Anita Kissée
tv & multimedia journalist
Thank you for visiting anitakissee.com. From the time I could articulate an answer to the age-old question: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" -- I've wanted to be a television journalist. I currently work in Portland, Oregon, and cover city government and urban life issues for KATU-TV.
While on sabbatical in 2009, I obtained a master's degree in Political Journalism from Columbia University. Local, state, national -- it doesn't matter -- If it has to do with politics I want to read about it, write about it and debate it. But, PLEASE dont ask who I voted for or my party affiliation. I'm a journalist -- I can't tell you that! My latest passion is documentary filmmaking. For the first project I tackled the issue of trauma's impact on journalists. You can read more on the doc page, as well as see my work experience on the resume page.
As for the times I'm not in the newsroom -- find me in the kitchen. Martha-Want-To-Be here bakes cupcakes almost too gorgeous to eat. I also enjoy organic gardening, strolling farmers markets, dragon boat racing, hiking the Cascades with my husband and pug, scooting around on my vintage Vespa, volunteering with Dress for Success, andtweetingand bloging about all of the above. The links are included below:
pug in the pearl
j-school _ work
chic chick
Anita Kissée - about
SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS:
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
KATU / ABC -- Portland, Ore. April 2005 to Present
Urban / Political Reporter Market #22
Responsible for:
KFSN / ABC -- Fresno, Calif. January 2003 to January 2005
Weekend Morning Anchor / Reporter Market #55
KTVB / NBC -- Boise, Idaho March 2000 to January 2003
Weekend Anchor / Crime Reporter / News Producer / Political Producer Market #112
KDCI -- San Diego, Calif. January 1998 to March 2000
Weekend Anchor / Reporter / News Producer Market #28
KNSD / NBC -- San Diego, Calif. January 1997 to January 1999
Associate Producer Market #28
CSPAN -- Washington, D.C. August 1996 to December 1996
Program-Operations Editorial Intern
EDUCATION:
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism -- New York, NY
Master of Arts: Journalism with Politics Specialization / May 2009
Coursework includes: Economics, globalization, free markets, Keynesian theory, Risk Shift, immigration, nation building, democratization, sociology of religion, social movements, Collective Action, rational choice, critical issues in urban public policy, and sustainable urban economic development policy
Thesis / Documentary: Produced/shot/edited full-length documentary on traumas impact on the journalists who cover it
Academic Awards: Bollinger Fellow, Rob Sunde Broadcast Scholarship, Brown Award for History of Journalism
Point Loma Nazarene University -- San Diego, Calif.
Bachelor of Arts Degrees: Journalism & Mass Communications / May 1997
American University Washington Semester Program: Journalism
NEW MEDIA SKILLS:
Digital recording and editing Final Cut Pro, Avid, and Edius, Basic Photoshop, Flash and Dreamweaver
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:
Native American Journalists Association, Society of Professional Journalists
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS:
Regional Edward R. Murrow 2008
Feature/Hard News: 3:01 Ceremony
Profile on Oregons Willamette National Cemetery honor guard ceremony held everyday at 3:01 p.m.
Emmy Nomination 2008
General Assignment Report within 24 Hours: Child Hero Truck Driver
Oregon Associated Press 2007
1st Place / Feature: Blind Christmas Tree Farmer
Idaho Press Club 2002
1st Place / Courts & Crime: Womens Prison Rider Program
Idaho Press Club 2001
1st Place / Serious Feature: Stop the Sass
CAREER DEVELOPMENT:
Wildland firefighter
Selected to be certified to fight wildland fires. Included week-long in-class/fire line training, comprehensive exam and physical fitness test. Certification ensures forest fire coverage is more comprehensive and included more exclusive video and interviews due to increased access.
Citizen Law Academy
Selected to attend a 12-week course by the Idaho Bar Association and U.S. Federal Courts. Program for community leaders to better understand the law and the judicial process.
Citizen Police Academy
Selected to attend a 12-week course by the Boise Police Department. Program aims to teach community leaders the basics of law enforcement and investigation techniques. (I attended both Citizen course to build stronger contacts and be better informed about my courts/crime beat.)
VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES:
Dress for Success, Alzheimer's Association, Dove Lewis Animal Hospital
REFERENCES:
Provided upon request
Anita Kissée - resumé
Shaniko Showdown
Down the Drain?
Richard Nixon Avenue?
Campaign Paybacks
Too Much Care?
