No relation to Keith (we think)
Perhaps of interest only to our Boston and Kansas City readers, but WDAF, the Fox-owned Fox affiliate here, has been without a 10 o'clock co-anchor for Phil Witt since ... well, it's been a while. But now...
Shelli Lockhart will make her first appearance on the FOX 4 evening anchor desk beside news veteran Phil Witt, announced V.P. of News Bryan McGruder. "We had a lengthy search to find Shelli and I think viewers will agree with me that the wait was worth it. Shelli is warm, friendly and inviting,” said McGruder. Lockhart joins FOX 4 from Boston where she anchored for WBZ-TV and freelanced. Born in Jamaica, Shelli graduated from Southern Methodist University with a degree in Advertising, but her love of writing and a desire to write something meaningful led her to intern at a TV station in Dallas. After college she started her career reporting in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and then moved to Waco, Texas, where she covered David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. From Waco, she made the move back to Dallas to be a morning anchor/reporter at KXAS for six years.
Another announcement that caught my eye was this one from CNN:
Delia Gallagher, a long-time Vatican analyst for CNN and a leading journalist on religious issues, will join CNN full time as its faith and values correspondent. Drawing from her extensive experience covering the Vatican and religions around the world, Gallagher will provide reports and analysis for the network on a wide range of topics involving faith, religion and values in the lives of Americans. Gallagher, who will be based in New York City, started Tuesday, Sept. 6, providing reports of a Catholic diocese in Louisiana helping schoolchildren displaced after Hurricane Katrina. As the faith and values correspondent, Gallagher will examine significant news stories through a religious perspective, including the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for John Roberts.
So far as I know, Gallagher is the first national TV news correspondent covering the religion beat since Peggy Wehmeyer was employed by Peter Jennings at ABC 11 years ago. I'd like to think CNN's Jon Klein got the idea from Peter -- as long as he's stealing ideas, he might as well steal good ones. If there's one question mark, it's how she'll cover evangelicals and fundamentalists, who are such a different breed of believer from Catholics that it requires practically a different mindset. Wehmeyer had as good a grasp of that world (maybe too good) as Gallagher appears to have of Catholicism. I hope CNN gives its new correspondent enough time to do a good job, perhaps letting her produce a documentary or two, instead of the usual Sunday yawners they do on cancer or 9/11 ... hers I might actually watch.
