Resume

The Sun, News UK. Video editor, freelance. March 2023 to present

• Upload video to The Sun website, track permission requests, track breaking stories across social media, address potential legal problems with videos, blur identities, and bleep swearing to comply with IPSO guidelines.
• Clip video associated with front-page stories using assets acquired from multiple platforms: journalists, freelancers, social media, UGC, and wire services including Reuters, PA, Storyful, and Getty.
• Show leadership on the weekend story list to ensure all assets are in and packages turned on time.
• Multi-task by picking up videos from an ever-rolling queue, identifying priority for incoming video requests and breaking news.
• Communicate with team mates remotely via Slack and email.

NBC4 (WCMH)                                                                         

June 2018 to Oct. 2022

Experience in a fast-paced, 24/7 broadcast television newsroom. Two years as a multimedia reporter on the digital news team producing same-day packages of two minutes. Two-plus years as assignment editor moving crews, confirming information for producers and NBC affiliates during violent protests and COVID-19.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Investigation into missing men in rural counties brought 850k page views to my byline, giving me the top author spot in Nexstar, the NBC affiliate.
• Nearly three million views to my byline in one year, according to Chartbeat.

REAL-WORLD EFFECTS:

• Investigation into children shot mentioned by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine when he unveiled a new gun detection program.
• Story on a man’s fight to fly a flag honoring his son brought a bill to the Ohio legislature, according to the representative who introduced it.
• Ohio Attorney General issued a complaint against a computer scammer soon after my story about the scheme.
• Long-running series into rape on OSU campus brought a spotlight to an on-going problem, allowing people to make informed decisions about the risks of this campus.
• Investigation into a jail with people using a loophole to get out led to new spending on security, according to the jail warden. At the same jail, my investigation into a conflict of interest led to a person removed from the governing board.

Digital Multimedia Journalist (2020-2022)

She is always eager to chase new story ideas and develop contacts, which has led to exclusive investigative and enterprise reporting efforts.

Performance review: Digital Director Brian Hofmann 2021

• Prepared daily with research to pitch for a same-day story.
• Researched, wrote, shot, and cut enterprise series and investigations including: Campus rape, children shot, tenants rights, Appalachian poverty, missing persons, scams, COVID-19, protest coverage. 
• Top-performing story in our national network with 850k page views for coverage of missing man.
• Shoot (Sony A7III + Ronin or tripod; iPhone 9 + DJI Osmo), cut (Premiere Pro), and write (WordPress) all stories.
• Footage used by broadcast for evening and morning shows.

Cynthia sets the standard for what a digital
reporter should be. She effectively manages
a blend of short, medium and long-term
stories. She is constantly exploring new story ideas, presentation styles and workflows.

Performance review: Digital Director Andy Long, 2020

Assignment Editor (2018-2020)

Confirm and fact-check breaking news. Send to producers, anchors and editors. Book photographers on shoots. Initiate and pitch stories. Plan newsroom calendar. Write up crime stories for the NBC4i.com website. Keep court records up to date. Confirm court bookings and order mugshots. Speak with police, sheriff, fire to confirm reports of breaking news. Monitor protests.

On top of her desk duties, she also searches out and sets up reporter stories. She has turned over a dozen stories that were assigned to reporters who had no pitches or their story died. She is a pillar on the weekend shift – aggressive in getting breaking news into the shows and pushing content to the next show.

Performance review: Managing Editor Jason Mays, 2019

If you are in the UK and cannot view story links, go to the video page for a selection of stories.

EMPLOYMENT HIGHLIGHTS

Freelance Writing:                                                                  2011-2018

• Short North Gazette.
• Midwest Wine Press.
• The Grapevine Magazine.

Capital University                Adjunct Instructor              2015-2018

Columbus State CC              Adjunct Instructor              2016-2018

Composition and Rhetoric classes: Create assignments, exercises, classroom schedules and lesson plans. Conference with students regularly, teach rhetorical styles, assess papers for logical flow, adherence to grammatical and rhetorical requirements, and MLA format. Teach critical analysis, research, and documentation. Conversant with the LMS Blackboard and iLearn.

Editor and Show Host, Word Carver May 2016 to 2019

WGRN-fm, 94.1, Columbus Ohio. Saturdays, 12.30-1pm.

Word Carver is dedicated to showcasing the diverse talents of authors and poets in Columbus. Duties include: Interview guests, edit tape, collect tape from Assistant Editor, create show in Soundforge and upload to server. Podcast the tape through iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. Write the show notes and post with pictures. Edit the Word Carver website to reflect the new show notes. Put show notes up to Word Carver on Medium.com. Tweet about the new show, post to the Facebook page, and Instagram.

Show Host: Conscious Voices, WCRS-fm (2007-2009)

• Wrote, edited and produced weekly news shows.
• Researched and booked guests for current events, art, and politics.

After I had two children, our family relocated to Columbus, Ohio from London, England. I stayed home to raise the children and wrote three published novels: Motherhunt, Butterfly Eyes (both Hodder/Headline) and The Light Catcher (Assent).

Senior Reporter for the Hornsey Journal (1988-1990)

Local newspaper reporting on a high-crime beat. Additional reporting for national newspapers, magazines, and television including The Guardian, The Daily Express and The Sun, and Thames News.

Reporter North London Advertiser (1987-1988)

PUBLICATIONS:

Selected Creative Non Fiction & Articles

“Are Thoughts Things? A Meditation on the Power of Words to Harm — or Heal,” Talking Writing. URL: http://talkingwriting.com/are-thoughts-things

“Short Linebacker Rules the Roost,” Sugar Mule Magazine. URL: http://www.sugarmule.com/41.htm

“An Artist, a Chinese Junk and Old Union Station,” Short North Gazette. URL: http://www.shortnorth.com/Powell.html

“A Slice of American Dream,” Short North Gazette. URL: http://www.shortnorth.com/Velio.html

“Tuscan,” Greenwoman Magazine, Colorado Springs: Greenwoman Publications. Print.

“The Night Ted Bundy Came into My House and Tried to Kill My Sister with a Knife,” You Magazine (UK).

Novels:

• The Light Catcher. Philadelphia: Assent, 2014. ISBN: 978-1-62827-926-9
• Butterfly Eyes. London: Hodder Headline (UK), 1999. ISBN:0-7472-2120
• Motherhunt. London: Hodder Headline (UK), 1998. ISBN:0-7472-2119-7

AWARDS

• Official Selection, Psychological Suspense. The Light Catcher. New Apple Book Awards, Excellence in Independent Publishing. 2015.
• First Place. “Salmon,” Ohio Writer, November 2007.

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