Compassionate community journalist
Sheri Jones is a reporter and anchor who is respected and beloved by the Mid-Michigan community for her warm, steady and compassionate presence. Mid-Michigan trusts Jones, which is evident because the programs she anchors are top-rated in the Lansing market.
When people are with Jones, her ability to connect with people in her reporting and in the community make each person feel that they are the most important person in the room. Jones has changed journalism in Michigan by humanizing it. An 85-year-old viewer summed it up in a phone call to WLNS on March 16, 2020. She said she wanted to share her appreciation of how calming a person Jones is in delivering news about COVID-19. The caller said she gets nervous when she hears all the panic about the coronavirus, but when she sees Jones at 11 p.m. she understands that everything will be OK, “because Sheri is the calm in a storm.”
Jones’ journalism is based on ferreting out facts and then building stories on those facts. Her innovation and leadership in reporting has made Mid-Michigan safer. Since 1994, Jones has been the spokesperson for Mid-Michigan Crime Stoppers. She has produced segments that have aided in the capture of many of Mid-Michigan’s most wanted fugitives. In 2018, Crime Stoppers had an 80% success rate taking fugitive felons off the street.
Jones is highly awarded for her work in journalism. In 2018, she became the third female anchor in Michigan to be inducted into the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2013, Sheri received the Extraordinary Woman Award from the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2014, Sheri received the Lifetime of Compassion Award from Child and Family Charities. These awards speak to the character and leadership Jones has exhibited throughout her career.