Deborah Potter
Advancing the Story
Deborah Potter is an experienced journalism trainer and reporter who spent 16 years as a correspondent for CBS News and CNN. She leads workshops for journalists in the United States and around the world, focusing on reporting and writing, online and visual storytelling, social media, and journalism ethics. She partners with national and state journalism groups and also provides training for news organizations.
Deborah is co-author of “Advancing the Story: Quality Journalism in a Digital World,” 4th ed. (CQ Press, 2018). She writes regularly about journalism on the Advancing the Story website. Among her other publications are the “Handbook of Independent Journalism,” “Incoming: Advice for the Newly Named News Director,” and “Ready, Set, Lead: The Resource Guide for News Managers.”
For almost 20 years, Deborah ran NewsLab, the journalism site she founded in 1998. It is now affiliated with the University of Mississippi. Deborah has taught journalism as the Pollner Professor at the University of Montana (2018) and as a visiting professor of journalism ethics at the University of Arkansas (2014). She is a former faculty associate at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Deborah has been a contributing correspondent for the PBS program “Religion & Ethics Newsweekly” and hosted the PBS program “In the Prime.” For more than a decade, Deborah was a featured columnist for American Journalism Review, writing about broadcast news.
At CNN, Deborah anchored news programs and reported on national politics and environmental issues. She joined CNN after 13 years at CBS News, where she served as White House, State Department, and Congressional Correspondent and also covered environmental issues. She was a frequent contributor to the prime time CBS News program “48 Hours,” and hosted the interview program “Nightwatch.”
Before joining CBS News, Deborah was a morning-drive news anchor for KYW News Radio in Philadelphia, a reporter at the Voice of America, and a news producer at the ABC television affiliate in Washington, D.C.
Deborah is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a master’s degree from American University. She and her husband live in the Washington, D.C., area. They have two grown sons. Deborah loves to cook and to try new foods, especially when traveling. She’s also a sports fan who can die happy now that the Washington Capitals have finally won the Stanley Cup.