The 2023 Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala happens in New York on Monday, October 9, as the best in electronic journalism are saluted. The event takes place at Gotham Hall. The emcees are Ailsa Chang, host of All Things Considered on NPR; Nicole Suarez, anchor on Telemundo’s Noticias Telemundo Mediodía; Vlad Duthiers, featured host of CBS Mornings and anchor on CBS News Streaming Network; and Gio Benitez, co-anchor of Good Morning America on weekends. 

Cocktails start at 6 p.m. and dinner and the awards kick off at 7. 

The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) gives out the Murrow Awards for “outstanding achievements in electronic journalism,” the association said. More than 5,000 entries from digital and broadcast journalism organizations are in the running for the 2023 awards. 

Edward R. Murrow was a journalist on radio and television and a war correspondent. He spent the length of his broadcast career at CBS, from 1935 to 1961, and died in 1965. 

Magid and the RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association) shared a research project focused on trust in news at RTDNA22 last week. One finding saw that 60% of local news viewers are in Strong Agreement that one journalist can compel people to tune out. 

“For some time now we’ve known the ‘what’ — that public trust in journalism has been eroding, even for local broadcast newsrooms, which, by and large, have always been among the most trusted,” RTDNA president and CEO Dan Shelley said. “Now we know, for the first time, the ‘why,’ and, more important, ‘how’ local journalists can rebuild and retain trust.”

RTDNA is a trade association for news professionals and Magid is a consulting agency. RTDNA/Magid said the project serves as “a roadmap for newsrooms to adopt and follow to maintain and win back trust in their communities.”

Magid surveyed 2,000 adult local news consumers, who were asked to evaluate a series of actions and qualities and rate them from 1 (totally disagree) to 10 (totally agree) on how they impacted trust in local news. Things that averaged Strong Agreement (8-10) include “they are knowledgeable about the local community and what issues are important” (57%); “they are authentic and genuine” (55%); “when they make a mistake or error, they own up to it and apologize” (54%); “they ask tough questions of government officials and politicians” (53%); and “they take the time in their reporting to explain how stories developed and changed over time” (53%). 

“Local news sources and journalists may think they’re already doing many of the things the research finds important. But local news consumers still question whether they can trust the local news and information regardless of what platform they’re using,”  Magid executive VP Bill Hague said. “The path forward is all about taking action in a clear and demonstrative way each and every day, so you can get credit for delivering trusted, high-quality journalism.”

RTDNA and Magid said the survey offers local TV newsrooms a chance to address the charges of “fake news” among some viewers. 

“For years we have seen the research that trust in journalism is declining, but what we need is to hear from audiences on how we can turn the tide and grow trust,” Ellen Crooke, chair of RTDNA’s Working Trust Group, said. “RTDNA commissioned this study in the hope that this information will help local news leaders across America work to change the narrative about journalism. The results show that it is time to be transparent and boldly explain every day how we execute the basic principles of good journalism.” ■

The Radio Television Digital News Foundation has announced its latest First Amendment award winners, including the Leonard H. Zeidenberg First Amendment Award, named after the former Broadcasting+Cable senior Washington correspondent.

There will be a March 9 dinner in Washington where the 2021 recipients — as well as 2021 recipients who did not get an in-person gala — will be recognized.

The 2022 Zeidenberg Award winner is Mary Louise Kelly, host of NPR's All Things Considered and a former national security correspondent for the noncommercial news outlet. The award is for a "major contribution to the protection of First Amendment freedoms."

FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has been tapped for the First Amendment Leadership award for "champions" of "First Amendment and press freedoms." Rosenworcel was tapped for promoting "greater opportunity, accessibility, and affordability in our communications services." 

The 2022 First Amendment Service Award, for “professionals in local or network news who work in an off-air, management, largely behind-the-scenes capacity,” is going to ABC News president Kim Godwin.

The First Amendment Award is going to CBS’s Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. The award is for “a business, government or other leader who has made a significant contribution to the protection of the First Amendment and freedom of the press.” The show is being hailed as the most-watched Sunday public affairs show and the second-longest-running TV show of any kind.

The First Amendment Clarity Award recognizes a journalist or journalists who put complex stories in context. The winner is NBC News and MSNBC national political correspondent Steve Kornacki for his political reporting.

