By Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist Published Jul 10, 2015 at 6:07 PM

When you spend a quarter century working in one place, it is something special. When 25 of those years are working in media in the same market, well it says as much as about the person as it does the community they chose to call home.

The Silver Circle was created by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (the same academy that people thank when they get an Emmy) to give special recognition to people in the media who have had an impact on a community. In Wisconsin, six people will be inducted this year into the circle.

They are:

  • Bart Adrian, former WITI-TV meteorologist, now with UW-Milwaukee
  • Jim Angeli, a photojournalist with WTMJ-TV – Milwaukee
  • Steve Koehn a news manager at WISC-TV – Madison
  • Dennis Krause a sportscaster with Time Warner Cable SportsChannel – Milwaukee
  • Renee Raffaelli, the managing editor at WISN-TV – Milwaukee
  • Mike Van Susteren, the chief photographer at WISC-TV – Madison

"I have great respect for the past winners so I’m honored to be in this group. I share this with everyone that I work with at Time Warner Cable SportsChannel," Krause said in a video posted on the SportsChannel’s website.

You can watch Krause’s video here.

The ceremony will take place on Oct. 4.

MANAGEMENT: WDJT-TV CBS 58 has hired former "The Early Show" producer Mark Hanner as the station’s Assistant News Director.

"His experience and knowledge of news is a tremendous asset to our newsroom," News Director Tracy Davis said in a statement.

Hanner most recently worked at WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C.

"I’m excited to be a part of something special happening at CBS 58. I’m looking forward to working with an amazing team bringing viewers quality news," he said. "My family is originally from Milwaukee, so it feels like I am returning home."

DOCUMENTARY: Al Jazeera America announced last week that "Saving Mes Aynak," an award-winning new documentary directed by Brent E. Huffman and produced by Kartemquin Films ("Hoop Dreams"), will air on Sunday at 9 p.m.

The film profiles Afghan archeologist Qadir Temori as his team excavates a historical site located within Afghanistan’s Taliban-controlled Logar Province. The discoveries at Mes Aynak, which date back 5,000 years and cover an area the size of ancient Pompeii, risk being destroyed by an open pit copper mine in development by China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC), a Chinese state-owned mining company. 

"Mes Aynak is the important discovery in my career as an archeologist," says Temori. "We have worked so hard to protect this ancient site, even risking our lives to try to save it."

Mes Aynak is also threatened by its location near the Pakistan border – the frontline in the ongoing war against the Taliban – and its workers face death threats and the risk of landmines planted from Taliban commanders.

"What’s happening now in Mes Aynak is lots of discoveries related to human language including new manuscripts," said Dr. Mark Kenoyer, archeologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. "The destruction of Mes Aynak itself would be like Atlantis going into the ocean and disappearing from history – [we would lose] really important discoveries of coins, terra cotta images, various types of jewelry that were deposited as offerings. These are things which are unparalleled."

Director Brent E. Huffman is one of the most active organizers of a worldwide movement aiming to end the destruction of Mes Aynak.

"The time to act is now," Huffman said. "The world was outraged after the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001 and at the recent destruction by ISIS of the Mosul Museum in Iraq. My fear is that we’ll all gasp in horror when the site at Mes Aynak is permanently destroyed – but won’t do much when there was actually time to save it.

"Here, we aren’t up against religious fundamentalists, but a Chinese corporation. It’s our hope that we can build enough awareness globally to permanently change their mind, and for the government of Afghanistan to find a solution that saves Mes Aynak. We think this is the only way it can be saved now, and the film is the tool that will drive that pressure. I’m grateful to Al Jazeera America for bringing this film to broadcast television to help with that."

Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist

Media is bombarding us everywhere.

Instead of sheltering his brain from the onslaught, Steve embraces the news stories, entertainment, billboards, blogs, talk shows and everything in between.

The former writer, editor and producer in TV, radio, Web and newspapers, will be talking about what media does in our community and how it shapes who we are and what we do.