Capitol News Connection

Photo credit: Maureen Keating	Staff Melinda Wittstock, Bureau Chief and Executive Director Melinda Wittstock is an award-winning broadcast and print journalist with 15 years' reporting and hosting experience in the highly competitive New York, Washington, and London media markets. Her work spans BBC Radio and TV News, ABC News, National Public Radio (NPR), MSNBC/CNBC, CNNfn, as well as London's Times, Guardian, and Observer newspapers. Wittstock is an experienced political journalist, who has covered U.S. national politics for more than a decade, and has anchored many of the big stories of the last decade - from the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the death of Princess Diana, to the impeachment of President Clinton and the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Presidential campaigns. Wittstock devised the concept and business plan for CNC, and launched the service with a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and support from PRI in 2003. As Bureau Chief and Executive Director, she provides oversight for the day-to-day editorial output and long term strategic goals. She manages CNC key staff, leads outreach efforts with stations, Congress and funders. Brought up in New York and Toronto, Wittstock graduated with an Honors B.A. in political science from McGill University (American Government, International Relations, and Political Philosophy). At McGill, she began her broadcasting career on the University-funded CRFM Radio McGill as a news anchor and talk show host. She moved to London and joined the London Times as a correspondent when she was just 22. She spent five years on the newspaper, breaking several major investigative exclusive political and business stories, and started working for the BBC in 1990 as a newsmagazine reporter and live radio/TV pundit. By 1995, she became one of the main primetime hosts/anchors of BBC World, the international TV news channel, where she covered most of the big breaking news stories of the time. In 1998, Wittstock moved back to New York full time to join ABC News, where she anchored the network's overnight and early morning national news programs, World News Now and World News This Morning. She continued to report for BBC Radio and TV, hosting the half-hour interview program, Hard Talk, and the discussion program, The Talk Show. She joined MSNBC and CNBC as a news reporter and anchor in 1999, before coming once more to Washington in August 2000 to launch and host a new live NPR morning newsmagazine for Sirius Satellite Radio. She helped create the show's new sound and format, trained young and inexperienced staff, and piloted daily throughout the election campaign and post-election period. She left NPR after the Sirius launch was postponed in March 2001 to freelance as a congressional reporter for CNN, CNNfn, and CNN Radio, as well as The London Observer.
Photo credit: Maureen Keating	Chad Pergram, Chief Correspondent Chad Pergram began his career in journalism in high school as an intern and later reporter/anchor at WKRC-AM in Cincinnati. He also worked at WKRC-TV and then joined public radio station WMUB-FM in Oxford, OH. He became Senate producer for C-SPAN in 1993, after which he produced and anchored newscasts for NPR in Washington. Pergram was named Best Radio Reporter by the Ohio Associated Press in 1992. He has also received prestigious statewide awards for Best Use of Sound, Best Investigative Reporting, and Best Broadcast Writing. He has covered a variety of stories, including the Robert Mapplethorpe photo exhibit trial, Pete Rose's banishment from baseball, President Clinton's impeachment, and the Stanley Cup Finals. On Capitol Hill, Pergram enjoys doing stories that allows the listener to look beneath the Dome to see how the machinery of Congress works. For CNC, he's covered ethics questions surrounding House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), intelligence reform, energy policy, and President Reagan's memorial service. He also specializes in producing sound-rich features. In particular, he has compiled several "day-in-the-life" reports, detailing what lawmakers do all day (Pergram had to go running at 4:45 a.m. with one senator in 20-degree weather). He also prepared an audio diary of President Bush's inauguration and assembled a behind-the-scenes look at both political conventions. Pergram is a native of Jacksonburg, OH, the state's smallest incorporated village, population: 52. He earned a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Miami University (Ohio) in 1991 and a master's degree in Communication from Miami in 1993. He teaches a seminar in Washington for his alma mater on the confluence of media and politics. An avid snow skier, Pergram has skied various locations in the Alps and Canadian Rockies. He is a Second Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. He lives in Alexandria, VA, with a vile Welsh Corgi named Hampton.
