Louis Hochman Email & Phone Number

Philadelphia, Pa, Us

New York, New York, United States

• Co-led “Segregated NJ,” a collaboration among more than a dozen newsrooms to advance the understanding of segregation in New Jersey. Our partnership enabled local and specialty publications as well as our own journalists to more effectively explore their communities’ own experiences, with the aid of robust data and by providing an avenue for sharing resources. We signal-boosted our partners’ findings, bringing discussions into our newscasts and magazine programs.• As an extension of “Segregated NJ,” co-planned a community forum in Newark, centering students’ voices about racism, diversity and policy in the city. Panel discussions were led by WNYC’s Michael Hill and Chalkbeat Newark’s Jessie Gomez. • Co-planned a live remote broadcast from the heart of New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, educating listeners about a critical race and producing a proof-of-concept program for future live remotes by WNYC.• Oversaw New Jersey reporters’ high-impact enterprise and breaking news on-air and online. Our team was the first to report on a Rutgers’ faculty strike vote; showed victims of Hurricane Ida were left waiting for months or years for relief; explored the hazards migrant workers fact protections against work in excessive heat; and described how a rich town’s defiance of affordable housing requirements could prove costly. Note: As of August 2024, I am a day-of editor for the NYPR newsroom, focused on breaking news.

• Oversaw operations for a developing nonprofit news organization, heading a leadership team as it evolved content, membership, advertising and fundraising strategies (including a fundraising campaign that generated more than $300,000 in a quarter). • Ran a seven-person editorial operation that, in my first year, saw its highest and most consistent online traffic in the newsroom’s history (an average of 98,000 unique visitors per month, up 44% from the monthly average in 2020) — attributable to consequence-focused storytelling, a digital-first approach and movement toward a more sophisticated staff-wide understanding of audience engagement and retention. • Launched initiatives to deepen coverage, with an eye toward diversity, equity and inclusion, including: a "human connections" reporter role; the "Our Montclair" podcast and video series featuring long-form conversations on art, activism, struggle and culture; and several outreach activities.• Directed and reported breaking news, deep-dive and special topic coverage, such as: 10 stories our team produced in the first 24 hours after former Hurricane Ida drowned our community’s streets and buildings (resulting in the single highest day of traffic in MontclairLocal.news’s history); our grant-funded exploration of an immigrant family’s efforts to bridge digital and language divides (with an accompanying “Our Montclair” video I co-produced); our deep coverage of a politically fraught referendum question on reshaping Montclair’s school district (including a forum on the issue I produced, published via Facebook Live and through multiple media partners); my story revealing allegations of bias in the township’s fire department; and subsequent discovery, through source work and public records requests, of an internal investigation into firefighters’ admitted illegal shift-training. • Brokered a deal to use Townsquare Media's CMS and app platform, greatly improving our time-on-site and recurring visitor performance.

• Quintupled the average monthly traffic to New Jersey 101.5’s online news and entertainment platforms since 2015, to approximately 2.3 million monthly unique visitors in 2020. Directed news and opinion writing, multimedia production and social media engagement for 10 journalists, nine on-air personalities and five producers, who together authored about 30 pieces each day for Townsquare Media’s flagship radio station. Drove the New Jersey 101.5 app to more than 300,000 downloads in its first five years.• Introduced interactive town halls to connect audience members with vital services. As experts have discussed issues including mental health, autism, the opioid epidemic and prisoner re-entry in our studio, we've live-streamed the presentations, and made experts available in online chats. Our interactions have connected people in crisis with immediate care.• Co-created, filmed, produced and edited the award-winning "Heroin Uncut: The Truth About the Crisis," video and podcast series.• Developed a style guide and trainings for issues of identity.• Direct an online news team that, working alongside and in cooperation with on-air news staff, has produced award-winning and difference-making journalism – including stories that prompted changes to the New Jersey judiciary’s treatment of sex assault victims, that shed light on the failures of the state’s pension system and that warned consumers about practicing doctors with histories of sexually abusing patients. • Develop sponsored-content strategies that incorporate native content, video and social media into campaigns with measurable returns for clients and New Jersey 101.5 alike.• Conduct trainings on analytics, headline writing, ethical journalism, attribution, social engagement, and production of multimedia including photography and videography.• Expand New Jersey 101.5's social presence — more than doubling its Facebook and Twitter followings.

