Former Channel 5 anchor speaks to Prince William Chamber

Laura Evans spoke publicly in Prince William County for the first time since leaving the anchor chair at Washington, D.C.’s local Fox TV station.

Evans worked at WTTG-TV Channel 5 for the past 18 years anchoring from the news desk, working in the field, and producing small news segments that featured up and coming members of the community, and businesses that helped change the lives of people in need for the better.

“It’s great to be speaking not in front of a teleprompter, not on contract, and not wearing false eyelashes,” Evans told a group of about 50 people gathered for a “meet the media” event held by the Prince William Chamber of Commerce.

The former newscaster who lives in Maryland and has just started a new marketing and public relations firm Laura Evans Media told a story of changing TV news environment that is fueled by competition not only among rival news stations but between co-workers sharing content on social media.

The anchor broke her contract in December and walked away from a top anchor job in nation’s seventh-largest TV market. She said the station management wanted her to work nights, shifting her away from her 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedule.

“That would have put me home at midnight, no dinner with the family, no putting the kids to bed,” said Evans.

She started her broadcasting career in Eureka, Calif. and worked her way up to larger markets. Her big break came in 1998 when Channel 5 in Washington offered her a job.

While there she worked “every possible shift you could imagine,” but over time it got old.

“I started feeling like we’re telling the same stories over and over again, feeling restless and feel like I needed change, but I didn’t want what that change was,” Evans said.

The newsroom added of a “board of shame,” an application that monitored and tallied how many times reporters produced content on social media, and how many likes and shares the content received.

However, when she left Channel 5, she wept.

“I went home crying, my child said ‘why are you crying.’ And then I said ‘I left my dream job,” said Evans.

Her daughter replied, “Mommy, you made your dream come true. now you can do something else.”

“Then I cried some more,” said Evans. “And there it was out of the mouth of babes, right? So simple.”

Evans then launched her PR company to use her experience working in TV to get businesses and organizations on TV and other media platforms.

Christina Daves, of the Prince William County-based PR For Anyone, connected with Evans to promote her product called MediFashions, an accessory to make body-worn medical devices look fashionable. After weeks of emailing the newscaster about her product, Daves said she used Twitter to respond directly to one of Evans’ tweets.

“She tweeted and asked for ideas for new segments, and I replied and said ‘how about me,” explained Daves.

Through the connection, Evans was asked to be the keynote speaker at this year’s “Meet the Media” event. The veteran TV reporter told small business owners trying to pitch a story news coverage of their business to find the emotion in the story — whether it’s anger, sadness, or humor — and then tell that to a reporter.

“Is there something funny here? Is there something your neighbors need to know about?” Evans coached the crowd.

Following her speech, attendees listened to a panel of local media publishers provide advice on how to pitch news stories. The panelists included editors and publishers form Prince William Living Magazine, InsideNova Prince William, Fauquier Times, Potomac Local, Bristow Beat, and What’s Up Woodbridge.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected. An earlier version of this story I wrote incorrectly quoted Ms. Evans as stating morale at the WTTG newsroom is “at an all-time low.”  This article was temporarily pulled for review on June 3 while I was away from the office visiting family on the west coast and restored with corrections June 6.