Pick The Brains Of Station Group News Pros

A panel of top TV station group news executives are on tap for the first day of the third annual NewsTECHForum, presented by TVNewsCheck and the Sports Video Group (SVG). The gathering once again will bring together news managers with operations and technology professionals who will make sense of the growing challenges they — and you — face.

NewsTechForum is slated for Dec. 14-15 at the Hilton in Midtown Manhattan in conjunction with the SVG Summit on sports production.

On Monday, Dec. 14, the TV Station Group Perspective panel, running from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m., will feature Scott Livingston, VP of news, Sinclair Broadcast Group; Barbara Maushard, VP of news, Hearst Television; Bart Feder, VP of news, Tribune Broadcasting; and David Friend, SVP, news, CBS Television Stations.

They will address the operational and technical challenges that news pros face in covering stories, particularly big breaking stories, as well as how TV news can compete with — and take advantage of — digital media.

Some background on the panelists:

Scott Livingston was named Sinclair’s VP of news in 2012. The appointment came after a decade as news director at WBFF, Sinclair’s flagship station in Baltimore. Under his leadership, the news operation won more regional Emmy awards than all other Baltimore stations combined. WBFF was twice named the National Press Photographers Association Station of the Year.

Livingston was honored with the 2013 Ted Yates Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter for outstanding professional and personal contributions to television news. Most recently, he received the Broadcast and Cable Technology Leadership Award.

He’s also received a national Murrow, a DuPont and 23 regional Emmys.

Barbara Maushard is VP of news at Hearst Television Inc., where she leads the company’s news product on the air, online and on mobile platforms.

Between 1997 and 2008, when she moved to Hearst Television’s headquarters, she worked at four Hearst stations. She began as executive producer at KMBC Kansas City, where she was part of the team that won a Society of Professional Journalists award for breaking news coverage, and traveled to Cuba to co-produce special coverage of the pope’s visit.

She has served as news director at three Hearst stations. Under her news stewardship, WISN Milwaukee launched seven-and-a-half hours of local news programming and was honored with a Peabody and a national Edward R. Murrow award, among others.

Bart Feder was named SVP, news for Tribune Broadcasting in February 2015.  He is responsible for overseeing all news operations and news production for Tribune Broadcasting’s 42 owned or operated stations.

With more than 25 years of experience in television newsrooms, Feder most recently spent five years at CNN where he was SVP of current programming responsible for the operation and editorial direction of all primetime and morning news programs, as well as the network’s investigative, documentary and medical units. Prior to his position at CNN, Feder was chairman-CEO of The FeedRoom, a pioneer in online video, live streaming and digital asset management for media organizations.

Feder has held executive management positions at WABC New York, WHDH Boston, WJXT Jacksonville, Fla., and KOVR Sacramento, Calif. He has also held producer positions at WNEV Boston, and WOR New York, after serving as a news writer at CBS Radio and WPIX New York. He began his career at WINS-AM New York. Feder has been honored with numerous local and national journalism awards, including the DuPont Columbia Silver Baton.

David Friend was named senior vice president, news, for the CBS Television Stations in June 2010.

In addition to his group responsibilities, he continues to serve as news director at WCBS, the company’s New York flagship, which is a position he has held since June 2006. He added oversight of the news department at WLNY when CBS acquired the station in 2012 and created a duopoly in the New York City market.

In 2010, Friend was selected by Broadcasting & Cable as the publication’s News Director of the Year in recognition of his efforts to drive ratings growth, share best practices across the CBS Television Stations group and facilitate partnerships with CBS Radio stations.

Prior to joining WCBS, Friend served as the senior vice president in charge of business news programming at CNBC, where he oversaw 14 hours of live programming on a daily basis. He was also responsible for spearheading CNBC’s development of original long-form programming, including the Peabody Award-winning documentary “The Age of Wal-Mart: Inside America’s Most Powerful Company.” Prior to that, Friend served as executive producer of “Squawk Box,” CNBC’s signature morning program. 

Before working at CNBC, Friend was with Warner Bros. as executive producer and co-creator of the nationally syndicated series, Extra. He was responsible for overseeing the transformation of the program from a nightly entertainment magazine to a news and information program.

Prior to that, Friend was the assistant news director at WABC New York City. He rose from producer to executive producer before being promoted to assistant news director during his seven years with the station.

For more information on NewsTECHForum and to register, click here.