Kansas City TV station promotes longtime news anchor to lead community relationships
Kansas City’s NBC affiliate has promoted longtime news anchor Cynthia Newsome as its senior director of community relationships, the TV news station announced last week.
Newsome said in a news release that she is “tremendously honored” to begin working in the new role for KSHB and KMCI.
“This is an exciting opportunity to foster new relationships, build on the great work we have done, while further connecting the local community with 41 Action News and our great team,” Newsome said.
Newsome is the station’s midday anchor, a role she will continue to fill. She began working for the station in January 1997 and has received several awards during her time there, according to her bio page.
In 2012, Newsome was inducted into the Silver Circle of the Mid-America National Association of Television Arts and Sciences for Excellence in Broadcasting and Community Service. In 2007, she won third place in the Kansas Association of Broadcasters award for in-depth reporting after an investigation exposed the presence of mold in Kansas City’s Central High School.
Kathleen Choal, KSHB/KMCI’s vice president and general manager, said in the release that Newsome has long been a newsroom leader as well as “an incredible ambassador for the region.”
“We are so thrilled to have someone of Cynthia’s caliber, long time market connections and professionalism join our leadership team,” Choal said in an email Tuesday. “We had a tremendous amount of interest both internally and externally in this new position which speaks towards our dedication to community efforts.”
KSHB’s announcement comes as the station has faced accusations of racial discrimination against Black newscasters within its ranks in recent years.
In 2017, former KSHB reporter Lisa Benson Cooper filed a lawsuit against the station accusing her employer of racial discrimination, saying the station constantly used her race to determine which topics she would be assigned to cover. She accused KHSB of once sending her to the home of a KKK member alone.
In February 2020, former KSHB sports anchor Demetrice “Dee” Jackson agreed to a confidential settlement after he filed a lawsuit in May 2018 saying he was twice passed over for a promotion that he was led to believe he would receive.
Those allegations occurred before Choal’s arrival at the station and “played no role in our current operation or this decision,” she said.
“We strongly believe Cynthia’s promotion was well deserved on her own merits as she has served this community and KSHB-TV with distinction for decades,” Choal said. “We are focused on the future.”
This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 6:26 PM.