Republicrats & Demicans
Doctor Shortage
Insurance Paperwork
OR vs. WA Taxes
No Loitering
Bankrupting Benefits?
Too Much Construction
Early Christmas
Child Hero Driver
Pricey Gallons
3:01 Ceremony
Police Shootout
Zetaman
Keep Portland Weird
Blind Tree Farmer
Vespa Chicks
demo reel
(prior to Aug. 2008 / graduate degree)
anchoring
"Get Stimulating"
13 Ways You Can Spend $13 On Manhattans 13th Street"
Hold onto that pocketbook. It's finally your turn to get in on the Great American Stimulus of 2009. Assuming you have a job these days, the Making Work Pay tax credit introduced last month will add a few extra dollars to your paycheck starting in June. And by extra I mean $13. Hoping for a bit more, maybe along the lines of the bazillions the banks seem to be getting in this bailout? As insignificant as $13 a week seems it may turn out NOT to be the insult you immediately assume.
The hope is with that paycheck padded youll feel richer, at least enough to splurge on a little something you might have otherwise opted not to buy. If every single employed American spends all $400 this year we would inject $188 million into our economy. So to help you get stimulating here are 13 ways you can spend your $13 (or so) along 13th Street in Manhattan.
1. Integral Yoga and Natural Vitamins
The constant barrage of bad news about this new economy likely has you stressed out. Integral Yoga and Natural Vitamins near the West Village has more than 13 ways to help you relax, everything from aromatherapy candles to massage oil. Just being in this store, with its Zen-inspired music and soft-spoken staff, brings your blood pressure down a notch. To take that feeling home: pick up the $9.99 Rescue Remedy calming spray. "Everyone in New York should have it. It manages to relax you within like two minutes of you using it," says Holly Carr, who swears even Queen Elizabeth uses it.
On a nearby shelf you'll find Anxitease or Relax apothecary herbal tonics, each just under $11 before tax. Sarah Ernst says a drop-a-day during this season of stress helps balance your mood by going to work on the central nervous system: "Without sort of checking out of the situation, you still want to remain present and alert while all these financial situations are being made. These are two safe ways to control your hormones, stay alert, stay awake wake without being drugged up and completely out of it."
If you need some deep breathing and muscle-stretching sun salutations to go with your tonics, head across 13th Street. Your $13 weekly tax credit will cover one lunch or evening class at the Integral Yoga Institute.
2. Union Square Wine and Spirits
For those who prefer their relaxation by the glassful stop by Union Square Wine and Spirits where Jesse Salazar is replacing his stock of high-end wines with frugal, yet full-flavored alternatives. "Most people arent going to be thinking about spending $200 bucks on a bottle of wine," and Salazar says they havent since before Christmas. But he goes on to explain, "If you know what pockets have great vintages you can actually drink fairly well without spending a fortune." The 2007 vintage in the southern Rhone is especially good, and most producers who make $100 to $200 Chateauneufs also make Cotes du Rhone. Union Square Wine and Spirits offers several right around $13. "Its like downgrading a little bit, but not in quality because everything they planted was great," promises Salazar, who has been saving money by taking those bottles home to entertain in instead of going out. While he appreciates the extra bottle his pending weekly bonus will buy, he doesnt plan to go bizerk. "I dont know if anyone will notice that $13. Its not even your newspaper for the week, if you still buy it."
Tax Credit Breakdown
The exact amount you'll get from this refundable tax credit depends on how much you make, but heres a simple break down: If you earn less than $75,000 you get $400 divided over a year. For couples its $800, as long as you dont bring home more than $150,000. Above that your tax credit is phased out. The White House says the credit will benefit 95-percent of working families and is aimed at those right in the middle. Because the Internal Revenue Service needs time to readjust its withholding tables your cash doesnt kick in until June. Thats why its around $13 a week for 2009.
The plan is to convince 129 million taxpayers the cash is a raise. If you're fooled into thinking you make more money you'll spend more, or so economists say. "It probably will not make people consciously go out and look to spend $13 more per week," says Northwestern finance professor Jonathan Parker, "but people may notice that they have a little more in the bank or in the wallet and spend some of it." The bigger the rebate the more likely you are to save it, and hoarding the money is not what politicians want you to do right now. That may be one reason for the $13 installments, rather than the $400 lump sum check.
3. Apt. 141
"I'd rather have a lump sum because the $13 a week just seems very insignificant," says Lisa Foti, owner of the 13th Street boutique, Apt. 141. "It actually hurts my feelings. To tell you the truth its insulting."
