Graham Media Group hires Caroline Chambers as Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion

Graham Media Group announced Friday that Caroline Chambers will join the company as its first Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion, effective Nov. 2.

Most recently, Chambers was the Vice President, National Director of Diversity Initiatives for Comerica Bank. In that role, she was responsible for internal and external diversity program management, including market segment business development teams, employee resource network groups, diversity training, image consulting and philanthropic outreach to diverse communities.

Prior to that, Chambers also served as Comerica Bank’s Vice President, National Director of Corporate Contributions and Charitable Foundation President. Before her work at Comerica, Chambers worked in corporate public affairs, financial services sales, and nonprofit management.

“Caroline is a mission-driven leader who can assess needs and create strategies that are inspiring, meaningful and will support our mission and goals,” Graham Media Group President and CEO Emily Barr said. “We are honored to have Caroline on our team. She will partner with senior leaders to strengthen our recruitment, training and retention efforts, and enhance a culture where all employees feel valued and empowered to do their best work.”

Chambers, a Detroit native, will be based out of Graham Media Group’s Detroit office, but will work directly with the Chicago corporate team, the company’s seven broadcast stations, Social News Desk and Graham Digital.

“Establishing this position is an important next step for Graham Media Group in our continued efforts to ensure that diversity and inclusion are fundamental to our internal culture and organization. This hire is directly in line with the mission of our stations, which is to be an authentic voice for the communities in which we serve,” Barr said. “Caroline is an industry and community leader with the expertise to guide Graham Media Group's connection to the communities we serve and help foster our interpersonal and business prosperity."

Chambers received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Communications from the University of Georgia and a Master's of Public Administration from the University of Michigan. She lives in Metro Detroit and has two grown children.

Graham Media Group's 'Trust Index' recognized among industry's best as fact-checking efforts surge

As the 2020 election draws closer and closer, broadcasters across the country are bolstering their fact-checking operations -- and Graham Media Group is among them.

In fact, Graham Media Group was recognized in a recent TV News Check article for the company's Trust Index, the initiative and verification system to combat misinformation campaigns that target local media.

Trust Index was created out of a partnership with Fathm, a global leader in the fight against misinformation. Since the start of the year, Graham Media Group has been working with Fergus Bell, Fathm’s founder and CEO, in conjunction with newsroom leadership, to train the company's journalists to identify and stop the spread of misinformation.

“The misinformation tactics we saw in the 2016 election have evolved, so we need to ensure we’re constantly updating our strategies for dealing with this challenge,” Bell said in the article. “Journalists at Graham stations now have even more robust and versatile verification and fact-checking processes that can just as easily deal with pandemics as with election coverage. To be able to engage with audiences on this issue at such a local level is really exciting.”

Here's how Trust Index is designed to work: Viewer inquiries trigger news stories, with Graham Media Group reporters working through the Trust Index protocols to produce the report. Graham Media Group reporters also generate their own ideas as for what they can debunk.

Since launching in February, the group has fielded more than 400 tips from consumers, GMG audience development lead Dustin Block said.

Sometimes, the ideas can work across multiple markets. For example, in August, KSAT-TV in San Antonio broadcast a Trust Index-branded report about “pink slime” local news websites, which are automated sites crafted to look like legitimate news organizations. In fact, these have roughly tripled in number in 2020.

KSAT’s reporting revealed that a Delaware-based company called Metric Media had constructed 56 websites that appear to cover news across the state of Texas.

The pink slime exposé idea originated in the Detroit market, making its way south via the Graham Trust Index system.

“What’s come out of it has been some of the best journalism,” said Catherine Badalamente, VP and chief innovation officer at Graham Media Group, referencing the Bell training and the Trust Index, as she says in the article. “That’s one of the things that makes me so proud.”

Graham Media Group is committed to distributing truth. This collective effort proves that.

