For about 5 years, Tom Jones’ alarm went off each weekday morning at 4 a.m.
The then-Tampa Bay Occasions sports activities columnist would go away his home by 4:30 to reach at radio station WDAE to prep for a morning sports activities discuss present that ran Monday via Friday from 6 to 9 a.m.
Then he’d head to his full-time job on the newspaper.
“That alarm would go off at 4 and there was nothing I needed greater than to return to sleep, however as soon as I used to be within the studio and the mics have been on, it was a blast each time,” Jones stated. “What’s higher than sitting round with sensible individuals speaking about what you’re keen on?”
That’s the spirit he’s bringing to a brand new Poynter podcast concerning the information media — and better of all, there’s no 4 a.m. alarm.
Jones got here to the Poynter Institute in 2019 following a 30-year profession as a sports activities columnist, principally on the Tampa Bay Occasions.
His preliminary targets for serving because the senior media author included a podcast, and he’s thrilled to see it lastly come to life, thanks partly to the College of South Florida St. Petersburg.
“I feel it’s an essential a part of individuals’s information and leisure food regimen today, so I at all times thought {that a} podcast could be a extremely attention-grabbing manner to assist clarify and describe the media,” Jones stated.
The Poynter Report Podcast is ready to launch its first episode on Sept. 23, with a biweekly cadence that may function information trade visitors discussing behind-the-scenes points dealing with the media information panorama.
His first visitor is NPR TV critic and media analyst Eric Deggans, writer of “Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Harmful Phrases to Divide a Nation.”
The podcast is being produced as a part of an impartial examine class with adjunct professor Elliott Wiser, a 40-year broadcast journalism veteran and media govt. The group is engaged on an instructional schedule, so the plan is to publish eight episodes within the fall, after which as many as 10 extra episodes within the spring. They plan to maintain the episodes quick and candy — 20 to 25 minutes.
Jones’ credentials embrace an extended stint as an early-morning radio character, a job that familiarized him with the facility of audio.
“It’s a extra personable medium. Not solely do individuals hear your voice, however they hear extra of who you might be and what you’re about,” he stated. “My work as a newspaper columnist meant I had a reasonably high-profile job — it acquired me plenty of publicity. However radio took it to a wholly totally different degree. I feel podcasts are the identical manner.”
Jones stated that one of many different targets of the podcast is to reveal extra individuals to what journalists are doing and due to this fact clarify the information media higher.
“I feel there’s plenty of mistrust within the media today, and I feel plenty of it’s as a result of individuals don’t absolutely perceive what it’s we do, and don’t completely perceive how we go concerning the course of — how and why we do the tales that we do,” he stated. “This is a chance to place extra character and humanity into the media information of the day.”
Jones produces a weekday e-newsletter, The Poynter Report, which is learn by greater than 24,000 subscribers each day. The podcast represents a method to deepen his connection together with his current viewers and probably construct a brand new one.
“It’s not going to be simply me rattling off my opinions,” Jones stated. “We’re going to search out visitors who’re doing the work that we’re speaking about, or have an experience within the work that we’re speaking about.”
“I feel the extra voices you’ll be able to usher in, the higher this podcast can be.”
Jones’ editor, Ren LaForme, is thrilled to push The Poynter Report and Jones past the written phrase.
“Although I’ve edited Tom Jones daily for 4 and a half years, representing in all probability thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of phrases by now, I nonetheless usually discover myself wishing for much more of his considerate takes and evaluation. He’s simply acquired such a knack for breaking down media information in a manner that’s attention-grabbing and approachable,” LaForme stated. “The podcast offers us that, and permits him to discover media information matters in additional depth, from model new angles, and alongside another partaking voices.”
Jones stated that whether or not you’re speaking about motion pictures, music or journalism, followers prefer to get a peek behind the scenes, and that’s one factor this podcast will try to offer.
“Perhaps the media shouldn’t be fairly as fascinating as how Christopher Nolan put collectively ‘The Darkish Knight,’” Jones joked. “However I do suppose that in the event you take individuals behind the scenes and present them how the information will get completed, you’re offering an actual service to each them and the journalists, who’re — by advantage of their skilled ethics — fairly quiet and deferential concerning the work they’ve completed to maintain individuals knowledgeable.”
The primary episode of the podcast launches Sept. 23. Will probably be out there on all main podcast platforms, together with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and extra.