The RTDNF Citation of Courage is being given posthumously to Kevin Nishita, who worked as an armed security guard and was killed while protecting a TV news crew from an armed robbery in Oakland, California. 

The RTDNF Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Jayne Miller, a reporter at WBAL Baltimore for more than 35 years. ■

Against what would seem to be long odds, local TV news employment actually increased during the pandemic year of 2020, according to the latest data out of the RTDNA/Newhouse School Newsroom Survey.

The study found that 500 jobs were added in 2020, compared to the 300 lost the previous year. Total TV news employment stands at 28,000. But that good news doesn't look like it is holding. RTDNA also said more than 400 jobs have been lost in the early months of 2021.

RTDNA earlier reported that despite budget cuts and the challenges of operating in a pandemic-battered economy, more local TV news aired in 2020 than ever before.

Also Read: Survey Shows Record Local TV News

The latest data from the survey, released Wednesday (May 19) showed that full-time local TV news employment was up 1.8% in 2020, a record for local news employment and more than covering the job losses a similar survey found in 2019.

That overall increase came despite staff cuts in a record 30.2% of stations, which was offset by growth in about a fifth of stations, as well as the addition of new newsrooms. Affiliates of the top four nets were the most likely to have added staff, but stations in larger markets, non-network affiliates and stations in the Northeast were all more likely to see cuts than gains.

Also Read: Sen. Maria Cantwell Pushes Infrastructure Billions for Local Journalism

Staffing of websites was up slightly, led by stations in the top 25 markets. There were gains in social media producer/editor jobs and station managers surveyed said more staffers were being dedicated specifically to digital.

RTDNA said fewer news directors predicted staff increases in 2021 than in past years.

For the second year in a row, local TV stations produced a record amount of news in 2020 despite pandemic-related budget cuts and revenue shortfalls. Likely helping sustain that investment was the fact that, according to RTDNA, The Radio Television Digital News Association, at least in the early days of the pandemic the loss of TV station ad revenue did not exceed the gains in retransmission consent revenue.

A record 1,116 TV stations aired local news, up 18 from last year's record. Of those, 710 reported producing their own news, up five, four of them small independent broadcasters; 406 aired news, up 13 from 2019.

RTDNA said increases in weekday news accounted for the boost, offsetting a slight decrease in weekend news. More than a third of stations (34.5%) said they aired more news in 2020.

On network affiliates, news was up on all except Fox, with CBS affiliates most likely to have increased their news over 2019.

That increase in news output came despite the fact that almost a third of stations (29.3%) reported budget cuts in 2020, compared to only 9.1% in 2019, with most of those cuts coming in the top 50 markets.

Still three quarters (75.9%) of news directors who were privy to the bottom line reported a profit.

A majority of news directors (70%) said that they expected either long-term or permanent changes to be one of the inheritances of the pandemic. Those include fewer staffers using the newsroom as a home base, more remote meetings, and more virtual interviews.

Fully 80% of the news directors said that at least some staffers continued to work remotely.

The survey was conducted in fourth quarter 2020 among all 1,762 operating, non-satellite TV stations. Valid responses came from "as many as" 1,358 stations (77.1%). Some data sets (the number of TV stations originating local news, for example) are based on a complete census rather than projected from a sample, according to Pew.

One in five broadcast TV news directors report attacks on their employees while on the job and Congress needs to do something about it.

That is according to a new survey released by the Radio Television Digital News Association, which found that broadcast journalists "faced unprecedented levels of verbal and physical violence at the hands of civilians, police and the leaders we are meant to hold accountable."

Also Read: CPJ Spotlights Journalist Threats in Capitol Siege

For the first time, RTDNA's annual survey of broadcast newsrooms included a questions on media safety given coverage of last summer's protests of the killing of George Floyd.

RTDNA said it was alarmed by what it found, which included the reported attacks and the fact that a vast majority (86%) of news directors said they had changed newsroom procedures to protect employees, including buying bullet-proof vests and gas masks, as well as sending security teams along on assignments.

More than half of the attacks on journalists reported in the survey involved coverage of civil unrest, protests marches, rallies and riots.

But RTDNA was doing more than just relaying troubling responses.

The organization said it was time for Congress to act, and to give that body a little shove, it sought support for a petition to Congress in support of the Journalist Protection Act and the Right to Record Police Act.

