On October 29, 2025, the Leadership Tampa Class of 2026 had the opportunity to experience a whirlwind day of immersive learning activities in the local media industry, thoughtfully curated by the Day Chairs Samantha Fiske (LT’25), Tampa Bay Business Journal, and Jay Taylor (LT’23), LEVERAGE. The entire day was sponsored by the Tampa Bay Times, and fittingly, the day began at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, FL.
The Poynter Institute has been around for over 50 years, and is a non-profit organization focused on truth in journalism in the service of democracy; to paraphrase “facts enable us to share reality with one another”.
At Poynter, the group first enjoyed a lively panel discussion titled the Local Media Ecosystem: The State of News and Information in Tampa Bay, moderated by Mark Katches, Tampa Bay Times, with a panel consisting of Ian Anderson, Tampa Bay Business Journal; JoAnn Urofsky, WUSF; Jose Alberto Suarez, Telemundo; and Susan D’Astoli, Spectrum Bay News 9/Spectrum News 13. The panel discussed several hot topics related to media and journalism, including the shifting landscape of trust in journalism in the U.S. and the importance of fact-checking; how the industry might be impacted in the future with A.I. and how the news outlets are already leveraging this new technology; and the overall changes in the media organization structures, and how the business models have shifted in the past 20+ years as they find they have made, and continue to make, adaptations to their operations in a converged media environment.
The group also heard a lively presentation from PolitiFact – a non-partisan, fact-checking resource that was founded in Tampa Bay and has been around for almost 20 years. The core mission of PolitiFact is highly aligned to Poynter Institute’s mission of emphasis on facts as the foundation. The group also participated in a simulation activity, whereby they had to act as an editor in situation to strategize and plan out a response as a newspaper editor to a potential real-life scenario.
After a short bus ride back across the Bay, the class arrived at WFLA, home of News Channel 8 among other media properties, and toured the main anchor set, the innovative Stream Center where many streaming programs are recorded, and finally, witnessed the live taping of a Bloom Health program featuring longtime Tampa Bay news personality, Gail Guyardo, as she recorded a brief spot highlighting an upcoming benefit to support St. Francis Society Animal Rescue, which included event representatives as well as a furry, available-to-adopt special guest!
Finally, the group headed over to a longtime Tampa Bay establishment – WEDU – our local PBS station. After several photo opps featuring the cast of characters from Sesame Street, the class experience an in-depth training on Media and Interview techniques from Rich Mullins (LT’19) of Tucker/Hall public relations, learning about key strategies to manage messages and getting key points across with reporters. His advice: “Keep willing to be true to who you are”.
LT’26 wrapped up the day hearing from WEDU president and CEO, Paul Grove, who shared the reality of the current environment with the lack of federal funding, and how the station is getting creative with other streams of revenue to continue producing great content, followed by another panel discussion titled the Growing Importance of Emerging Media & Technology, moderated by Jay Taylor, LEVERAGE, and including Tim Moore, Vu; Rich Mullins, Tucker/Hall; and Owen LaFave, The Bank of Tampa. The panel discussed areas of opportunity with technology, innovation, and best practices to leverage different forms of media to reach various audience segments, particularly when considering how fragmented the media landscape has become in modern times.
A full day, to say the least. In all, an important reminder of the critical role of free and effective Press in maintaining our societal norms, and the various entities that drive and maintain these important safeguards.