In this tiny storefront near 4th Avenue women will find colorful ways to adorn themselves in $13 or less splurges: headbands for $5, berets and scarves in gloom-fighting candy colors are $12. Foti says shes surviving the slow-down because concerned customers make an effort to support small businesses. She worries this weekly rebate wont be large enough to count come summer. "People are much more careful about their spending. I could tell that the contemplation process is a little longer. Do I need this dress? Really deciphering between needs and wants."
Weekly Payments Versus Lump Sum
It's hard to look to the past to predict what this tax rebate will actually do for our present economy. The record is too varied and economists can only argue over whether past lump sums boosted buying. Take the rebate handed out in 2001: one study indicates less than half the money was spent, another claims two-thirds was gone within six months. As for last years big $300 check, its hard to know because some studies show that money's still sitting in the bank.
The underlying theory for why rebates are handed out at all can be traced back to British economist John Maynard Keynes (Think Keyensian Model). He believed spending, no matter how you spend it, is the driving force in the economy.
Economist Milton Friedman didnt quite agree. He argued that we spend based on what we think our long-term income will be. When workers lost their jobs, Friedman observed that they didnt immediately cut back on spending. Instead, they borrowed money or dipped into savings, counting on a new job to come quickly. But he also noticed workers did not immediately spend windfalls, like bonuses. They waited until it they got a promotion or pay raise. In 1975, Friedman predicted the $100 to $200 checks handed out by the Treasury Department would have little effect on spending. Studies by M.I.T. and Princeton economists proved he was right. People saved the money or used it to pay down debt.
Some financial experts say the small, steady design of this rebate may be why it works. Behavioral economist Richard Thalers thinking is we put windfalls in different mental accounts. That framing then influences what we do with the money. If it's a reward, like a win at the casino or a bonus, well blow it. If the money is dubbed a refund or inheritance, we tend to tuck it away. Wealth = savings. Income= spending. Thaler says it doesnt matter if the money is long-term. If theres more in the bank or on that paycheck, spending goes up.
Look at what happened in 1992. The first President Bush temporarily cut withholding payments. To be clear: he did not cut taxes. People still owed exactly the same amount at the end of the year. What changed: take-home pay. It looked bigger. That should have had no real impact on spending, but it did. One survey found almost half of all people planned to spend most of the money even when the tax cut didnt really exist.
What about when the government hands out real money? Part of the problem predicting what we might do - were not honest. We like to tell surveyors, and ourselves, we will put the money right into the bank or toward credit cards, but we don't. In the 2001 study, Consumer Response to Tax Rebates, only 22-percent of consumers said they would spend their rebate. But another paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research looked at actual credit card data and found most consumers initially made payments, but not for long. Contrary to Friedmans model, spending went right back up. Professor Parker's study on the 2001 rebate concluded consumers spent one-third of the money within two months and another third three months later. And Nick Souleles from the Wharton School found most people spent 30 to 40 percent of their checks even before they opened the mailbox to find them. His two papers on this topic say the stimulus went on to impact spending, in a good way, for nine months.
We dont all spend the money in the same way. Those in the middle-income bracket tend to save almost 80 percent. Those considered low-income spend almost all of it twice as fast, usually at supercenters like Target and Wal-mart, that's one reason tax rebates and credits are often aimed at this particular demographic.
Despite past performance, all experts can agree today's fiscal anxieties are on an entirely new level that may be too complex to calm with a rebate. Staggering job loss, foreclosures and plunging retirement accounts will likely have consumers spending more cautiously. Two-out-of-five adults confess to living paycheck to paycheck. And again, because we don't fess up, its likely more than that. With no savings, they may be forced to spend the $13 a week. On the other hand, with all the recent Depression comparisons, they may feel guilty enough to pay down debt. Professor Parker anticipates only one-third to one half of the credits will get spent, but believes it will help no matter the delivery-method: "This is not a small recession that one hopes to head off or mitigate with a quick fiscal shot. Instead, we have a protracted slowdown, and so the need to get the money out quickly is not as important. We instead need stimulus for the whole year 2009."
So, happy spending and on to the remaining 13 ways you can spend your $13 a week on 13th Street:
4. Café Loup
At this neighborhood favorite you can put down a Hamburger Deluxe complete with pomme frites for $13.50. Sunday Jazz brunch includes menu items that start at $9.50, but for a $5 minimum you can enjoy the music from the bar.