• Led a team of reporters that over three years drove radical traffic growth in three of NJ.com's blogs, with an emphasis on Web-savvy breaking news coverage, enterprise and follow-through. Comparisons from May 2015 vs. July 2012: Morris County: 414 percent of initial traffic | Somerset County: 745 percent of initial traffic | Sussex County, 1,070 percent of initial traffic. • Trained veteran and new reporters to have a sophisticated sense of digital media, and to continually develop and practice new skills. • As one of the first county team leaders at NJ.com, helped develop practices for collaboration with other properties sharing the NJ.com platform.

Morris County, New Jersey

• Directed news coverage, social media outreach and community collaboration. A key success including all these elements: Coverage of Hurricane Irene and October 2011’s freak snowstorm. Sites in my region proved the only reliable place for consistently up-to-date news on closures, outages, road blockages, hazards and other vital information. Just as importantly, the sites were nexuses for readers to share news.• Worked with sales team to identify opportunities to grow existing sites, to start new sites in areas with strong potential for profitability, to serve advertisers and readers in tandem, and to promote the company.• Launched nine Patch sites (which included hiring and training local editors, and overseeing production of all launch material). Oversaw operations for between 5 and 14 sites.• Trained local editors on skills including, but not limited to: enterprise reporting, graphical presentation, video production, journalistic ethics, and community building.• Represented Patch at professional and community functions.• Developed internal policies and standards as a member of several committees, focused on style, ethics, workflow and technical tools.

Helped shape the presentation of DailyRecord.com and the Daily Record’s other digital endeavors, incorporating original material, social media and strategically cultivated user-generated content:• Coached reporters in the use of social and other new media — to better promote Daily Record content and to better facilitate story research.• Monitored site traffic metrics and adjusted the DailyRecord.com presentation based on the lessons they suggested.Other duties:• Oversaw a culture-themed enterprise beat, responsible for producing ambitious, highly sourced stories on topics such as politics, marriage and religion. One story found that in the down economy, unhappy couples were putting off divorces. Another examined struggles resolving religious beliefs with personal ones.• Helped plan and edit local news coverage, working daily with reporters to develop their stories. On Sundays, oversaw all metro desk operations.• Collected and edited all material for the submission-driven DenvilleRockaway This Week.

Helped manage a copy and layout desk of nine people, responsible for the production of the main news section of the Daily Record, as well special sections and side projects:• Managed all aspects of the desk’s operation over weekends and in the news editor’s absence.• Directed reporters on weekends and during other shifts when metro editors were not on duty.• On routine shifts, duties included some combination of: front-page design; special section design; graphic art and photo-illustration composition; slotting, to ensure all headlines and captions were accurate and clear; training of new copy editors and coaching of existing ones; management and editing of evening and early-morning content for DailyRecord.com.

Oversaw, managed and trained a staff of approximately 15 reporters and editors, responsible for producing two editions of a six-day-a-week newspaper:• Directed the evolution of the Daily Times’ Web presence, which during my time as managing editor newly included: liveblog-style updates for stories with frequent developments; supplemental documentation, audio and video (which I typically edited) for major news stories; online forums with tie-ins to print features; previews of upcoming editions; feeds of existing, popular blogs from within our communities and around Rhode Island (in cooperation with their authors).• Built a strong dialogue with Rhode Island’s most prominent blogs, resulting in more frequent and more prominent links to the Daily Times’ stories on their sites.• Initiated and implemented outreach projects, such as the use of an online forum to collect memories from family members of those killed in a catastrophic fire, a Halloween costume contest, and distribution of hand sanitizers during a health investigation that shut down area schools.• Conceived of and oversaw several special projects and series.• Wrote editorials daily.Notes: The Daily Times’ site has been redesigned since my departure; most features listed above are no longer available, but I can provide screen captures of the site as it was on request. The Daily Times was purchased by RISN in February 2007.

Oversaw and managed the staffs of eight paid weekly community newspapers and one total-market-coverage publication: • Trained and guided editors, many of them new to professional journalism, to be effective reporters, copy editors, designers and managers.• Served as part of Intercounty’s operations committee, helping set the direction for the group overall and planning special projects.• Functioned as the acting managing editor of publications — often several at a time — during staff shortages.• Was promoted to the post of Kent County and Warwick Daily Times managing editor, based on successes at InterCounty.

Hired initially as a reporter for Spring Lake and South Belmar. Moved on to the dual role of assistant editor for the paper overall and reporter for Wall Township, the largest community in The Coast Star’s coverage area:• Managed a staff of four to six writers for special projects. • Exposed an illegal taxpayer-funded SUV purchase by the superintendent of Wall Township schools.• Covered my communities thoroughly — reporting on virtually all local government meetings of any level, and most community events.• Edited news and feature stories.

Education record

Activities and Societies: Daily Targum (copy desk chief, associate news editor, associate managing editor, managing editor for special.

Education record