WNYC Reporter Karen Rouse Promoted to Newsroom Editor

Karen Rouse has been promoted to newsroom editor where she will oversee a new audio, writing and editing training effort, and work as part of a team of editors editing Gothamist and WNYC content. Rouse will also work with WNYC Editor in Chief Audrey Cooper and SVP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Brenda Williams-Butts to develop a newsroom fellowship program aimed at bringing more Black and brown journalists into WNYC’s newsroom. 

Read more in this note from WNYC’s Editor in Chief Audrey Cooper:

I’m happy to announce that Karen Rouse, an award-winning digital and audio journalist, has been promoted to a newsroom editor. 

Over the next several months, as we transition to a fully-integrated newsroom, Karen will oversee a new training effort, with a focus on boosting the audio skills of traditional text-based reporters and editors, and sharpening the writing and text-editing skills of longtime audio journalists. She transitioned from print to audio reporting in 2014 and knows firsthand how critical training is for journalists to be able to master their beats in different formats with confidence, authority — and newsroom support. Karen will also fulfill editing responsibilities on both the hub and the Gothamist desk. As we move into our permanent structure in FY21, Karen will move into a full time content-editing role. At that time, we will also look for a full time training resource.

Karen is uniquely qualified for this position at this critical time for the WNYC newsroom. She came to NYPR with a solid background in daily, competitive beat reporting for The Denver Post, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Bergen Record and the Atlantic City Press. Throughout her career, she covered business and labor, Colorado’s K-12 education system, county and state government and politics and  issues of race and social justice.

At the Bergen Record, her dogged coverage of NJ Transit – including her investigation into the agency’s reckless handling of its rail equipment during Hurricane Sandy — led to legislative hearings in Trenton. 

More recently, as a 2020 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, she researched strategies for diversifying newsroom leadership and management — a critical issue for our industry and WNYC. Since she returned, Karen has been working on ways to improve training in our newsroom, as well as opportunities for Black and brown journalists. 

Over the next few months, Karen will also work with me and Brenda Williams-Butts, our SVP of Recruitment, Diversity & Inclusion, to develop a fellowship program aimed at bringing more journalists of color into WNYC’s newsroom. 

Please join me in congratulating Karen on this major step in her career. You will hear from her soon regarding plans to launch new training programs and how you can take part.