Join the Friends of the Robbins Library for a moderated discussion on local journalism: Why All News is Local, featuring local journalists Jeff Barnd of Arlington Community Media (ACMi), Crystal Haynes of Channel 25 News, and Bob Sprague of YourArlington.com. Hear from these experienced journalists on the state of local news reporting, and how the world of media has changed. The panel discussion will be moderated by Assistant Director of Libraries Amanda Troha and followed by a period for Q & A.
This is an in-person program to be held in the Community Room of the Robbins Library on Wednesday, April 12 at 7pm. The event is free and open to all.
The presentation will be preceded by the Friends’ brief Annual General Meeting, which will include remarks from Board members and Library Director Anna Litten.
Jeff Barnd
As News Director at ACMi TV, Jeff applies his 25+ years of experience to produce and air a nationally recognized award-winning newscast, and guide the reporters, interns, writers and news/public affairs producers to tell compelling stories that have a direct impact on the viewing audience.
Jeff is a 13-time Emmy Award-Winning recipient in Television News broadcasting, including three Emmys in the “News Writing” Category and “Boston’s Best Anchor” (1998). He has served as weeknight anchor in Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, and Portland, ME markets for 25 years, and as National Correspondent in Washington, DC for the Sinclair Broadcast Group for 3 years. Along the way he has garnered several statewide awards and reported on internationally intriguing news stories from around the world, including Singapore, Kuwait, Iraq, Italy, Prague, Rio de Janeiro and the Amazon rainforest.
Crystal Haynes
Crystal Haynes is an Emmy-award-winning journalist with more than 15 years of broadcast experience. Her award-winning work has focused on equity in education, the housing crisis and maternal health. Crystal is a part-time lecturer at Northeastern University. She is also the Chair of the Arlington Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Observance Committee, member of the Boston Association of Black Journalists, NAACP, and is a trained facilitator in gender-based violence prevention and incidents in racism through Northeastern University’s Center for Sport in Society. Crystal holds a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from Emerson College, and a Masters degree in Media Advocacy from Northeastern University’s College of Arts, Media and Design. Crystal grew up in Springfield, MA, but has called Arlington home since 2017 joining her husband and his family who have lived in town for more than four generations.
Bob Sprague
Bob Sprague has been a working journalist since 1970. His professional experience includes periods as editor at the Advocate, (where he won several awards from National Newspaper Association, New England Newspaper Association and New England Press Association), Town Webmaster/schools’ communications specialist for Arlington, copy editor at The Boston Globe and Network World, Assistant production manager for Cutter Consortium in Arlington, reporter for Cambridge Day covering the 2011 Cambridge city election, Contributing Editor for Tufts University, Office of Publications, and publisher of the community website YourArlington.com, a community-news, citizen-journalism site covering issues in Arlington. Bob has also held positions at Emerson College teaching journalism, and at Northeastern University. Bob holds an M.A. in English from Lehigh University and a B.A. in English from Washington & Jefferson College.