Just noticing Tuesday night that Sharon Woo of King 5 is being billed by the anchors as an 'Immigration' Reporter. That's a new one I've not seen. Hmmm. Thoughts?
"I am no longer at Komo 4." Thanks. Longtime Weather Anchor Rebecca Stevenson confirms that she left the station just before Christmas. Her last Facebook posts are 12/17. She has the Seattle station Quintafecta, having worked at the old NWCN, KING, KIRO, KCPQ and KOMO. Looks like her decision. Wants a new chapter. She was doing mainly weekend evenings for KOMO. Perhaps Stella Sun will move there. She has been sharing weekend mornings with Theron Zahn.
Sharon is billed as being the "Facing Race" reporter on the "meet the team" page of KING's website, so it would seem that she has been a beat reporter for some period of time now. It is unusual by current Seattle TV standards to have a dedicated beat reporter, but it wasn't that long ago when beat reporters were actually quite common on Seattle TV, especially at KING.
ReplyDeleteAs for KING having an "immigration" reporter, I think it is a timely and logical move. Whether you agree with the current administration's immigration policies or not, they have certainly made the subject of immigration a much more prominent issue than it has been (and its not like immigration hasn't been a big issue for many years now...it most certainly has...its just an even bigger one now). Having a dedicated reporter on the immigration beat makes sense in the current climate, given the amount of news that is happening on that front.
Yes it's a hot issue so adding this to her beat is strategic content twist, especially with Seattle still on the administration's radar.
DeleteVery much so. KING will be ready to go if and when the administration decides to make a move on Seattle.
DeleteGood insight..it is a real separator for K5. I like the approach!
ReplyDeleteYou are giving the station too much credit. This is KING and Tegna’s slippery way of tiptoeing away from the Facing Race brand. The FCC will be looking under the hood for anything that smacks of DEI before approving the Nexstar acquisition. Don’t be surprised when the Facing Race brand is scrubbed from their sites. It is already non-existent on their linear newscasts.
ReplyDeleteI would hate to think that KING is abandoning its coverage of race and diversity related issues because of the pending Nexstar/Tegna merger, but I sadly suspect that you may be right. I hope it will only be a tempoary pause, and that such reporting will return in the future.
DeleteThe good part is she made herself untouchable. KING will never be able to fire her or fear R word repercussions.
ReplyDeleteWhen and if Nexstar gets KING, will anyone be untouchable?
ReplyDeleteK5 side note: Reporter Kristin Goodwillie quietly exited the station sometime in the last few months. Seems like she wanted to spend more time with her family...
ReplyDeleteThanks for this nugget. Had not seen that before, but it has left left the KING5 investigators sparse.
DeleteNo problem. Still seeing promos with Susannah Frame and Chris Ingalls for what's left of the investigators, but for how much longer?
DeleteI hadn't even noticed that Kristin had left. I wish her well in whatever life may have in store for her next.
DeleteAs for the KING 5 Investigators, since Kristin has left, and Susannah Frame is now the news director, it seems that only Chris Ingills remains in the investigative unit at this time. I hope KING will rebuild the unit in the months ahead with new hires. Chris will certainly keep it going for now. But there is more than enough investigative reporting to do in this region to keep an entire team of reporters busy, as KING has proven over the years.