The National Association of Broadcasters said it was "gravely troubled" by the survey. 

“Broadcast journalists play an essential role in documenting pivotal moments in American history from the front lines. That has never been more important than during the past year," said NAB president Gordon Smith of the "unprecedented level of harassment, intimidation and violence directed at journalists covering the historical events of 2020."

Smith said such attacks undermine democracy. "We are grateful to the dedicated broadcast journalists bringing the truth to Americans during these dangerous times.”

Fix the Court said the issues with electronic coverage of the courts have hardly been fixed.

Following technical issues with access to the Texas court decision Nov. 2 rejecting a Trump campaign attempt to invalidate drive-in-dropbox ballots, Fix the Court and media outlets, including the Radio Television Digital News Association, had sought assurances from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts that such issues were being addressed.

The head of the office responded this week that they were doing just that, though pointing out that there were rules against streaming audio from district courts on YouTube or other OTT platforms.

But Fix the Court slammed the office after more issues, this time with a Pennsylvania election-related court case, Trump v. Broockvar (the Trump campaign charges that its observers were kept too far away from the mail-in and absentee ballot-counting action to monitor it sufficiently).

The campaign is trying to block the state from certifying the election. Democrat Joe Biden is currently ahead by over 70,000 votes.

Fix the Court's Gabe Roth outlined the issues with the Pennsylvania case. "They set up a conference call line that could hold 4,000 people, but more than 4,000 people 'showed up,'" he said, "so they set up a second one. At some point about an hour ago [at about 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17], the call dropped altogether, and it took 20-30 minutes to get the audio working again. The audio quality was terrible, and it was difficult at times to hear attorneys from both sides, as well as the judge."

"Every federal appeals court, including the U.S. Supreme Court, has figured out how to livestream its hearings without technical failures," said Roth, "yet federal district courts, both today in Pennsylvania and two weeks ago in Texas, are plagued with massive difficulties at the very time the country's attention is upon them. This is completely unacceptable.

“Just yesterday, we were told by the courts' administrative arm that ensuring public access to proceedings 'is and remains a priority.' But today’s problems demonstrate the judiciary's lack of commitment to actual solutions, including the refusal to greenlight the use of YouTube or other platforms that can handle significant traffic."

During this lull -- between June's civil unrest following George Floyd's death and August’s political conventions, usually a hotbed of contentious confrontations -- there's an opportunity to evaluate the disconnect between law enforcement agencies and journalists. Discontent has simmered on both sides for generations, but it is becoming ever more dangerous for reporters to cover legitimate public assemblies where police are sometimes literally gunning for them.

“No journalist goes out in the field planning to get arrested,” said Dan Shelley, executive director and chief operating officer of the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA). “They are there as witnesses to collect the facts and report them out broadly…. the same public on whose behalf the law enforcement officers are acting.” He discussed the evolving police/press process in the midst of recent live telecasts during which reporters from CNN, KPIX-TV, Australian TV and other outlets were attacked or arrested as they covered protest demonstrations.

While last month's police/media interactions loom large, the upcoming political conventions will pose another challenge. Although the Democrats’ convention in Milwaukee is expected to be largely virtual, the physical presence at the re-located Republican National Convention in Jacksonville is still uncertain. Recent history suggests that whatever the scale, the nominating (coronation?) events bring out protests and accompanying police responses. There are classic memories such as NBC's John Chancellor reporting "from somewhere in custody” at the 1964 Republican convention near San Francisco and CBS's Dan Rather knocked to the floor and gut-punched by a private security officer at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago.

As media companies, police and others make plans for the conventions, they are also evaluating what to expect during the long, hot summer ahead with so many other health, economic and inevitably weather issues that will affect Americans in coming months.

RTDNA working groups have been developing the “correct verbiage to use in news stories” to understand how to be respectful of law enforcement officers, said Shelley, a former WCBS-TV executive producer as well as director of digital services. RTDNA’s “Guidelines on Civil Unrest” warn reporters not to use words like “protest” and “riot” (or “protester” and “rioter”) interchangeably. 

“Protests can be legal or not, while rioting is by definition a crime,” Shelley explained. 

