Lindsey Whissel Fenton
Senior Producer/Director and Instructional DesignerLindsey Whissel Fenton, MEd, CT (she/her) is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, international speaker, and grief educator. In her current role as a senior producer/director and instructional designer at PBS/NPR affiliate WPSU, Lindsey focuses on projects related to grief, trauma, and mental health. She is the creator of Speaking Grief and Learning Grief, founder of Empathic Media, and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Alliance for Children's Grief (NACG). She’s also an instructional designer and content creator for the Yale Child Study Center’s Grief-Sensitive Healthcare Project. Lindsey earned her bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Digital Arts from Point Park University, her master’s degree in Learning, Design, and Technology from Penn State, and is Certified in Thanatology through the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). She’s a dog mom, avid reader, and rock climber.
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Do you feel discouraged or even defeated about the state of the world? So much so that you find yourself disengaging? What if we told you that there was another path? That there’s a form of reporting that doesn’t just tell you what's wrong in your community but actively works to empower you to help set it right? On this episode ofNews Over Noise, host Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with James Causey, a projects reporter and columnist at theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel, about solutions journalism and the potential it holds for strengthening democracy. -
The question of who owns the news has serious implications for the quality of journalism we have access to. Media buyouts and mergers have become so commonplace you might not even realize that your local paper or news station is owned by a massive corporation in some far-off place. You might think, “I’m still getting access to information, so why does diversity in media ownership matter?” To find out, Leah Dajches and Matt Jordan talk with Michael Copps, a former commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission. -
“My experience is that audiences want us to be truthful and fair, but they don’t want us to be robots.” That’s a quote from a blog post by journalist Lewis Raven Wallace—a post that led to him being fired from Marketplace. Wallace has become an outspoken critique of the notion that “objectivity” is a catchall for accurate journalism. In this episode of News Over Noise, hosts Leah Dajches and Matt Jordan talk with Wallace about the concept of journalistic neutrality and about what can be done to restore some lost public trust in journalism. -
Terms like trolls and butterfly attacks sound like something out of a childhood fable. Unfortunately, in the digital information landscape, these terms represent very real tactics that can have devastating effects on democracy. What are these bad-actors are trying to accomplish? And, how can you protect yourself from becoming prey to their malicious schemes? To find out, Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with Dr. Joan Donovan, one of the leading experts on media manipulation, and disinformation campaigns, and online extremism. -
Social media often gets a bad rap, but it plays an undeniably critical role in today’s media landscape. With younger people increasingly opting to get their information from platforms like TikTok instead of traditional news sources, its significance is only likely to increase. On this episode of News Over Noise, hosts Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with journalist, activist, and social media strategist Annie Wu about the power of social media to drive the agenda when it comes to news, politics, and public opinion. -
Most of us get our information fed to us through our smartphones. Constant bombardment and easy access to headlines, video clips, and sound bites help create the illusion that we are well-informed about the goings-on of our world. But...are we? On this episode of News Over Noise, host Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with media scholar Homero Gil de Zúñiga about what the News Finds Me mentality is, how it impacts civic engagement, and why it might be leaving us less informed than we realize. -
Whether your eyelids get heavy at the mere mention of an economic story or you're a seasoned economic news consumer and want to know how you can find reliable, quality reporting, this is a discussion for you. On this episode of News Over Noise, Hosts Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with Bob Frick, Navy Federal’s Corporate Economist, about what makes for quality—and not so quality—economic reporting and how you can tell the difference. They also discuss how you cut through the buzzwords and vague characterizations to get to the bottom of what’s actually going on. -
Consuming quality local journalism has a profound impact on civic engagement. People vote more, get more engaged in their community, and trust each other more. So, what happens when local news outlets start disappearing? On this episode ofNews Over Noise, hosts Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with Tim Lambert, the Multimedia News Director at WITF, about the state of local news and the implications this has for all of us. They also offer some tips on how to evaluate the credibility of the news you consume. -
The U.S. has one of the highest-news avoidance rates in the world, with more than 42 percent of Americans saying they actively avoid the news.On this episode of News Over Noise, we’ll delve into news avoidance, what it is, and why it matters. We’ll also offer some strategies for how to overcome your own reluctance to engage with journalism. -
When it comes to election coverage, horse race journalism has become the norm. The focus has shifted from policies to polling data, leaving a void where citizens should be able to find meaningful information about the future of their democracy. But some news outlets are pushing back. In this episode of News Over Noise, hosts Leah Dajches and Matt Jordan talk with news editors Elizabeth Estrada and Scott Blanchard about an approach to reporting that focuses on issues instead of candidates.
