Author: Lenny Cohen

Lenny Cohen: Reporter, columnist, thinker, agenda-setter with teaching experience Working on a national news website has been a highlight of my career, but other things are more important. That’s why I moved back to Philadelphia, and I’m ready to continue telling stories. Until recently, I crafted hard news and features for TheNationalDesk.com, checking every source for my articles. I also copyedited stories published by Sinclair’s local stations and began the next day’s emailed newsletter. Before my promotion, at WPEC in Florida, I wrote the stories others avoided because they were complicated and controversial. Every day, I dove into legal paperwork and arrest reports to find what was happening below the surface, breaking news regularly. Plus, I studied Ron DeSantis for more than a year, watching his news conferences, constantly clipping and tweeting soundbites as he spoke. My familiarity with the governor has become even more valuable now that he announced his run for president. I started my career in 1994, becoming an award-winning and respected TV newscast producer. Even better was creatively producing websites and social media, and serving as a station's digital media manager — writing news, creating graphics and getting evidence of growing my audience here in the nation's fourth-largest market, Philadelphia. The journalism “business” has changed — from standards to platforms to layoffs — along with the American public, and I’ve managed to survive somewhat on my own terms. In the meantime, I taught first grade for eight years. My principal saw my class website and made me electronic gradebook manager to assist co-workers when we stopped using paper gradebooks. With classroom and newsroom experience, I know how to prioritize, analyze and take the best course of action. Getting results means attention to detail, following through and following up.