Shelley conceded that sometimes reporters are “just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Others contend that they are in the right place, doing their jobs, while law enforcement officers are focused on doing their own jobs, which may be calming or breaking up a crowd without paying attention to details about who’s who.

The Committee to Protect Journalists tallied nearly 500 incidents in U.S. cities from late May through June where police and/or protesters' actions affected reporters. According to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker (a joint project of CPJ, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and other free-press organizations), during the weeks after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, there were 112 physical attacks on reporters (67 by law enforcement officers); 64 arrests of reporters and about 200 tear gassings, pepper sprayings and 104 rubber-bullet or projectile strikes. In addition, the report identified nearly 70 incidents of media equipment or newsroom damage.

The numbers merely encapsulate the situation. The on-screen arrests of TV reporters such as CNN’s Omar Jimenez in Minneapolis and KPIX-5 News reporter Katie Nielsen in Oakland, California, to name just two of about 60 such arrests, plus the devastating injuries to photographers – notably freelance photojournalist Linda Tirado, who lost vision after being hit in the eye by an expanding foam bullet early in the Minneapolis street demonstrations – became the focus of the first wave of critiques.

So far there has been almost no official local government response to the actions of local police in roughing up journalists who were doing their jobs. Requests to the organizations such as the International Associations of Chiefs of Police, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National League of Cities and other groups generated no response, despite multiple efforts to obtain their views.

Constitutional Protection, New Laws

Police reform legislation now in Congress doesn't deal with protection of reporters and media. The “best practices” recommendations in the bills may make it safer for reporters caught up in protests, but experts contend that First Amendment mandates are still the best protection.

Both the Republicans’ S. 3985, the “Just and Unifying Solutions to Invigorate Communities Everywhere (JUSTICE) Act,” and the Democrats’ H.R. 7120, the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020,” include “best practices” sections as well as directives for reviews police actions locally. Journalists could find protection under one section of the House legislation, the “Police Exercising Absolute Care With Everyone (PEACE) Act,” which recommends "deescalation tactics and techniques” that could apply to treatment of reporters.

RTDNA's Shelley acknowledges that attempts to avoid confrontations by putting words such as “Press” or “Media” on headgear or clothing, such labels “often make no difference to police” and may actually flag the journalists as “targets for media-haters in the crowd.” He also cited problems that arise when rabble-rousers don a “Press” vest or cap in hopes of avoiding rough treatment, and that police have become suspicious of such characters – and thus feel entitled to take aim at anyone wearing a press credential. He contends that even in tense situations, “officers should make the presumption” that a person is a journalist if he or she identifies as such.

“As journalists we don’t want poseurs out there who claim they are journalists [including freelancers] if they are not,” Shelley says.

Accreditation Won’t Necessarily Help

Admittedly, identifying legitimate journalists is an ongoing dilemma when anyone with a phone camera or a blog can self-declare himself or herself a reporter. At a Zoom video conference organized by the International Center for Journalism in early June, reporter Branden Hunter of the Detroit Free Press explained – as have many others – that merely being a “young black male” made him a police target, even though he was wearing a media pass given to him by the Detroit Police Department.

“They ignored it,” Hunter recounted.

A 24-year-old Des Moines Register reporter, Andrea Sahouri, was pepper-sprayed and arrested on May 31 while covering a protest and was charged with interfering with police. She claimed she identified herself and has pleaded not guilty. Last week she asked a judge to produce more evidence to back the charge, including police reports and body camera recordings, The Register reported.

Don Aaron, the Nashville Police Department’s public information officer and a former reporter at a local TV station, said his force seeks to alert officers of special treatment for reporters. He cited a recent curfew order which was accompanied by careful directives to “make sure that all officers know that media representatives were exempt from a curfew on downtown streets.”

“We want our police officers to know and appreciate the media’s role, even during protests,” Aaron said, explaining that a general curfew was imposed after rocks and bottles were thrown at officers and the city’s historic courthouse was attacked. He told me that the media members asked permission to cover events after curfew hours and, he said, “we’ve continued to let officers know that media representatives are allowed to be there to complete their missions as reporters.”

Aaron acknowledged the challenges of recognizing “new media” reporters, which may be difficult to parse out during tense situations.