5. Quad Cinema
The four movie selections may be a few months old, but the ticket prices are a bit less than the corporate cinema a few blocks down 13th Street. At $11 a person, youll have $2 to put toward a soda to share.
6. Kates Paperie
If you've vowed to save money by packing your lunch, stop in and pick up the Blue Q Handy Reusable Tote. For $12.50 you can save money on bags and the environment. You'll also find hand-crafted cards pretty enough to frame ranging in prices from $5 to $13. Or to stick with a theme, Waste Not Paper offers a stationary set with eight cards and envelopes for $12. With tax thats $13.01.
7. Joe - Art of Coffee
After your 401k nightmares, youll need a morning jolt. You can take your $13 and by one cup of coffee for every day of the week at this Union Square favorite, or pick-up a pound to brew at home. The weekly-featured coffee is often $13 a pound. Insider tip: dont buy the shiny silver bag by the cash register. Its more expensive. To get the good guy price, ask the baristas to scoop it fresh.
8. Jeniette Day Spa
Also near Union Square, you'll still find a manicure affordable enough to add that luxury back into your budget. Here you can get a manicure for $11, just dont forget to tip those remaining $2.
9. The Flower Stall
This quaint mini-nursery near East 3rd Street has given New Yorkers green thumbs for 42 years. Owner Cornell Edwards has a lovely selection of windowsill-sized houseplants. Cacti succulents are $6.50. African Violets are $8.50. Just make sure not to disturb Tonya. The Russian cat tends to nap wherever the sun shines.
10. Souen
Skip the fast-food value menu and use your weekly bonus at this organic, macrobiotic restaurant near Union Square. $13.50 will help you get your daily serving of good, along with veggies, fresh grains, tofu and fish.
11. Mxyplyzyk
Before you argue that this shop is not technically on 13th Street, step inside and just try to decide how to spend your windfall. This eclectic home and gift store sits on the corner of 13th, Greenwich and Horatio Streets in the Meatpacking District and offers an array of quirky trinkets: dog-shaped salt-n-pepper shakers for $12.95, mini modern vases for $12.95 and Duck or Frog-shaped soap-on-a-rope for $12. If budget cuts had you firing the housekeeper, slip on the microfiber cleaning slippers. For $12, they promise to do the cleaning for you.
12. Momofuku - Milk Bar
Just in time for the recession, the trendy Momofuku restaurateurs are at it again with the Milk Bar. Grab a friend and splurge on the creamiest milk shake to hit the East Side. The combination of whole organic milk and soft serve in flavors like strawberry, chocolate, and cereal milk - which really tastes like the milk leftover after your lucky charms - may clog your arteries as you gulp it down, but is well worth a few days off your life and $6. Good luck trying to resist the corn flake-marshmallow-chocolate chip cookies.
13. The Church of the Village
Once you tire of spending your new-found fortune on yourself, try stimulating someone else. At the Church of the Village, homeless men and women are grateful for a $13 donation. What better way to count your blessings. After all, it could be worse. And next year it will be. When this tax credit is spread out over all of 2010, you'll have to move downtown to see how you can spend your $8 a week on 8th Street.
"Go Green, Already"
Declining recycling rates and the struggle to change consumer attitudes
At a time when you feel guilty forgetting to lug your re-usable tote bags to the grocery store, or wear sunglasses a little wider to disguise your gas-guzzling SUV-driving self, you would assume more people are conscious about the trash they toss and in what bin they toss it. But as much as we claim to care about our carbon footprints and global warming, cities are struggling to convince us to do the most basic task to protect the planet: separate the paper from the plastic, and the plastic from the cans. It seems more people are less-than-inspired to reduce, reuse and recycle. Environmentalists don't quite get it, why this social and psychological change isn't sinking in. For inspiration, they may want to consider how we kicked other bad habits like smoking, drunk driving and riding around without seat belts.
The recycling problem seems minor. Its not. Our trash addiction is getting worse, not better. The EPA says Americans throw out 4.6 pounds of trash each day. Thats two pounds more a day than we chucked in 1960. Ok, so that waste isn't floating around on a barge in the Atlantic because no one wants it. And maybe youre not the eco-idealist up at night worrying about leaky landfills or greenhouse gases from those noisy diesel trucks that haul off your trash. And living in a concrete jungle, you dont really care about those 17 trees Planet Pals says could have been saved by recycling a ton of paper. As a taxpayer, you might care to know cities like New York spends $1 billion a year to get rid of waste, up from $400 million not long ago.
