Lane Michaelsen, who until recently was vice president of news at Miami’s WTVJ, has been named news director at WCPO in Cincinnati.

Michaelsen replaces longtime WCPO news director Bob Morford, who announced his plans to leave the station at the beginning of the year.

“Lane is exactly the news director this market needs right now, and we’re very pleased to have his talent and experience in our newsroom,” WCPO vice president and general manager Steve Thaxton said, announcing the hiring. “His deep understanding of journalism and the tenets of serving communities will make a major impact on our team and the Tri-State.” Read more

WCPO reporter Hagit Limor was one of only a handful of American journalists to experience the earthquake in Japan first-hand last week, as she was traveling through the country on a trip for the Society of Professional Journalists.

Limor, who is the president of SPJ, was in Okinawa when the earthquake hit and the resulting tsunami rocked much of the country. Limor had just left Tokyo that morning to travel to the city of Naha, fortuitously escaping the region hardest hit by the tsunami.

Limor tells TVSpy that she began reporting for WCPO beginning just four hours after the earthquake hit. Since then, she has been reporting via Skype and providing TV, web, and print coverage for WCPO’s entire station group as well as the Scripps Howard News Service. Read more