ENROLL NOW
Born and raised in Southern California, Nik Heftman has worked in just about every part of the country. He’s currently working in Los Angeles as an Associate Producer for CBS Mornings.
Heftman has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications, with a designated area of concentration in international studies, from Iowa State University.
Heftman’s reporting has earned him a Mark of Excellence Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for outstanding breaking news reporting. He also received an award from the Iowa Associated Press for a feature he co-wrote on South Sudanese refugees living in rural Iowa. He was nominated for an SPJ Mark of Excellence Award for feature writing.
He has worked as a reporter, editor and television producer for newspapers, magazines and national television broadcasts in California, Iowa and New York CIty. He’s covered topics ranging from wicca and witchcraft, to politics and professional boxing.
Heftman’s dedication to reporting on diversity and inclusion issues earned him the honor of speaking at public forums about the topic, including the Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (ISCORE) – a comprehensive forum on issues of race and ethnicity at Iowa State University and beyond.
Before graduating from Iowa State in 2017, Heftman hosted a blunt debate about the way journalists cover Muslims at home and abroad. The event was called Muslimedia, and it was organized with the help of a mosque in Ames, Iowa.
Heftman has been writing and producing news stories for seven years. He has used every platform to help the cause of truth while promoting equality, inclusion, liberty and social justice.
When he’s not in the office, Heftman is probably at the gym or trying the new restaurant in town with the weird menu. Heftman is also a mentor for Young Storytellers, a 9-week program program where middle schoolers work collaboratively with a group mentor to create first person narratives about challenges they face – and then work with actors who later perform those pieces.
Check out one of NIK’S stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgoeBUpGObw
NIK HEFTMAN MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST
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Nik Heftman will discuss your favorite news stories and why you liked them. Then, participants will write a 30-second story based on a prompt and then “perform” your story as if you were broadcasters. He’ll talk about the process: the rules/ the formatting. And what his day-to-day is like with CBS News.
- Writing is everything…and I do mean, EVERYTHING! // Did you get your dose of news today? We’ll go over some of our favorite headlines of the day, or news stories that we’ve recently come across and dissect them a little bit. Why were you interested in that story? What about the headline grabbed you? What about the copy kept you dialed in? We’ll hear from some of my award-winning colleagues at CBS News about their storytelling process. I’ll also share a little bit of how I was thrown into the firepit that is a morning-show newsroom, and I’ll have everyone take a stab at writing and reading their own 30-second report.
- So, what’s it like? Rules to the game… // What’s it like working in a large newsroom? I’ll go over the day-to-day life of a producer at CBS Mornings. I’ll also go over everything that I have to consider when I start my writing process. I’ll show some pieces that I helped put together and we’ll discuss them. The workshop will learn the do’s and dont’s of script writing.
- What makes a good broadcast story and how can I improve? // I’ll go over some of the toughest lessons I’ve learned in the business. I share some tips for everyone in improving their workflow and developing their eye for production. I’ll show a couple of my favorite stories and we’ll talk about what made them great. We’ll also revisit the 30 second stories we wrote in the beginning