I love convergence! You just couldn’t write headlines like that in the old days.
Anyway, Brett Akagi, whom the Strib hired away from KARE 18 months ago, has resigned to become assistant news director at Kansas City’s KSHB-TV. Akagi, who was a four-time National Press Photographer Association photographer of the year at KARE, worked for rival Kansas City station WDAF for eight-plus years before moving to the Twin Cities.
When Akagi moved to the Strib, he cited “transformation” as the reason. Now, he says, he wants to be “closer to family and friends” and “to take on a much bigger role in shaping a newsroom” from a leadership position.
Strib-ites I know say Akagi was a fanatic about detail who led the Strib to some video-side award wins; he was also, perhaps, a bit more intense than some in the evolving video operation preferred. The Strib’s technical chops clearly improved while he was there. However, one major initiative during Akagi’s tenure, the lunchtime newscast NewsBreak, was mothballed in mid-March.
I’ve always wondered how TV’s visual types adjust to the smaller moving-picture component that newspapers provide, though it should be noted that Akagi’s predecessor and fellow KARE alum, Regina McCombs, spent 11 years at the Strib.
Anyway, there’s a job opening now. The ad on JournalismJobs.com says the new Director of Multimedia will be “responsible for leading the Star Tribune’s content generation efforts in still photography, video and other emerging visual storytelling techniques. As a member of the newsroom’s management team, he or she will oversee the work of a staff of 25 photographers, videographers and editors” and “shape, articulate and champion the vision for multimedia storytelling at the Star Tribune.”
