MIRANDA LEITSINGER

Mountain View, CA ▪ (650) 888-2765
miranda819@gmail.com

Reporter – Editor – Investigative Journalist

Newsroom Leader | Audience Engagement Strategist | Multimedia Specialist

Reporter, editor and digital news strategist with nearly two decades of journalism experience and proven success in planning and executing all aspects of editorial productions. Formulate overall news vision and coverage plans from conception to delivery, including developing compelling stories with cross-platform collaboration, crafting strong social (and multi-) media and creating impactful audience engagement projects. Passionate about investigative and public service journalism, with an emphasis on gender equality and culture: My highlights in this area include an expose on sexual abuse in the yoga community, the plight of homeless LGBTQ youth (for which I was a finalist for a national award), years-long coverage of the Boy Scouts’ ban of gays and lesbians that netted many exclusives (and some said helped lead to the organization ending that ban), a series profiling California women making their first bid for political office (The Long Run), the ending of tough laws targeting those suffering from HIV, and the release of four women accused of child molestation in alleged assaults that an expert described as reminiscent of the Satanic ritual day care abuse cases.

Industry Strengths

Editorial planning and project management ▪ Reporting, writing and editing ▪ Top-notch news judgment, ethics and standards, and critical thinking, research, interview and fact-checking skills ▪ Strong source network ▪ Detail-oriented, organized, tenacious and can dig into complex topics ▪ Story idea generator ▪ Social media, audience engagement strategy (SEO, distribution, promotion) ▪ Knowledge of audio, video, photo production and editing ▪ TV, radio (interviews, writing copy) ▪ Multi-disciplinary team collaboration; working with range of staff (veterans to interns) ▪ Overseas experience (10+ years in Asia, Europe, the Caribbean) ▪ Fluent in French; proficient in Spanish, Cambodian

Technology Toolbox

Adobe Creative Suite (Acrobat, Premiere, Photoshop, Audition) ▪ Sound Forge ▪ Final Cut Pro ▪ PACER ▪ PRA/FOIA requests ▪ Accurint ▪ Lexis-Nexis ▪ Spokeo ▪ Google Drive (Docs, Sheets, Slides) ▪ Wayback Machine ▪ Document Cloud ▪ Basic awareness of data visualization tools (Carto, Tableau Public) ▪ Encrypted communications (Signal) ▪ Analytics (Google, Chartbeat, Omniture) ▪ Engagement (Screendoor, Google Forms, The Coral Project) ­▪ Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Nextdoor, Reddit) ▪ MS Office Suite ­▪ AP Style ▪ Experience in HTML, various CMS

Professional Experience

KQED, San Francisco

Engagement Producer, October 2016-present

• Edit, report and write digital and audio stories
• Help develop digital planning for special coverage, including breaking news and long-term reporting projects
• Conceive and execute audience engagement and social media strategies, including launching social channels and leading innovative use of social products at KQED
• Build and strengthen partnerships with local and national news organizations to expand the reach of KQED’s signature storytelling
• Work with reporters, editors and KQED’s cartoonist to plan digital treatment of stories
• Work with departments across KQED on station-wide special reporting projects
• Manage social media channels; direct fill-in producers on best social media practices
• Train staff on best social media and audience engagement strategies

Highlights of my second year at KQED:

• Nine-month investigation into sexual misconduct and abuse in the yoga: #MeToo Unmasks the Open Secret of Sexual Abuse in Yoga (spurred by an engagement project I co- reported)
  • Results: 100,000 page views with 9-minute average read picked up by large mainstream outlets (NPR, PBS Newshour) plus many yoga influencers (here and here) and groups, with people saying it’s serving as a call to action.
  • Impact:
    • Iyengar National Association of the U.S. (letter): overhauls sexual misconduct reporting, ethical guidelines, use of touch in teaching (moving to informed consent) and will require all teachers and some others to take courses designed to prevent sexual misconduct. Also, suspended one teacher for three years, will seek independent investigation of second teacher (both were named in the article) and will now publicly state if a teacher has had their certification revoked.
    • More victims coming forward (some lodging allegations against the same teacher; other new ones); article required reading in a teacher training program.
  • The Long Run: Conceived a series profiling California women making their first bid for political office (from city council to Congress)

Highlights of my first year at KQED:

• 49% increase in kqed.org page views
• 35% increase in Facebook followers; 32% increase in Facebook engagement
• North Bay fires coverage led to KQED.org’s biggest week ever for reach
• Launch of KQED’s Nextdoor channel and a push notification platform
• Oversaw seven innovative audience engagement projects (including The Faces of California’s Immigrant Story and #wethepeople: Meet the Californians in D.C. for Inauguration Week)

