JACKSON, Miss.—The Gray Television-owned WLBT station has appointed Michael A. White, Jr. as director of operations for the Gray/WLBT Media Training Center, which is slated to open later this year.
The Training Center program will be housed at WLBT, and is part of Gray's efforts to prepare students for the unique operating environments in local media, while simultaneously improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in media, the company said.
The Center will educate and train students who attend Mississippi colleges and universities, with a focus on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the state, namely Jackson State, Alcorn State, Mississippi Valley State, Rust College and Tougaloo College.
As the program’s director of operations, White will lead the charge in developing the program at WLBT.
White started at WLBT as an intern before being hired as a studio operator. From there, White, moved into the newsroom as an associate producer, advanced to news producer, and was then promoted to morning executive producer, serving as an executive producer since 2020.
“Over the past two years, Michael has taken the lead on our news internship initiative, creating one of the most successful programs in station history. Because of his involvement with the internship program, Michael is already working with many of the schools that will participate in the Training Center project,” said WLBT vice president and general manager, Ted Fortenberry. “Those established relationships will help us ramp up quickly, which is important since we are targeting September as the start date for the inaugural class.”
A graduate of Jackson State University, White received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications and Media Studies.
