RTDNA/NEFE honor three reporters for personal finance stories
From spending to debt, taxes to retirement, money matters affect everyone our reporting reaches. Helping a news audience become more financially literate is one great way reporting can help the community.
At Excellence in Journalism 2018 in Baltimore this September, three newly-named RTDNA/National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) Personal Finance Reporting Award winners will share the story behind their award-winning consumer stories.
Their work helped Texans navigate property taxes in a hot real estate market, showed parents the dangers of college loans and made retirement manageable.
The winners are:
Radio
Jill Schlesinger, CBS News Business Analyst, CBS News Radio Network
Jill on Money
PICTURE
Jill Schlesinger hosts "Jill on Money,” "a radio call-in program offering financial advice.” In this call, Jill offers practical advice to a real-life couple approaching retirement. She walks through goals and how to achieve them.
Jill Schlesinger, CFP®, is the Emmy-nominated and Gracie Award Winning Business Analyst for CBS News. She covers the economy, markets, investing and anything else with a dollar sign on TV, radio (including her nationally syndicated show, “Jill on Money,” which won the 2018 Gracie Award for Best National Talk Show), on the “Better Off” podcast and her blog, "Jill on Money." Jill also serves as the Senior CFP Board Ambassador for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. Prior to her second career at CBS, Jill spent 14 years as the co-owner and Chief Investment Officer for an independent investment advisory firm. She began her career as a self-employed options trader on the Commodities Exchange of New York, following her graduation from Brown University. Jill's first book, The Dumb Things Smart People Do With Their Money, will be published in February, 2019, by Ballantine Books.
Digital
Susannah Snider, Personal Finance Editor, U.S News & World Report
The Problem With PLUS: How Parents Buckle Under the Weight of College Debt
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This four-part series, produced in partnership with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, investigated why parents opt to leverage their own financial futures for their children. The series, which includes an exclusive, consumer-focused interactive data tool that readers can use to explore parental borrowing data for more than 1,400 colleges and universities, looked at the Department of Education’s Parent PLUS loan program, which makes educational loans available to cash-strapped parents of college students, but can be a fast-track to financial ruin.
Susannah Snider is the Personal Finance editor at U.S. News. Since 2010, she has reported on a wide range of personal finance topics, from consumer travel to college financial aid, student loans and employment. Snider previously worked as a staff writer at Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine and holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California. She has appeared as a personal finance expert on television, radio and in print, including on "Fox & Friends," "The Tavis Smiley Show" and Fox Business News.
Television
Jason Wheeler, Anchor/Reporter, WFAA-TV
Is It Worth It: Property Values & Taxes
PICTURE
At the Excellence in Journalism session, these winners will share the key reporting tools and best practices they used to add depth to their reporting. New and longtime consumer reporters will walk away from the session with several ways to creatively approach their reporting and make comprehensive topics more digestible to viewers and listeners.
Along with the Money Matters weekly reporting resource, these award are presented as part of the two organizations' ongoing efforts to encourage radio, television and online news outlets to report on personal finance issues.
About NEFE
The National Endowment for Financial Education provides financial education and practical information to people at all financial stages. NEFE believes that regardless of background or income level more financially informed individuals are better able to take control of their circumstances, improve their quality of life, and ensure a more stable future for themselves and their families.
About RTDNA
RTDNA is the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to broadcast and digital journalism. Founded as a grassroots organization in 1946, RTDNA works to protect the rights of journalists throughout the country, promotes ethical standards in the industry, provides members with training and education and honors outstanding work in the profession through the Edward R. Murrow Awards.