A Press Release for Hiring a Deuce?

It is not very often you see a corporate press release go out celebrating the hiring of an Assistant News Director. Usually,management saves that level of fanfare for anchors who command five-figure clothing allowances or News Directors walking into a buzzsaw.

Then again, in an era where the corporate axe has swung with relentless quiet across the industry and layoffs have become a standard quarterly operating procedure, I guess Hearst Television desperately wanted to book a win.

WLWT, the company's legacy NBC affiliate in Cincinnati, is rolling out the red carpet to announce that Jennifer Smith is stepping in as Assistant News Director.

Smith brings over 26 years of broadcast experience to the Tri-State, most recently spending four years as the News Director at WLEX-TV down in Lexington, Kentucky. She is an eight-time Ohio Valley Emmy winner and a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award recipient whose resume includes steering newsrooms through major regional coverage—from tornadoes and historic flooding to high-profile breaking news.

“From historic Kentucky tornadoes and flooding to the UPS plane crash, as well as decades of election coverage,Jennifer’s experience guiding journalists through many of the biggest breaking news stories across the country makes her the right choice to lead WLWT News 5 as Assistant News Director,” said WLWT News Director Jeff Benscoter in a statement that reads like it cleared three layers of corporate PR oversight.

“I’m excited to join the veteran team at WLWT News 5 to help cover the important local stories of the Cincinnati area,” Smith added.

It’s a solid hire on paper for a station. But let's be honest: when the parent company is busy trimming fat and quietly handing out pink slips from coast to coast, rolling out a full corporate news release for an Assistant ND feels a bit like throwing a parade because someone managed to patch a leak on a sinking ship.