Sue Schardt on Blogger: Compassionate Journalism

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Compassionate Journalism

Media influencer Sue Schardt has close to 30 years of experience in communications and has been the executive producer of Localore since 2010. Sue Schardt is currently operating an independent production group, MarginMedia.org, to continue to develop new collaborative work with a diverse range of people living in local communities.

In a recent post, she muses about compassion, reflecting back on a childhood fainting spell and the tenderness of her elementary school principal. Schardt continues, then, describing her experience with the Red Cross food pantry, and the Boston public city school teachers who line up in their cars to collect and transport food to the homes of their students across the city during this time of hardship.

This emphasis on compassion in a time of pandemic connects to Schardt's approach to journalism and public media. In a 2017 report to the public media field, “Break Form, Making Stories with and for the People, the ethos of Localore is expressed in the view that the core tenants of journalism - fairness, objectivity, and balance - also includes love.

Today, Schardt believes even more strongly that today's chaos and strife present tremendous challenges to those we entrust to bring us the news, and that journalists who lead with compassion are key in confronting the rampant cruelty and divisiveness that mark our present reality.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

About Sue Schardt

Sue Schardt is a veteran media strategist and producer whose musical roots inform and direct her extensive career in public media, including her signature production, Localore. Her creative vision is aimed at driving social change by drawing together a sophisticated network of collaborators from the independent talent pool, local radio and television station newsrooms, and members of local communities. Over eight years, hundreds of "Localorians" have produced thousands of media assets distributed across local and national social, broadcast, and live performance platforms.

Ms. Schardt previously led SchardtMEDIA Strategies as founder and president for a decade. She was sought out for her strategic programming expertise by leading public radio outfits, including NPR, American Public Media, WNYC, KCRW, WBEZ, and maintained a strong roster of overseas clients. She is an experienced researcher, working with firms including Edison, NPR, Sabo Media, and, with Walrus Research, undertook an extensive benchmark study, "Mapping Public Media's Independent Landscape." Among the pioneering programs she helped launch was NPR’s "From the Top," and "World Radio Network New" a overnight service for American listeners delivering news of the day from scores of international outlets. She has a specialized interest in developing with new financial models, including a pilot program, "Atlas, Radio Stories from Around the World," that blended the public radio news magazine format with an advertising-based commercial program model.

Ms. Schardt is an active live-broadcast producer, and conceived and produced a number of standalone documentary specials, including “The Heart of Song: Renee Fleming with Fred Hersch with New York Public Radio,” shining light on the keen musical intellect of one of the world's most beloved singers. The program was broadcast by hundreds of public radio stations across the U.S..

Schardt is a passionate swimmer who considers Walden Pond her home water. She's taken part in a number of open water events, including the Alcatraz Classic, the "River Pool" swim across the Hudson, and a race up the West River from Manhattan’s a Battery Park to Pier 25.