Perspective on journalism: Kathy Clark
Courtesy: Kathy Clark, used with permission.
Kathy Clark is the assistant news director for CBS 5 News in Phoenix, where she previously served as executive producer, and special projects producer. Clark has been an executive producer at SheKnows Media and spent four years producing the Arizona Highways Television travel series.
Clark has received 11 regional Emmy Awards and the 2011 George Foster Peabody Award for her work.
April interviewed Clark in 2018 about a variety of topics including:
How she got started
Lessons she’s learned
Television news production
Local TV news investigations
Changes in journalism
““I still consider myself a news kid. I, growing up, watched the news every night with my parents, the 10 o’clock news, and I think it initially started as a ploy to stay up late, to just not have to go to bed.””
Here, Clark describes how she got her start in journalism.
““Don’t ever take a job or do something where you dread Monday. where Monday just becomes the ‘here we go again,’ and I’m just living for Friday again..”
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Clark has covered a variety of stories as a journalist, from hard news investigations to entertainment. Here are some of the lessons she's learned.
““As a line producer, you’re in the control room. You’re yelling . . . ‘I need it now’ and ‘where’s my live shot?’ And the the urgency is so different.” ”
Here, Clark talks about the difference between line producing and field producing for TV news.
““You can’t tell those stories in 30 seconds. . . . [A]s a journalist, to do your due diligence, you have to spend time and invest money sometimes and resources.””
Next, Clark talks about investigations, including the “Toxic Secrets” series she produced ,which earned her a Peabody Award. The stories can be seen below.
““I think you’re seeing stories now getting served up differently than they were six months, a year, two years ago.””
Next, Clark describes the changes she’s observed in the journalism profession.