Mark Leonard Leaving WILL; The Future for Non-Profit Journalism

WILL General Manager Mark Leonard started his career in public broadcasting as a camera operator, getting a start working on documentaries on Native American reservations in South Dakota and has since held just about every job in television production there is. This hour on Focus, Jim Meadows talks with Mark about his career and what he’s accomplished as the leader of WILL’s television and radio stations. Today is his last day with WILL; he’s departing to take a new position as the general manager at NET, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications. We’ll talk with him about his career, what’s ahead for WILL and the health of public broadcasting stations through his lens.

Then in the second half of this hour, Mark Jurkowitz, Associate Director of the Pew Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism joins our conversation. According to a new report out recently from his organization, the news landscape continues to shift. Newspapers have been dying a slow death, and in the wake of disappearing resources for reporting, publicly funded and non-profit journalism organizations are starting to emerge. We’ll talk about how that changes where you can expect to get your news and how that could open a whole other can of worms when it comes to funding.

Do you  have questions for WILL departing General Manger Mark Leonard? Post in the comments section below or tweet us @Focus580.