For example, the issue of accreditation is a constant conundrum. In Detroit, like New York City and a handful of other jurisdictions, the police issue a “Press Pass,” although it’s often a controversial process. Big media companies also distribute photo identification badges/cards – but those are easily obscured in the heat of confrontations. Several publications ran images of press badges worn on cords around reporters’ necks during the melees. The badges were shattered and broken.  

Only a few major metropolitan law enforcement agencies issue press credentials for local reporters, notably the New York City Police Department. Accredited reporters must wear a visible badge, but there have been incidents in recent years where badged journalists have been attacked by police. Moreover, a police commander can revoke the credentials on the spot with no right of appeal.

Educating Law Enforcement

One ongoing challenge is to educate police about press freedom rights. Most local law enforcement officers take an oath to support the U.S. Constitution as well as state constitutions, but their actual training may be limited to about two hours of media training while at the police academy, according to sources I interviewed -- hardly enough time to delve into the First Amendment. Supervisors get additional training as they work their way up the ranks, but those constitutional values may lapse in the heat of a confrontation

Many observers, especially protective media organization leaders, contend that the police/media relationship is “the worst I’ve ever seen” (or some variation on that wording). But the contentious nature has long been obvious, notably in high-visibility confrontations between television reporters and law enforcers during the broadcast TV era. 

The fracas has been “part of the job.” As CBS's Rather said after he emerged from the scrum at the 1968 Chicago convention, "It’s all in a day’s work.” 

Those '60s smackdowns look tame, even quaint, compared to the current brutality. Today’s law enforcement practices – especially in this unruly, shifting, and immensely politicized media landscape – require broad changes to support the First Amendment and give citizens the news coverage they deserve. That’s more than police reform legislation can do.

Radio Television Digital News Association president Dan Shelley has issued an "open letter" calling out the President and One America News Network (OAN) reporter Chanel Rion for separate incidents last week during the White House's daily coronavirus briefings. He also used the opportunity to give a shout out to his members, the journalists on the front lines of covering the crisis. 

"What was an opportunity for responsible journalists to press the President on the federal government’s response and new developments regarding important antiviral therapies, turned into an opportunity for OAN’s Chanel Rion and the President to take cheap shots at responsible media outlets, repeat offensive racial stereotypes and proselytize about the administration," said Shelley. 

In the briefing, Rion, in asking a question about whether the term "Chinese virus" was racist, said that "left wing media, even in this room, have teamed up with Chinese Communist party narratives and they are claiming you're racist...Is it alarming that major media players are siding with foreign state propaganda, Islamic radicals, and Latin cartels..." 

The President responded that he was amazed by the negative coverage because "I know the truth." He called the coverage "totally fake." He has praised OAN for positive coverage of him and his administration, suggesting it may be his new go-to network over Fox News Channel. 

"Shame on you Chanel Rion," wrote Shelley. "You are not the kind of messenger the public needs in the middle of this crisis." 

Kelley's other call-out was over the President's treatment of NBC reporter Peter Alexander at the briefing the following day. Citing the infection and death statistics, and framing that in the context of whether the President was putting rosy a cast on the crisis, Alexander asked what the President would say to calm an anxious nation--Alexander later said he was essentially lobbing a softball question in search of some actual reassurance. 

The President responded: "I say that you are a terrible reporter, that's what I say."  

He called it a "nasty" question and a "bad signal" to put out to the American people. He said the American people "are looking for answers and they're looking for hope."

"You're doing sensationalism, and the same with NBC and Con-cast, for whom you work--I don't call it Comcast, I call it Con-cast," the President added for clarification. "Let me just tell you something. That's really bad reporting and you ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism."  

"Mr. President, news conferences meant to communicate important updates are not substitutes for rallies in an election year," Kelly wrote in a virtual finger wag. 

"As the leader of the country's largest association of broadcast and digital journalists and as a long-time journalist myself, I want Americans to know Rion’s bad behavior is not an accurate reflection of the work hundreds of local journalists are doing right now to serve and protect them. And Alexander’s question was intended to give Mr. Trump a chance to calm a nation in desperate need of some degree of solace," he said.  

The letter is reprinted in full below: 

By: Dan Shelley

RTDNA Executive Director

Last week during a White House briefing on the coronavirus epidemic, President Trump engaged in a distracting exchange with a reporter from the far-right news outlet One America News Network (OAN). 

