Mitch's Media Musings July 2023

General

Bob Cohn - PR legend Bob Cohn died this month. He was 88. Stories about his passing in the AJC and Atlanta Business Chronicle. BCW Global wrote this tribute. I told the AJC that "“Bob Cohn was a creative genius who brought out the best in the people who worked for him. His legacy is the hundreds of incredible PR professionals who went through the doors of his agency and then went on to work at corporations or who started their own agencies.”

A celebration of Bob Cohn’s long and impactful life will be held in Barge Commons at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta on Saturday, August 5 at 11 a.m.

In lieu of flowers for those inclined to memorialize Bob with a charitable donation, please direct donations to Hospice of West Alabama, 3851 Loop Road, Tuscaloosa, AL 35404 or you can donate online at www.hospiceofwestal.com.hospiceofwestal.com

Ed Hula was recently presented with the Pierre de Coubertin medal by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach. Ed receives the prestigious award for his outstanding contributions as the leading Olympic journalist covering 15 Olympic Games, the Olympic movement & IOC. Hula covered the Olympics for more than four decades, most notably through his publication, Around the Rings. This was given on Olympic Day in the Olympic capital of Lausanne.

Sandra Parrish - I couldn't bury this item down in the "W"s this month. WSB Radio's Sandra Parrish is retiring after 28 years at the station. She's been a mainstay on the Georgia Legislative beat for decades and I'll certainly miss working with her.

Bill Shipp - Bill Shipp died this week at the age of 89. He was a long-timer AJC political writer who later created his own publication, Shipp's Georgia. Maria Saporta wrote about Bill.

Atlanta Press Club

APC Summer Member Mixer - July 31, 5 - 7p, Wild Leap Atlanta, 125 Ted Turner Dr SW
2023 Awards of Excellence - Aug. 8, 6-8p, The Gathering Spot

Society of Professional Journalists - Sip & Share July 29 fundraiser with Mara Davis hosting. Link: https://tinyurl.com/2ndnmz7x.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

We've added Breaking News Editor Kevin Whaley to the database

Axios - Emma Hurt departs for Colorado

Canopy - Christina Lee joins as contributing editor

Georgia Entertainment News has launched a series of events around the state to highlight Georgia’s creative economy and the impact of the entertainment industry. It kicked off in Athens and there's an event July 19 in Alpharetta/Roswell. Details at https://www.georgiaentertainmentnews.com/gen-event-rsvp/.

GPB

GPB announced that Bill Nigut's "Political Rewind" show has been cancelled as of June 30. Sources say it's due to budget cuts. Read the release from GPB here. It appears the GA Today e-newsletter will not be continuing either, and the "Georgia Outdoors" show goes from six episodes to four in the coming year.

GwinnettForum - Elliott Brack has been honored by the Georgia Press Association for 50 years of service in the newspaper business. Details here.

Rough Draft

Stacks by Rough Draft is their newest “vertical” email. It’s intended to be the must-read newsletter for the local literary community.

Saporta Report - John Ruch writes about the challenges of media archiving their content. This is a great story that we should all read.

Times-Journal Newspapers - The papers now have a podcast in each market to go along with each local paper. JK Murphy reports that some are weekly, some are more frequent (Marietta is seven times a week). You'll find podcasts in Rome for their NW GA papers, East Metro for their Rockdale/Newton/Morgan County papers.

WANF TV/Atlanta News First

Sydney Spencer (most recently with WXIA) joins as Associate Producer/Booking.
Brittany Ford joins as a general assignment reporter. She was most recent in Houston at KHOU.
We're adding weekend morning producer Ashley Tillery to the database. She was previously with the Black News Channel and The CW
Jordan Barela joins the digital team. He's coming from WALB TV in Albany
Hope Dean joins as Digital Content Producer

WAGA TV/Fox5

Correction: We've added Executive Producer Josh Voight to the database (last month we incorrectly noted which station he works for)
Eric Mock joins as general assignment reporter. He comes most recently from KATU TV in Portland.
Congrats to reporter Paul Milliken, selected as one of Atlanta's Most Interesting Men by Best Self Atlanta magazine. Link: https://bestselfatlanta.com/paul-milliken/.
Chip Zeller retires from the Sports Director position. Sources say he started there as an intern at age 16 and worked for 43 years.
Photographer Chris Rosenthal has been promoted to Investigative Producer.

WSB TV - Michael Doudna joins as a general assignment reporter. He's coming from KPNX TV in Phoenix.

WSB Radio - Sandra Parrish retires (see above). Sad emoji.

WXIA TV/11Alive

General Manager John Deushane has announced that he'll be retiring effective Aug. 4. This caps a 47 year career in broadcasting.
Daris Schneider-Bray moves to NewsNation in Chicago

News from the PR Dept.

Holly Frew has joined the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University as the director of public relations and external communications.
Poston Communications was recognized as one of the top advisory departments in Litigation PR & Communications by Chambers and Partners Litigation Support and Crisis & Risk Management 2023 editions. Dave Poston for Monica Smith were in both guides.

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