Check out what's new at terryanzur.com

The Terry Anzur Coaching Blog is moving to a new and better format. From now on, you can read all of my posts at http://www.terryanzur.com/. You can still access the old posts here, but the new and improved website will allow me to post news updates more frequently. And, best of
all, it's your one-stop shopping for all of the services offered by Terry Anzur Coaching Services:
-station or web site talent coaching packages;
-media training for individual s in journalism and public relations;
-journalism best practices for emerging democracies.
Here's something else that's new: a company logo! It was designed on crowdspring.com in a competition involving graphic artists from all over the world. The winning design, by an artist in Colombia, South America, managed to capture the theme of power performance and star quality in global media.

Many thanks to my former USC student, J.R.Raphael, for the web design. He is also profiled in my book, "Power Performance: Multimedia Storytelling for Journalism and Public Relations." The student has truly become the teacher; he's a contributing editor to PC World, an authority on all things Droid and founder of a very entertaining site called http://www.esarcasm.com/.

Another bonus: the new site will link you to a 20% discount code for the book until July 30.
See you on the new http://www.terryanzur.com/! As always, I welcome your comments.

For those interested in my travel adventures, there's a new blog: http://terryanzurtravel.blogspot.com/

A Power Performance in Tornado Country

The NBC Nightly News of May 24 featured Brian Williams against a backdrop of tornado destruction in Joplin, MO. This wasn't just a star turn by an accomplished broadcast storyteller. Williams was returning to his roots, the community where he paid his dues as a novice TV reporter.

Brian talked about his early career when I interviewed him for my book, "Power Performance: Multimedia Storytelling for Journalism and Public Relations." He could barely live on his poverty-level paycheck, and worried that no one would ever hire him at the next level. If you'd like to read his story and others, check out the link: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405198699.html and use the code VB237 for a 20 percent discount.

At the Cronkite Awards for Political Journalism

Along with my former student Teresa Jun, I was one of the official screeners for the Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Political Journalism. I had a chance to view coverage of the 2010 midterm elections from TV stations around the country. I also got to meet some of the winners when the awards were handed out at USC on April 26. Gwen Ifill of the PBS Newshour got a big laugh when she told the audience about her encounter with a college student who claimed to get his political news from comedian Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. Gwen quipped: "Jon Stewart watches me!"
Another standout among the winners was Christina Boomer, a one-woman band in Phoenix who managed to twitter while asking the Arizona governor a tough question and shooting video of the answer. No wonder she got an award for individual achievement!

Teresa, by the way, is the accomplished weekend anchor of KOLD-TV in Tucson Arizona. She was tested earlier this year when she anchored coverage of the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Of course, her talent and journalism skills were obvious and I'm proud to have played a small part in her development.