After nearly eight years and more than 9,300 published posts, I am saying goodbye to Adweek and TVNewser.
When I joined Adweek in 2016, I wanted to write a diversity of stories about U.S. TV news, and bring fair, in-depth, energetic and sometimes biting coverage to TVNewser. On occasion, I think I succeeded. There was the Producer I Can’t Live Without interview featuring 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl and her producer Rich Bonin; the #AskNewser series which originated during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic; in-studio Election Night coverage, my sit-down with Megyn Kelly during her turbulent run at NBC News; scoops such as Kristen Welker‘s jump to the Weekend Today co-anchor role and the surprising exit of CBS Evening News EP Jay Shaylor; annual coverage of the National Association of Broadcasters Conference in Las Vegas; on and off the record chats with countless network presidents and SO MANY Nielsen ratings stories, making me a thorn in the side of each TV news publicist and executive 😉
I’ve been able to interview an extraordinary range of people over the past several years, including Lester Holt, Norah O’Donnell, David Muir, Gayle King, Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer, Chris Hayes, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade, Sean Hannity, Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer and so many more. We spoke about their work and the state of the news business more generally.
While on-air talent gets the lion’s share of attention from the press, I also endeavored to shine a light on the hard-working folks behind the scenes who help make the news come to your screens: The producers. This was the thought behind our widely-read The Producer I Can’t Live Without series.
It really has been a pleasure to write here, following my friend and TVNewser mentor Chris Ariens as the leader of this site. Additional thanks go out to Jason Lynch, another mentor of mine and for several years my boss here at Adweek, as well as my intrepid Adweek TV teammates Bill Bradley and Mollie Cahillane. It’s also been a pleasure to work with Mark Mwachiro, our TVNewser freelancer whose byline you will be seeing much more of. And of course, a big thanks to Brian Stelter, the founder of this site and a trailblazer on the media beat. I hope I’ve been able to maintain the standard he set when launching this powerhouse platform 20 years ago (time flies!).
Most importantly, thank you, TVNewser readers, for your support (and yes, even your constructive criticism) over the years.
Please be kind to one another this year, and take care.
A.J.