Edelman, San Francisco

Creative Newsroom, Editor, April 2015-October 2016

• Worked with brands to craft their news vision and narrative: from defining content strategies and identifying target audiences to developing unique stories and managing a team of reporters to execute them
• Created video, blogs, graphics, interactives and photos packaged for earned media and various owned channels, including social.
• Achievements include launching three Medium publications (including #iamtech), a video series on YouTube and an employee stories program on LinkedIn

NBC News Digital (formerly msnbc.com), New York/San Francisco

Senior Reporter, Jan. 2011-March 2015

• From breaking news to enterprise, my major areas of on-the-scene coverage included: 2011 tsunami in Japan, Superstorm Sandy, Boston Marathon bombing, Newtown school and Aurora movie theater shootings, Occupy Wall Street, immigration, and the LGBT community’s struggle for equal rights.
• Planned special projects and digital coverage
• Achievements include two nominations for national reporting awards and many exclusives, particularly on the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gays

CNN.com International, Hong Kong

Acting Supervising Editor, July 2010- Dec. 2010

• Managed a small staff, assigning writers to stories and producers to sections of the website
• Collaborated with the CNN network in Asia and leadership in Atlanta to plan daily and long-term coverage and special reports

Digital Producer, Oct. 2008-July 2010

• With TV teams and freelancers in Asia as well as editors in London and Atlanta, I produced, edited and reported breaking news, enterprise stories and special projects for the website. Achievements include coverage of Cambodia’s genocide tribunal and the 5^th anniversary of the 2004 tsunami. (More of my work from Asia)

Agence France-Presse, Hong Kong

Editor, Asia news desk, Sept. 2007-Sept. 2008

Edited stories from across Asia, translated copy from French into English, liaised with photos and multimedia departments about coverage; reported stories and worked as a desk supervisor.

The Associated Press

Newswoman, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Nov. 2005-May 2007

Reported on the initial prisoner hearings at Guantanamo Bay from the site; worked as a desk supervisor and with stringers from the Caribbean (assigning and editing) copy, and used French and Spanish language skills to report stories.

Chief Correspondent, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sept. 2003-Nov. 2005

Planned editorial coverage, managed the bureau’s administrative needs and occasionally oversaw the Southeast Asia bureau in Bangkok on short-term assignments. Covered the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami for three weeks out of Thailand in the initial aftermath and again from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, for the six-month anniversary. In Cambodia, I wrote about land disputes, the garment sector, refugees, the Khmer Rouge, Mekong River issues, culture and politics.

Newswoman, Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 2002-Sept. 2003

Major highlights include reporting on the state’s growing Hispanic population and also the battle against meth (and the rise of the soccer mom-turned-drug dealer). I also worked as a day supervisor, wrote sports and broadcast copy, and liaised with AP members.

Newswoman, Miami, July 2001-Jan. 2002

Covered the anthrax attack on The National Enquirer among other 9/11-related stories out of Florida. I also worked as an overnight desk supervisor and wrote broadcast copy.

Editorial assistant, International Desk, New York, Feb. 2000-July 2001

I wrote features for the national, sports and arts wires, and I worked with editors to research stories. I also trained on the national business desk for two months.

Recognition & Awards

26^th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, 2015

Outstanding Digital Journalism – Multimedia. Finalist for a GLAAD award for my months-long enterprise story: “Left Behind: LGBT Homeless Youth Struggle to Survive on the Streets.”

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Media Orthopaedic Reporting Excellence (MORE) Awards, 2015

Nominated for my story following the recovery of a Boston Marathon survivor: “’What an amazing present’: Boston Marathon survivor makes bid to walk.”

Iowa Associated Press Managing Editors awards, 2003

Explanatory, Investigative, General Enterprise: Second place for “Hispanic newspaper war”

Spot News: Shared second place with other AP staff for “Bodies found,” coverage of 11 dead migrant workers found in a rail car.

Education

Master of Science in Journalism — Columbia University

Bachelor of Arts – Major in History — UC Berkeley

Certificates & Courses

Digital Media Skills Certificate Course — Advanced Media Institute, UC Berkeley

Podcasting: Telling Stories in Sound — Advanced Media Institute, UC Berkeley

Digital Storytelling — Hong Kong University

Fundamentals of Sight and Sound: Documentary — New York University