KPBS news director Terence Shepherd is no longer with San Diego’s public media affiliate.
In a memo to staff and in a statement provided to Times of San Diego, KPBS did not say whether Shepherd resigned or was terminated, or provide any other details on his departure. Shepherd did not respond to a request for comment.
KPBS management told staffers that Vinnee Tong, the station’s managing editor, will serve as interim news director, effective Wednesday, in an internal memo obtained by Times of San Diego.
“I am confident Vinnee Tong … will successfully sustain our essential news service as we work through this change,” said Heather Milne, a spokesperson for KPBS, in the statement. She said the station would begin recruitment for a news editor in the near future.
Shepherd took over as KPBS news director in August 2022, leading a newsroom of 45 journalists.
“We sincerely appreciate the contributions (Shepherd) made during his time here,” chief of staff Travis Tamasese wrote in the memo to staff.
Shepherd’s departure coincided with KPBS’ director of people and culture — the station’s human resources chief — also leaving. The memo to staff said Lois Hoyt and Shepherd’s departures were unrelated, despite occurring on the same day. The memo to staff acknowledged the personnel shifts “reflect a great amount of change for the organization.”
“Staff changes are inevitable in the regular course of doing business,” Milne said in her statement. “Having two unrelated departures on the same day is rare. KPBS has been fortunate to have some staff stay with us for decades and some that were only with us for a short time but made a great impact.”
Before arriving in San Diego, Shepherd was a media leader in Miami and South Florida. For nine years before coming to KPBS, Shepherd served as news director of WLRN News, the public radio news outlet covering Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties, according to a KPBS press release at the time.
He moved into public radio after working as an editor at the Miami Herald and Boca Raton News.
Shepherd has served twice as the president of South Florida’s Association of Black Journalists. He was also the first Black chairman of the Radio Television Digital News Foundation. He advised NPR on ethics and standards in journalism.