What was an opportunity for responsible journalists to press the President on the federal government’s response and new developments regarding important antiviral therapies, turned into an opportunity for OAN’s Chanel Rion and the President to take cheap shots at responsible media outlets, repeat offensive racial stereotypes and proselytize about the administration. 

Shame on you Chanel Rion. You are not the kind of messenger the public needs in the middle of this crisis. 

Just a day after this exchange, President Trump verbally tore into NBC News White House Correspondent Peter Alexander after Alexander responsibly asked the country’s leader “What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?” 

Apparently without considering the impact of his words as the leader of the country, the President responded by calling out Alexander as a terrible reporter, calling out NBC and “Concast” as sensational and declaring that asking a question like that is a bad for the American people.“ 

Mr. President, news conferences meant to communicate important updates are not substitutes for rallies in an election year. 

Right now, Americans desperately need clear and factual information to make life and death decisions. The system fails us when people like Rion and the President chose to prioritize a political agenda. 

As the leader of the country's largest association of broadcast and digital journalists and as a long-time journalist myself, I want Americans to know Rion’s bad behavior is not an accurate reflection of the work hundreds of local journalists are doing right now to serve and protect them. And Alexander’s question was intended to give Mr. Trump a chance to calm a nation in desperate need of some degree of solace.  

Responsible journalists across the country are working around the clock with one purpose in mind – facilitating public health and safety. They are seeking reliable sources to provide accurate health information. They are pressing state and local governments on their response to the coronavirus. They are passing along crucial public alerts and official communications in order to facilitate preparedness and combat panic. 

We have seen countless examples of journalists on the front lines of this crisis pulling together to facilitate public information even when staffing and resources are disrupted by exposure to this virus. 

In New York, CBS News made the responsible choice to close their entire broadcast center after several employees tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, local affiliate WCBS was displaced from its studio and operations center. Instead of giving up, the WCBS team has been anchoring the news from the sidewalk and partnering with KCBS in Los Angeles who is providing additional staff and technical direction. 

With so much mis- and disinformation in the public domain, KXLY in Spokane is taking extra measures to explain the decisions they are making related to coronavirus coverage and providing the public examples of the guidance they follow to ensure accurate information and vet reputable sources. 

CBS’s Steve Hartman is joining many other reporters to expand their efforts supporting communities by providing lessons for students. Countless other news organizations, network and local, are doing everything they can to help communities and the nation get the facts – facts – necessary to help fight this war on COVID-19. 

There are countless examples of news organizations collaborating to share stories, tips and knowledge about this new virus because supporting one another rather than competing to break a story is the right decision for the public in a life and death situation. 

Right now journalists on the front lines are performing and essential job. I have the utmost confidence they will continue to seek and report the truth as this crisis continues because they are the public too. They have families, co-workers and communities they care deeply about. And they are weighing the decisions they make in reporting carefully because the lives of those they care about depend on it too.  

Have faith, America. There are a multitude of responsible journalists out there working on your behalf. And we will not tolerate those who give in to distraction and partisanship.  

The Radio Television Digital News Association has introduced a new logo for itself and its foundation that it said reflects "the association’s origins and its continuing mission as a hub for the leading innovators in broadcast and digital news." 

The association was founded in 1946 as the National Association of Radio News Editors and was the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) before changing its name to RTDNA in 2009.

But the "updated look and feel," billed as representing "the association's and foundation’s continuing commitment to pushing the broadcast and digital news industry forward through training, advocacy and honors," is more than typographcal, according to the association.  

Also in the works are "updated coverage guidelines, expanded reporting on the annual Newsroom Survey and increased career and leadership development resources."  

“At a time when journalism is under threat, our members continually demonstrate that they are leaders and innovators working every day to better each other, the industry and their communities across the country through responsible local journalism," said RTDNA executive director Dan Shelley. 

A "Knight" has ridden in to help protect the safety of TV and radio journalists in an increasingly threatening world.

According to the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Knight Foundation is providing a multi-part grant to the association to provide training in safety and security of journalists, as well as newsroom leadership.

RTDNA said the grant will fund three one-day regional training programs this year covering safety and security for journalists, both physically--"in and out of the newsroom"--and in "digital spaces."

