sierra starks

PODCAST EPISODE #58: Carolyn Hall & Sierra Starks, hosts, Women on Deadline

Our jobs as journalists almost always begin with listening. We listen to our communities for story ideas, our audience for feedback, and our interview subjects for a piece’s deeper meaning.

But how well do we listen to the concerns of our co-workers?

Last month the Harvey Weinstein accusations and #MeToo hashtag refocused attention on issues that have never left: sexual harassment and gender and power imbalance in the workplace. I appreciate the strength of every woman and man who has come forward. I hope their efforts do more than capture a momentary spotlight; I hope they achieve systemic change.

But change begins with communication, and I choose to point my comparatively tiny spotlight to a pair of journalists who are amplifying the voices of women in TV news.

Carolyn Hall worked for many years as an elite photojournalist. Sierra Starks has swung from magazines to TV and now reports and fill-in anchors in Monterey, California. They are the hosts of a new podcast: Women on Deadline, which emphasizes *her* experience in TV news. By Episode 3, they had tackled the challenges of solo video journalism, the issues that creep into many local newsrooms, and – in the most revealing episode for this reporter – the extension of #MeToo.

Hall and Starks join me on Episode #58 of the Telling the Story podcast.

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