Starting May 5: TV news segments from the Freep

The text of an editors' memo to staffers was posted yesterday [[4/20) by newsroom alumnus Joel Thurtell [http://joelontheroad.com/?p=2210].

It announces a new hire for "Free Press news segments on First Forecast Mornings on WWJ-TV from 5 to 7 a.m. weekdays. The show starts May 5."

The paper recruited Mike Brookbank, a Chicago native and U of N. Dakota grad [['99) who developed TV chops in Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Colorado. As Nancy Andrews, managing ed./digital media, tells the troops:

"He’s done everything. He’s handled a camera as a videographer, written scripts, produced shows, reported news and feature packages, and moved into anchor roles."

As for Joel, he seems . . . well, judging by the post's headline [[Newspaper or TV station?), skeptical is one way to put it.

That head amounts to his only comment so far about the memo posted the day his past local news colleagues earned a Pulitzer Prize -- a development he let pass without notice.