Local news program launched

Local PBS affiliate WTIU is launching a new program called “Indiana Newsdesk.” The program will center on news stories from central and south-central Indiana.

The focus of the show is local enterprise stories.

“Indiana Newsdesk” first aired Sept. 27 and will continue to air 6 p.m. on Fridays on WTIU.

“Indiana Newsdesk” is not a completely new concept for WTIU.

“IN Focus” was a similar show that aired for six years before the decision to launch “Indiana Newsdesk.”

“It aired every three weeks, so it was not frequent enough to get any traction, and we recognized that Bloomington doesn’t have a local television news program,” WTIU Marketing Director Scott Witzke said. “We have things like the IDS and the (Herald Times) and other news outlets, but we were looking for a way to bring a local weekly news program to television.”

In recent episodes, the show has covered stories such as how athletic trainers are changing perceptions of mental stress that athletes face and what was grabbing Bloomington headlines in 1971.

“We do a lot of short radio news reports that are maybe a minute or two long. Since this is a half-hour program, we can go into a lot more in-depth,” Witzke said. “A lot of attention had been given to radio news, but we wanted to give some more attention to television.”

Joe Hren, “Indiana Newsdesk” host, has been with the station for 12 years, working on the news magazine the Weekly Special.

He had been working with the news team more and decided to make the move to anchor.

Even the set is a new addition to the WTIU studios. Witzke said it was built to replicate the set from “the Daily Show” with Jon Stewart. 

“We wanted to build something that got away from ‘boring’ PBS and have something that was slick and modern-looking.” Witzke said.

Witzke said “Indiana Newsdesk” is determined to create a program that will be a staple of TV news throughout the area.

“Our goal is to be a destination for TV news in the area, not just Bloomington, but around central and south-central Indiana.” Witzke said. “We want to have those heart-warming and important
stories.”

— Brody Miller