Photo credit: Maureen Keating	Max Cacas, Senior Producer/Correspondent Max Cacas is a veteran online and broadcast journalist, with nearly 30 years of experience as a radio reporter and producer for CBS, ABC, and NPR, as well as Washington, D.C.-area radio stations, including WAMU-FM, WASH-FM, WXTR AM-FM, and WEEL-AM in Fairfax, VA. At NPR, he was instrumental in the creation of the network's hourly newscast service, and helped introduce computer-based newsroom production systems to the News and Information Division. Before joining the Bureau, Cacas was a producer for WTOP AM-FM, the all-news radio station in D.C., and its affiliated websites, wtopnews.com and federalnewsradio.com. He has also served as senior online producer for the Freedom Forum, an international, non-governmental, not-for-profit foundation based in Arlington, VA, that supports First Amendment issues in the U.S. He was responsible for all Internet webcasting activities for the foundation as well as for its largest operating program, The Newseum. He was the foundation's first full-time website editor. Cacas is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. He has served as a guest lecturer at a number of universities and has appeared as a panelist at a number of national journalism conferences, speaking on journalism, new media, and online topics. He is a founding member and former national director of the Online News Association and is currently a member of the board of directors of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and serves on a number of committees advising the organization's national leadership. He has also been a member of the Public Radio News Directors Incorporated and is a past winner of the Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association award for Best Local Newscast.
Photo credit: Maureen Keating	Benjamin Shaw, Reporter Benjamin Shaw comes to Capitol News Connection after working at WNYC, New York Public Radio®. While at WNYC, he was an assistant producer for PRI's Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, a national arts and culture program. He also covered local news for the WNYC newsroom. In addition to working at WNYC, Shaw was the executive producer and a reporter for Turnstiles, an hour-long news program with feature stories from the streets of New York. Turnstiles aired on WFUV in the Bronx. Prior to obtaining a master of science degree in journalism from Columbia University, Shaw sailed his 33-foot sailboat throughout the Caribbean on a year-long adventure. While traveling, he wrote freelance articles for national sailing and travel magazines. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English from Oberlin College, he worked as an actor in Los Angeles and as a programmer for Microsoft in Seattle. Raised in Falls Church, VA, just outside Washington, D.C., he is excited about returning to his home turf and covering politics.
Photo credit: Maureen Keating	Jill Morrison, Reporter Jill Morrison’s passion for politics and current affairs brings her to Capitol News Connection with PRI. She began her career in news at KUOW Public Radio in Seattle, where she was an associate and then interim producer of The Conversation, a daily news/talk show. At KUOW, Morrison reported live, as well as produced feature-length stories. She co-produced The Works, a weekly show tackling business and technology issues, and she directed REWIND, a live show taking a satirical look back at the week’s news with host Bill Radke. Last fall, Morrison reported extensively on the 9/11 Intelligence Reform Bill. She followed the bill every step, from the floor debates to conference committee negotiations. Along the way, she got exclusive interviews with lawmakers and closely followed the families of 9/11 victims as they pushed the bill through Congress. Morrison graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. She moved to Washington, D.C., with one suitcase and a Capitol Hill face book. She grew up in the Seattle area and misses the coffee, but the daily excitement on Capitol Hill makes up for it.
	Terry Gildea, Reporter Terry Gildea has covered Congress for Capitol News Connection since May 2005. He came to Washington, D.C., from the Pacific Northwest where he was a freelance reporter for KPLU in Seattle and Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. He contributed to NPR's coverage of Washington State's 2004 hotly contested gubernatorial race, and he is featured in Oregon Public Broadcasting's nationally syndicated radio documentary, Unfinished Journey: The Lewis & Clark Expedition. He traveled with Lewis and Clark re-enactors in North Dakota and produced a feature about the social dynamics of the group. The entire 13-part series can be heard on selected Public Radio International stations nationwide. Gildea continues to localize the activities of Capitol Hill into stories that matter to public radio listeners across the country. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Washington and a Master of Science in journalism from Columbia University in New York.
Photo credit: Maureen Keating	Brian Sussman, Technical Operations Manager Brian Sussman is a veteran audio engineer and producer with a background in computer desktop support and information technology. He began his career in high school as a public affairs talk show host at WINX radio in his native Washington, D.C. He then went on to become a disc jockey and transmitter engineer at WINX, as well as at WZYQ in nearby Frederick, MD. Following high school, Sussman went to the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL, where he graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Music Engineering Technology, a specialized program with a major in audio engineering and a minor in computer and electrical engineering. While he was attending college, he worked at WHQT radio as a production assistant, technical director, and board operator. Immediately out of school, Sussman was recruited by Dolphin Cruise Line to sail the Caribbean on the Royal Majesty as stage manager and sound technician for all entertainment on the ship. After completing his contract, he returned home to D.C. to found his own consultancy, Computer Sound Technologies. He later joined the sales team at Clear Connection, a telecommunications interconnect. With the technology boom on the rise, Sussman enrolled in a computer networking program at Delta Computer Center and became a Microsoft certified professional. He then went to DynCorp as a desktop support technician and help desk administrator. Sussman's next move was to combine his skills with computers and audio, and he joined the Image Generators for a stint as production and IT manager. He then went to the Information Technology department at Freddie Mac as a desktop installation technician. His final stop before joining Capitol News Connection was at NPR, where he worked as a broadcast technician and recording engineer.