Related: White House Reporter Trades Stories from Trump Trenches

President Donald Trump has arguably been leading the rhetorical attacks on U.S. journalists, calling them "fake news," "enemies" and conspirators with his political opponents, words that groups trying to protect journalists say have consequences.

For example, the Committee to Protect Journalists has argued that the White House's equivocal response to the killing of dissident Saudi and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, have made journalists less safe. "Essentially, Trump signaled that countries that do enough business with the United States are free to murder journalists without consequence," CPJ said in its December report on the killing of journalists.

Sen. Flake Brands President's Attacks on Press 'Moral Vandalism'

Trump rallies frequently feature chanted attacks on various media outlets critical of the President, conduct the President does little or nothing to discourage and arguably foments.

At The NAB Convention in Las Vegas earlier this month, ABC White House correspondent Cecilia Vega talked about the danger the anti-journalist rhetoric represents. She said she was at the rally where a Trump supporter jumped into the crowd and assaulted a photographer and also she looks both ways herself when she leaves the White House gates to see who "might be ticked off...."There is a serious danger in that rhetoric."

Veteran WFAA-TV Dallas sports anchor Dale Hansen will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association.

The award will be handed out March 13 in Washington.

"Dale Hansen is nothing less than a Texas institution," said Dave Lougee, president of WFAA-TV owner TEGNA. "His contributions to sports broadcasting simply cannot be overstated. His excellence in reporting and straight-shooting commentaries have made indelible marks on our industry and our nation's civic discourse."

It is only the latest honor for the iconic sportscaster. As part of the team that investigated the SMU football "pay for play" scandal, Hansen shared a Peabody Award and duPont-Columbia Silver Baton.

Hansen also was honored at an LGBT event in Dallas in 2014 for a commentary on University of Missouri athlete Michael Sam's decision to announce he was gay.

His other awards include two time AP Sportscaster of the Year, UPI's Best Sportscaster, Texas Sportscaster of the Year, and American Women in Radio and Television's TV Personality of the Year.

Radio-Television Digital News Association executive director Dan Shelley is advising the group's members to protect themselves while continuing to do their jobs, a job that includes better explaining to their viewers and listeners how they collect and verify the news they report.

That came in a blog post in the wake of the Capital Gazette shooting June 28 that took the lives of five staffers and wounded others. According to Shelley it was also prompted by a June 27 Axios/Survey Monkey survey that found that 92 percent of Republicans say “traditional news outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories at least sometimes.”

Shelley wrote that journalists should speak out to the public about the public service news organizations provide, but also must take steps to protect the safety of their reporters and photojournalists, including self-defense training and extra security measures."Do you send one-person multi-media journalist crews into dangerous areas? If so, stop," he writes.

Shelley says he had feared that the gunman had been motivated by the current "vitriolic ideological and political environment," and that while it appeared the motivation was "a long-running personal vendetta against that specific newspaper," that still underscored his frequent admonition in these turbulent times to "watch your backs, but don’t back down."

Shelley also advised news execs to explain to their viewers and listeners the process journalists go through before a story makes it to air. "Now, more than ever," he says, "particularly in light of the June 28 Capital Gazette attack and the June 27 AXIOS/Survey Monkey poll results, we as responsible journalists must double down on reconnecting with news consumers with transparency, and we must hold ourselves publicly accountable for any mistakes we may make."

The Radio Television Digital News Association is warning broadcasters to be careful out there following arguably President Donald Trump’s most extended attack on the news media to date.

In a speech to a campaign rally in Phoenix Aug. 22, the President repeatedly called the press fake and dishonest and blamed them for not reporting correctly his "perfect" words following the violence in Charlottesville. His attacks prompted long "boos" for the journalists present and anti-media chants from the audience.

“Throughout his campaign, and throughout his first seven months in office, the president has consistently tried to make responsible journalists the villains in his effort to fire up his political base. We know that this kind of rhetoric has emboldened some people who don’t like, or don’t understand, the news media to act out against reporters and photojournalists at the national and local levels,” said Dan Shelley, RTDNA incoming executive director, in a statement.

Related: Poll: Majority Say President Isn't Stable

Shelley heads an RTDNA First Amendment task force. RTDNA says that during the Charlottesville protests, four journalists were attacked.

