Paul Hunton, GM of Texas Tech Public Media in Lubbock, was unanimously elected by the PBS board as a professional director.
Hunton’s term on the board begins July 1. He will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Kim Johnson, who is leaving her position at PBS12 in Denver at the end of June.
Hunton joined Texas Tech Public Media in 2011 as a production director and became GM in 2015.
“This is the honor of a lifetime,” Hunton said in a news release. “I first started working for a PBS station as a master control operator when I was a senior in high school. To sit on the Board as a professional director 20 years later feels surreal. My hope is to represent my colleagues who lead small rural stations across the country and voice the challenges we face as the lifeblood of the system. I can’t wait to listen and learn from my fellow board members and continue the great work that they do every day.”
Amna Nawaz was promoted to chief correspondent for PBS NewsHour.
As part of the promotion, Nawaz will be the program’s White House correspondent on Fridays, filling in for Yamiche Alcindor, who is moderator of Washington Week. She will also co-anchor and anchor prime-time and special coverage and continue as primary substitute anchor.
Nawaz joined the program in 2018 as a correspondent and was later promoted to senior national correspondent. She also co-moderated the NewsHour Democratic primary debate with Politico in December 2019 and hosted The Plastic Problem, a documentary. She will continue as host of Beyond the Canvas, an arts show.
Robin Sparkman, founding CEO of StoryCorps, was appointed president and co-CEO for ProPublica.
Sparkman succeeds Richard Tofel, who is retiring from the nonprofit. Sparkman’s first day is Sept. 8.
Sparkman has led StoryCorps since 2014. She has increased the organization’s revenue to $20 million and added $6.5 million in reserves, according to a news release. She previously worked as editor-in-chief and executive editor for The American Lawyer.
“I can’t wait to start working with Robin,” said ProPublica editor-in-chief and co-CEO Stephen Engelberg in the release. “Her career as a reporter, editor, and nonprofit executive makes her the ideal partner to help us plan the next steps in ProPublica’s evolution as a national news organization.”
Technology
Daniel Newman announced that he is leaving his role as director of product design for NPR to become the staff interaction designer for Google News in July. “Working with this team in service of such a critical mission has been an incredible privilege for which I am eternally grateful,” he said on Twitter, adding “I’m not going far, though—I’ll be based at Google DC, just up the street from NPR HQ—so I’ll definitely be back for some future #TinyDesk Concerts!” Newman joined NPR in 2014 as senior interaction designer and has also been deputy creative director.
Communications
Ella Richardson joined PBS NewsHour as a publicist. Richardson previously worked as a junior publicist and public relations coordinator for CNN. She has also been an intern for the U.S. Senate, a strategic account executive for BluWave and manager of a volunteer program for the Tennessee Democratic Party.
Content
Peter Breslow, a senior producer for NPR’s Weekend Edition, will retire. Breslow joined the organization in 1982 and has also been a producer for All Things Considered. NPR commemorated his tenure in a Weekend Edition Saturday broadcast this month. In a Twitter thread, the program highlighted his reporting from Mount Everest in 1988 and international coverage from Afghanistan.
Jillene Khan was hired as an overnight and fill-in host for American Public Media’s YourClassical. “What an honor. And, what an adventure this will be!” she said on Twitter. Khan previously worked as an afternoon host for Mid-West Family Broadcasting.
Charmaine Runes said she was hired as a data and visuals reporter for WBEZ in Chicago. Runes most recently worked as director of fact-checking for South Side Weekly. She has also been a fellow for Chicago’s government and a research analyst and assistant for the Urban Institute.
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