by Abigail Davis | Feb 5, 2020 | News Slider
Rudy Kalis, former WSMV sports broadcaster, shared his insight with a room full of young aspiring journalists and faculty on Monday evening, at the Media Masters event hosted by Lipscomb’s communication and journalism department. Interviewed by student Tia Calvin, Kalis answered each question with enthusiasm. The room filled with laughter at moments and hushed quiet at others as the students and faculty leaned in to hear the advice and stories from the spritely professional. His story began overseas. Born in Germany to Russian parents, Kalis immigrated to the United States at the age of 5. After serving in the military police force, he decided to go to the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee to earn his degree. It was his love for sports that prompted him to choose journalism as a career path. After graduating from college and working a short time for the Green Bay Packers, Kalis moved to Tennessee to further his career in broadcasting. It was never his intention to stay in Nashville. He reflected on this time in his life saying, “…in 1974 (I) got the opportunity to come to Nashville. Thought I’d stay here a year or two, and then I’d go off to the big time and be somebody. Forty-five years later God said ‘no this is where you are’.” He offered Proverbs 16:9 as a way of explanation. This verse talks about how we may make plans for our life but, ultimately it is the Lord who directs our path. He also warned against ego and pride and how they got in the way of his career and relationship with God along...
by Janice Ng | Mar 11, 2014 | News Slider
Al Jazeera America Nashville’s national correspondent Jonathan Martin likes the competition, creativity and spontaneity of his craft. “These three things really drive me to get up every morning and to work in news,” Martin said to a group of student communicators at Lipscomb University’s Media Masters event in Ezell. “Something is always going, always changing,” Martin said. “You’re competing against yourself. You’re competing against other stations and companies. I love that competition. “Second of all, I love the fact that there is creativity involved in this business,” he said. “You can make it your own. Finally, I think the spontaneity of things is really what drives me.” Growing up in Atlanta, Ga., Martin always knew he wanted to pursue a career in news. His passion started when he was only six or seven years old. “I always wanted to watch the news,” Martin said. “I was obsessed with the production, the anchors, the current events.” Martin began his career in the city of Augusta, Ga. Two years later, he got a call to be the morning anchor at WSMV Channel 4 in Nashville. From there, he was able to work his way up to a weekend anchor position. When he got the call to join Al Jazeera America’s Nashville bureau eight months ago, he said he was “all about it,” and has been working there for six months. Martin took some time to discuss the type of stories he gets to cover and showed a clip of one of his latest stories about undocumented immigrants qualifying for in-state tuition. “Today, I was covering another story at Vanderbilt Hospital and...
by Janice Ng | Jan 22, 2014 | News Slider
WSMV Channel 4 News chief investigative reporter and anchor Jeremy Finley says investigative journalism is outrage. “That’s what investigative journalism is all about,” Finley said at this month’s edition of Media Masters Tuesday evening to a crowd of communication and journalism students at the Ezell Center. “It is outrage on a lot of different platforms,” Finley said. “When I come on the air with a story, that’s what I’m bringing. I’m bringing outrage of some kind.” To Finley, investigative journalism involves digging deeper than just reporting on a story. “I knew what I wanted to do. I didn’t just want to cover, I wanted to uncover. That’s the difference between general assignment and investigative.” Uncover, he did. Over the course of his career, Finley has exposed corruption, crime, how taxpayer dollars are being used, what public officials are doing and many scams that are out in the nation. Finley discussed an unusual case involving prison inmates updating Facebook pages from behind bars. The inmates had smuggled cellphones into their cells, and were using social media to show the public their life behind bars. Finley and his team did an investigative piece on the issue, which led to 15 more investigative stories on the smuggling activities of prison wardens and inmates. The story also led the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to investigate the state prisons. Finley said that although investigative journalism has given him a lot of experience, some of his most memorable experiences came before he stepped into that field. Finley recalled helicopter rides, cave expeditions and covering the Summer Olympics in Greece. Besides investigating, Finley also anchors the...
