Stacey Woelfel, news director at the University of Missouri-owned NBC affiliate KOMU Columbia and associate professor in the MU School of Journalism, has been named the first director of the new Jonathan Murray Documentary Journalism Center at the MU School of Journalism. Woelfel will step down from his position at KOMU and begin working as director of the Murray Center on Sept. 1.
How Social Should A Newscast Be?
KOMU Columbia, Mo., in DMA138, has taken the plunge into social media news, last week launching a 4 p.m. newscast that makes viewers an integral part of the show. And there’s a social media desk that includes two reporters tracking bloggers, Tweets and online conversations about topics making the news. Industry watchers applaud KOMU for pushing the envelope in its use of social media at a time when many stations are still trying to figure them out. But some question their heavy use in what has always been a sit-back, passive medium.
