groups nationwide.
Digital
Trey Graham, who edits and produces arts and entertainment content for NPR Digital Media, is leaving the network. During his six-year tenure he helped launch the Monkey See blog and its Pop Culture Happy Hour. He’s also a regular panelist on Around Town, WETA-TV’s arts roundtable program. Before NPR, he spent two years as the music and theater editor for USA Today.