Bios

Deborah Potter is an experienced journalism trainer and reporter who spent 16 years as a correspondent for CBS News and CNN. She’s the founder of NewsLab, a journalism resource center she ran for 20 years and that is now affiliated with the University of Mississippi. Deborah currently serves as a trainer for the International Center for Journalists and the Solutions Journalism Network. She frequently leads workshops for national and state journalism groups and trains in newsrooms around the world.

In addition to Advancing the Story, Deborah’s other publications include: Incoming! Advice for the Newly Named News Director (2006) and Ready, Set, Lead: A Resource Guide for News Leaders (2005), as well as the Handbook of Independent Journalism.

Deborah is a former faculty associate at the Poynter Institute. She has been a visiting professor at the University of Montana and the University of Arkansas Center for Ethics in Journalism. She holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MA from The American University.

Debora Halpern Wenger, a veteran journalist and educator, is associate professor and director of undergraduate journalism at the University of Mississippi’s Meek School of Journalism and New Media. She is a former associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research focuses on the job skills needed to succeed in journalism. 

In addition to Advancing the Story, Deb is co-author of Managing Today’s Media: Audience First. Prior to her academic appointment, Deb served as assistant news director at WFLA-TV in Tampa, Fla. She started her career as a reporter/anchor at KXJB in Fargo, N.D., moved on to producing at WBBH in Ft. Myers, Fla., and WMUR in Manchester, N.H., then became executive producer at WSOC in Charlotte, N.C.

Deb conducts multimedia training in newsrooms across the country and is co-author of the broadcast, online and mobile journalism curricula for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Journalism Training Program. She’s also a trainer with Google News Lab. Deb has been visiting faculty for the Poynter Institute. She has a BA from what is now known as Minnesota State University, an MA from University of North Carolina–Charlotte, and a PhD from Kingston University in the U.K..

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