“As long as the person with the most powerful bully pulpit in the world continues to attack verbally the news media, journalists are at risk,” Shelley said. “We urge reporters and photojournalists to be vigilant, and to take whatever steps they feel necessary to protect their personal safety while fulfilling their Constitutionally-guaranteed duty to seek and report the truth.”

The Radio-Television Digital News Association is concerned about journalists' safety after what the organization saw as relatively light punishment for newly-elected Republican Congressman Greg Gainforte of Montana.

Gianforte pled guilty to assaulting a reporter in the waning hours of his special election last month, audio of which went viral, leading to Gianforte's apology and promise to donate $50,000 to a journalist rights organization.

Gianforte was sentenced to six months deferred jail time, plus community service, and ordered to pay $358 in fees and attend anger management classes, but according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, his conviction could be expunged from the record if he does not violate the terms of his plea.

“It is concerning, to say the least, that a public figure, or anyone, in Montana, or anywhere else, can physically assault a reporter for merely asking questions on behalf of the public and then receive a light sentence,” said RTDNA's incoming executive director Dan Shelley, who heads the task force.

Related: RTDNA, Other Press Groups Accuse Trump of Undermining Democracy

The RTDNA is also concerned about reports that some Republican strategists are suggesting confronting the media as a way to get more votes.

"In today’s highly charged political and ideological atmosphere, I genuinely worry about the safety of reporters in our country,” Shelley said on RTDNA's website.

Greeting his "fellow enemies of the people," veteran political reporter and author John Heilemann told a crowd of journalists Monday (March 14) that it feels like First Amendment values are more important than ever and potentially more at risk, while fellow reporter Mark Halperin had a slightly different take, encouraging journalists to avoid gloom-and-doom scenarios.

Broadcast executive Stanley Hubbard said he thought the First Amendment was safe and that Donald Trump has the right to be a jerk just like everyone else.

Heilemann and Halperin, creators, executive producers, and co-hosts of Showtime’s The Circus, were receiving the Radio-Television Digital News Foundation First Amendment award, while Hubbard was honored -- along with his late father, Stanley E. Hubbard -- with the First Amendment Leadership Award, at a dinner in Washington.

Saying he was the first, but probably not the last, to point it out -- he wasn't -- Heilemann said that the current administration "seems to think that we in the journalism profession are part of the opposition." The White House's attitude, both implicitly and explicitly, is more hostile and disdainful of what journalists do than any in his lifetime, he said.

He focused on what he said was the administration's "wanton disregard for the truth" and "constant lying" about things both large and small, profound and trivial.

He said journalism as a business faces an "enormous challenge," both individually and as an institution. "

Heilemann said he was asked recently at an event what had happened to objective and dispassionate journalists. He said his answer was that dispassionate journalism was the last thing that was needed. Journalism needs to be "passionate and fearless about what matters most: About what is true and passionate about holding the powerful interests in this country, and particularly about those in this administration, to account on behalf of the public."

A little more than 50 days into the new administration, Heilemann said he was heartened by how media outlets in print, radio, TV and digital were relentlessly and competitively rising to the challenge.

Halperin, who shared the award with Heilemann, tried to put the best face on a tough situation. He had three things to add about covering the current Administration.

First, he said, journalists should not "make it personal." He said it was a mistake to make it a "personal fight," and to that extent, said journalists do need to be "dispassionate about our role..." Second, while journalism's business models are changing, what can't change is the responsibility to be "zealous guardians" of the public trust that is the First Amendment, regardless of the technology or distribution platform. Third, he said journalists should do their jobs joyfully, just as politicians at their best are happy warriors (the usually-smiling progressive Hubert Humphrey's famous moniker).

Halperin advised against becoming "apocalyptically negative" about what is currently going on as though the country is going to end, adding, "I don't think we serve our profession well. I think we can be happy warriors while we fight for the First Amendment and hold all powerful interests accountable."

Hubbard, CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting, said he was not as negative about the current political situation as some.

"I think the president has the right to be a jerk just like anybody else," he said, adding that it was his right of free speech to say things that might sound stupid. He said not a Donald Trump or anyone else is going to take away the First Amendment.

"Just keep doing what you're doing and do it well and you'll never have to worry about that First Amendment," Hubbard said. "Everything is going to be fine."