(Complete article available upon request.)
"Happy Housewives?"
Why recent cuts to government-funded childcare, and Dutch womens part-time work preference, may reinforce gender stereotypes
Legal prostitution, abortion on demand, marijuana for sale - The Netherlands seems like a bastion of free-wheeling, progressive politics, particularly when it comes to sex and the sexes. Who would have thought that its also the country of the stay-at-home mom? Two-thirds of Dutch working women are employed part-time, almost twice the average of the European Union. But does this make The Netherlands an island of traditional gender roles, or the vanguard of a new flexibility that enables women to juggle work and family?
With recent discussion about major government cuts to childcare funding, there's growing talk women will cut back more hours, or quit working all together. Just the mere possibility has Dutch society deeply divided. Ask women about their part-time work preference, and they celebrate their independence and family-friendly flexibility. Turn to economists, and you'll hear the stress about the long-term financial impact to an already aging workforce. Then there are the feminists who fret over what they see as permanent inequality.
"Militant to Mainstream"
The Transformation of a Bike Activist Group: Critical Mass
Twenty-nine days a month cars and trucks rule the roads. But come rush hour on the last Friday of every month, drivers in 300 cities worldwide yield to a clanging orchestra of bicycles and bells. Critical Mass, an eclectic pro-cycling coalition hundreds of riders strong, takes over the lanes, pedaling through downtowns, forcing cars to hit the brakes as a reminder: drivers dont own the road.
The cyclists' in-your-face antics and occasional turf battles with angry drivers and police have earned them labels like Bike Nazis, Lycra-clad Lobbyists, Pedal Punks and Critical Mass-holes. The latest run-in took place this summer in New York City, when a police officer body-slammed a biker in Times Square. The video was an instant YouTube hit, and the rookie cop was indicted this week. Despite Critical Mass rebellious reputation, it didnt instigate that brawl. These days the group aims to blast the spotlight on bicycle issues by having better manners. With cycling 43-million riders strong and a legitimate force in the transportation mix, the once-militant group seems to be morphing into a kinder, gentler, more mainstream version.
Anita Kissée - clips
General Assignment Report within 24 Hours: Child Hero Driver
Anita Kissée - awards
"Dirty Little Secret"
Documentary can be found on Vimeo
(Due to graphic nature - please request password via email)
In the news business we live by an unofficial creed: If it bleeds... it leads. Big news is almost always bad news. But in our comfortable lives, the closest most of us will ever get to the worst the world offers is reading about it or watching it on TV. We rely on journalists on the front lines of conflict to witness atrocity and present it in neartly sanitized pacakges. Have you ever stopped to consider what that steady diet of horror does to them?
Even with trauma and PTSD now part of our national vocabulary journalism remains a hold-out industry, still skeptical and in denial about the legal and ethical responsibility to the mental health of employees. Not every journalist is as think-skinned as the industry expects us to be. Two-thirds admit having an intense emotional reaction while assignment, yet tears rarely make it to the surface. We're good at repressing emotion, afraid to be labeled a wimp or worse, yanked from a big story. As a result, we're seeing the same post-trauma symptoms suffered by police officers and combat soldiers, yet our emotional health is often ignored and misunderstood. The result can be tragic: burnout, addiction, broken relationships and on occassion, suicide.
In our quest to remain objective, have journalists distanced themselves so far from their own emotions that stories lack context, compassion, even credibility? When we filter the uncomfortable truth to protect the public are we instead misguiding public opinion? While we serve as the worlds eyes and ears -- who is watching out for us?
Those are questions this documentary aims to answer. It's an hour-long piece produced, shot, written and edited as my thesis for Columbia University. The program also examines new research looking at whether journalists can suffer from PTSD or other trauma-related disorders, and whether news organizations have a responsibility to care for the mental health care needs of journalists they send into the field.
Interviews include:
Photojournalist Mike Kamber The New York Times
Photojournalist David Handschuh New York Daily News
Chris Cramer Reuters
Photojournalist Antonin Kratochvil VII Agency
Santiago Lyon The Associated Press
Dr. Anthony Feinstein University of Toronto
Professor Judith Matloff
Karen Petersen Freelance Writer & Photographer
Reporter Anna Song KATU
Reporter Alyson Outen KTVB
KATU Staff & Friends
Anita Kissée - documentary
Anita Kissée - photos
TV
anitakissee_yahoo.com / 503.318.9625
multimedia
