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News Director Kevin Benz out at News 8 Austin
Kevin Benz, News 8 Austin’s news director, is leaving after more than 11 years with Time Warner Cable’s local news outfit.
“This morning, News 8 and I decided to part ways,” said Benz, who has been with the station since it went on the air. He had been assisting in facility upgrades and a re-branding of the operation to Your News Now (YNN), an effort that has already taken place at Time Warner news outlets in New York and North Carolina and will occur in Austin early next year. The transition was planned to facilitate efficiencies in marketing, graphics and news sharing, according to Time Warner.
“It just seemed like the right time,” Benz said. “We have great mutual respect for each other. I wish them nothing but the best. I just think it’s the right time for somebody else to take over the leadership there, really.”
Time Warner’s Regional Vice President of Local News Steve Paulus described Benz’ departure as a mutual parting of the ways. “I want to stress that this is not any kind of cost-saving move or anything,” Paulus said. “It was a purely philosophical issue. We’re moving forward with the re-branding and the upgrade. It’s all moving forward.”
I asked Paulus about the sudden nature of the announcement (I had received an invitation from Benz just last week to view the upgrades at the News 8 facilities). “It was sudden in terms of notification,” he said. “We’ve had some discussions over a period of months.”
Benz did not have any immediate plans that he was willing to share. As chair-elect for the Radio Television Digital News Association he is responsible for the planning of next year’s National Excellence in Journalism convention in New Orleans. He’s also on the board of — and does training for — Austin’s Carol Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism.
“I’ve got a lot going on and I certainly won’t be far away from journalism with these organizations and I don’t plan on being far away for very long,” he explained. “The average news director doesn’t last very long. Eleven years is pretty unheard of.”
Benz said he is incredibly proud to have been a part of News 8.
“Launching a TV station is not for the faint of heart,” he said. “And we took a television station that nobody really believed in, in 1999, and we turned it into something that matters a lot to people in central Texas. We won a national Murrow Award; we won two Sigma Delta Chi Awards for journalistic excellence; we won three national Walter Cronkite Awards for political reporting; we were finalists for a DuPont Columbia — that’s pretty high praise for a television station that’s only been around for 12 years. I really couldn’t be prouder of my work there and I couldn’t be prouder to work with the people over there.”
Benz, who is married to KVUE anchor Olga Campos Benz, will be replaced on an interim (and possibly permanent) basis by current Assistant News Director Mike Pearson.
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By SeeJaneBrowse
November 30, 2010 9:59 AM | Link to this
I wish they wouldn't use the term "So and So is OUT at Whatever Company." That implies that they've been fired. Based on this story, Mr. Benz was not fired. It would be more appropriate to title the article, "Benz leaves News 8 Austin" or something like that. All this creation of drama where none exists - it's unnecessary.
By Michael Barnes
November 29, 2010 6:47 PM | Link to this
That's a shocker. Kevin is very well respected.