When people accuse news groups, even in a joking way, with purposefully spreading false information on a wide scale, “it instantaneously makes me furious," Badalamente said. “If they only knew how serious these newsrooms take their job, and how serious we as an organization take what we do, in terms of serving our community. We need to do a better job of combating it, and … take the power of our airwaves and reinforce why we’re not like everyone else.”

Graham Media Group launches new daily podcast

Graham Media Group is pleased to offer a daily dose of solace and hope in the form of a new podcast, "The Best Advice Show."

Hosted by Zak Rosen, veteran audio producer and Graham Media Group director of podcasts, "The Best Advice Show" is a daily, one- to three-minute podcast, sharing the weird and wonderful ways humans survive and thrive in these unpredictable times.

Advice includes managing email overload, parenting in the time of social distancing, what to do with your pasta water, how to stretch your back to release psychic stress, why eating an orange in the shower will help you jumpstart your day and so much more.

“I began working on this show months before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold,” Rosen said. “But now that we’re living in a new reality, the tenor of the show has evolved to consider this historic moment, and to hopefully help listeners remember that we all have ways to effectively make it through challenging, uncharted times.”

Each "The Best Advice Show" episode is built around a contributor offering advice, pragmatic and poetic, drawn from their life’s experience. These contributors include notable artists, writers and journalists, alongside listeners and some amazingly wise children.

“I need this show like I need hand sanitizer,” said Graham Media Group’s VP and Chief Innovation Officer Catherine Badalamente. “People are facing challenges they have never experienced before and 'The Best Advice Show' reminds us that we have each other to rely on, and that each of us has something to offer.”

The show will be available for download on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and wherever else you find your podcasts.

Graham Media announces first 'Grahammies' winners

It's been a monumental year in news - and the journalists at Graham Media have been at the heart of it all, as the storytellers who keep communities connected, informed and engaged.

From investigative stories that hold law enforcement, elected officials, and high-profile newsmakers accountable for their actions, to severe weather sweeping through our viewing areas, journalists have followed every step of the way.

Graham Media has deepened efforts to strengthen our storytelling. And now it's time to celebrate the achievements.

The inaugural "Grahammies" award project was a way to celebrate some of the great work our newsrooms have produced over the past year.

We asked stations for their best work and a series of judging determined the winners. A video, linked below, announces the news, as well.

And the winners are ...

Best general assignment story -- WDIV: "Fire Rescue 42519"

Shawn Ley and Alex Atwell

Best special assignment story -- KSAT: "Conviction"

Isis Romero, Eddie Latigo, Dillon Collier, Henry Keller and Joshua Saunders

Best stand-up or live shot -- KPRC: "$95,000 Taxpayer-Funded Internship"

Mario Diaz, Jon Hill, John Barone and Bill Carruthers

Best original digital story -- WKMG: "Moon Memories"

Emilee Speck

Graham Media Group makes headlines at 2019 Promax Station Summit

Graham Media Group’s Emily Barr never imagined she’s be the president and CEO of a major media group.

Growing up, she wanted to be a filmmaker.

But here we are: it’s 2019 and Barr has made her way from news editor to creative services director to general manager to CEO. At this year’s Promax Station Summit, held this week in Las Vegas, Barr shared her path to success with moderators Natalia Egan, creative services director at KPRC-TV Houston, and Jamie Kay Walters, creative services and programming director at WDIV-TV Detroit, which are both Graham Media stations.

Speaking to an audience in the session about leadership, Barr offered the following advice, or lessons to lead by: Failure's just a bump in the road -- even if you fail in front of Oprah, and "When the door opens, don't ask why. Run through it!"

You can read a fantastic write-up about all Barr’s comments on Promax’s website.

The Promax Station Summit describes itself as the only business event created exclusively for and by television station marketing and creative services professionals.

Promax Station Summit brings together the top broadcast networks, program distributors and station ownership groups under one roof for a powerful week in the broadcast industry.

The event also featured speakers Sherry Carpenter, who does creative services and local programming for Graham Media stations WJXT and WCWJ, and Apryl Pilolli, the head of innovation for Social News Desk, a Graham Media company.