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PODCAST EPISODE #72: Kristin Dickerson, anchor/reporter, KXAS-TV

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I think very hard about who to ask as my guest on the Telling the Story podcast, but in recent years I’ve developed a clear litmus test:

Has this person found a passion within this profession?

Look through my past few interviews, and you’ll find a series of journalists who understand what they love about storytelling – and have made conscious decisions to steer their careers toward that love. Forrest Sanders carves out time on his days off to produce the kinds of memorable features that garner national honors. Adrienne Broaddus leads with faith and calls herself a “hope dealer.” Olivia Loomis Merrion and Emily Kassie are innovators and documentarians who find causes worth covering.

Kristin Dickerson has carved her own fascinating path.

She’s currently an anchor/reporter at the NBC affiliate in Dallas, but she’s also an Emmy- and Murrow-winning storyteller who invested in her own DSLR camera and shoots her own stories. (The above photo is with the Gracie Award, which she won in 2018.)

Starting in August, her path swings toward a new journey: Dickerson and her husband are quitting their jobs to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain, visit Israel and India, and bring cameras for the whole trip.

Their goal? Produce a project about faith.

It’s an appropriate subject for Dickerson. This kind of decision requires faith. And her journey to it is powerful … and best told by her.

Dickerson is my guest on Episode #72 of the Telling the Story podcast.

I won’t give much away, but I will say that Dickerson provides one of the most open, heartfelt interviews I’ve had on this podcast. I greatly admire her, even if I can’t see myself taking such a seismic leap. As we discuss in the podcast, any journalist can find ways to take their own leaps – seismic or otherwise – within the confines of one’s life and job. There’s always room to push toward your passion.

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Happy 2019! Here were our most popular posts from 2018

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2018 was a year of transition. At least it was for this journalist.

I experienced my first full year overseeing my own segment on WXIA-TV, and I entered my second year as a grad student at the University of Georgia.

Above all, I became a dad.

This greatly influenced my writing and podcasting in this space. I blogged more sporadically but tried to make my posts meaningful. Throughout the year, support came in comments, Tweets, and messages. Whenever I debated pulling back, I received some form of appreciation that motivated me to keep going.

Here are the posts you clicked on the most in 2018, with a passage from each:

PODCAST EPISODE 64: Catherine Steward, photographer, WTVF-TV: I rarely ask a Telling the Story podcast guest to come back for a second episode. I like to spread the audio wealth and interview as many storytellers and journalists as possible to provide a full spectrum of perspectives for my audience.

But when a previous guest wins a National Edward R. Murrow award with one of the most pristine slices of video I’ve ever seen, I can make an exception.

Catherine Steward has captured numerous honors for her work as a photojournalist for WTVF-TV in Nashville. This may be her biggest yet. She took the Large Market TV station Murrow for Excellence in Sound, and the winning piece was a solo effort. I asked Steward to deconstruct her story, scene by scene, nearly shot by shot, to give the rest of us a chance at producing something similar.

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PODCAST EPISODE #68: Noelle Walker, reporter, KXAS-TV

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The following podcast episode made me uncomfortable.

I communicate for a living, and my trade is words. I stare frequently at blank cursors on my computer screen because I haven’t found the exact word to properly convey an adjective, identifier, or emotion. I wade into controversial waters with caution, because I know how certain words can be interpreted in unintended ways.

So when I invited Noelle Walker, an extraordinary and accoladed reporter for KXAS-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth, to discuss life as a woman in journalism in 2018, I knew it would require her to be vulnerable – and for me to join her.

I would need to challenge my own assumptions and choices, including with words. I would need to accept the ways in which I might be a part of the problem. I would need to avoid presuming to already understand what the problem might be. I would need to worry less about saying the wrong thing or using the wrong word and worry more about keeping my mouth shut and listening. I would need to live in the uncomfortable.

But I welcomed it.

I wrote earlier this year how equal representation in media isn’t just a task for the underrepresented, and I meant it. If I don’t use my position and platform to confront difficult issues and illuminate perspectives that aren’t my own, then I’m not doing my job as a journalist. That’s how I feel about my work on the air, and it’s how I feel about this blog.

That’s why I asked Walker to be my guest on Episode #68 of the Telling the Story podcast.

To be fair – and I mentioned this during our conversation – I could have asked Walker about any number of journalism-related topics and learned an inordinate amount. But I focused on this one because she just spoke at the Women in Visual Journalism conference in Denver, and I wanted to interview someone from that event about the lessons for all of us – specifically the younger journalists, women and men, who listen to this podcast. As expected, Walker offered tremendous insights and anecdotes, which one might expect from an experienced reporter who’s worked in numerous big cities and even freelanced at the network level.

(For an example of this work – and the process behind it – check out my recent podcast with Walker’s frequent photographic partner, Ryan Oliveira.)

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PODCAST EPISODE #60: Ryan Oliveira, photographer, KXAS-TV

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Late March and early April mark the start of awards season in TV news.

For me, they mark the start of grabbing my popcorn and watching TV news award-winners.

I love watching and learning from the best in my business. Last week I published my annual “5 lessons learned” piece from the first-place stories in the NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism Video Awards.

This week, I interviewed one of the big winners for Episode #60 of the Telling the Story podcast.

Ryan Oliveira is a photojournalist at KXAS-TV, the NBC affiliate in Dallas/Ft. Worth which last year captured four National Edward R. Murrow awards and this week was named a Peabody Awards finalist. The station knows storytelling. This year, amidst a tremendously talented team of journalists, Oliveira stood out.

He did so with sensitivity.

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