WVU Reed College of Media Magazine 2019

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT I N M A R K E T I N G C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

For You

We’ve all been at tipping points in our careers where it’s time to make a move - for a pay raise, promotion or to stay relevant in an industry that changes quickly. Our graduate degree and certificate programs are entirely online and customizable so you can get just what you need without pausing your career, family or life.

For Your Team

Encouraging continuing education for employees not only confirms your commitment to their success, but also injects new knowledge and skills into your organization. Our graduate degrees and certificate programs are entirely online and customizable so you can retain your talent while they gain expertise in high-demand areas.

THREE ONLINE OPTIONS 1

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M.S. Integrated Marketing Communications

M.S. Data Marketing Communications

Graduate Certificate Programs

IMC unifies all pieces of marketing communications (advertising, public relations, direct marketing, social media, sales promotion, etc.) to cater messaging to an audience that is consistent across all channels.

DMC is an emerging discipline that takes data and applies intelligence and strategic analysis to provide professional communicators with key insights to develop and refine marketing communications activities.

WVU’S PROGRAM:

WVU’S PROGRAM:

More than 25 electives to choose from

First-of-its-kind degree developed by industry insiders

Areas of emphasis available in seven specializations

Personalized attention with small class sizes of 20 students or fewer

What’s New?

These programs are five courses (15 credits) offered completely online.

CHOOSE FROM: Creative Strategy Data Marketing Communications Digital and Social Media Healthcare Communication Higher Education Marketing Integrated Marketing Communications Public Relations Leadership

/ TUITION was recently reduced by 16%. In a recent survey of our graduates, 41% have received more than 25% salary increases since earning their IMC degrees. Now that's ROI. / 10 COURSES: The number of required courses for an M.S. in IMC or DMC was reduced from 11 to 10. / 7 NEW SPECIALIZATIONS: Customize your IMC degree with an area of emphasis in Creative Strategy, Data Marketing Communications, Digital and Social Media, Healthcare Communication, Higher Education Marketing, Management or PR Leadership.

CONTACT US: rminnigh@mail.wvu.edu | (304) 293-6278

LEARN MORE: imc.wvu.edu | dmc.wvu.edu

FOLLOW US: @wvuimc

ADMINISTRATION E. Gordon Gee President West Virginia University Maryanne Reed Provost

CONTENTS FEATURES

Diana Martinelli Dean

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Tricia Petty Assistant Dean for Student and Enrollment Services Steve Urbanski Director of Graduate Studies

Almost Heaven, Always an Adventure

Chad Mezera Assistant Dean of Online Programs MATTHEW SHREVE

EDITORIAL STAFF Erica Lindsay Executive Editor Allyson Kennedy Editor Maura Flynn Writer Ashton Marra Writer Samantha Stocksdale Writer

PHOTOGRAPHY Tyler Channell David Smith

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Cover to Cover John Temple’s work as a journalist and writer goes beyond telling a good story

DAVID SMITH

DESIGN Little Fish Design Company

ADDRESS WVU Reed College of Media P.O. Box 6010 Morgantown, WV 26506-6010 CHANGE OF ADDRESS WVU Foundation P.O. Box 1650 Morgantown, WV 26507-1650

DEPARTMENTS 14 Leading Innovation Missing Voices: Diversifying the News

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18 Student Profiles Neal Stewart and Timmy Eads

Fax: 304-293-4001 Email: info@wvuf.org

40 Faculty News

mediacollege.wvu.edu/ stay_connected DAVID SMITH

42 In Memory 46 Donors and Scholars

02 Message from the Dean

49 Industry Insights Five Lessons in Crisis Communication

04 Year in Review

50 Class Notes

10 For the Social Good The Path to Pineville

52 The Last Word

with Ken Ward

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS Let us know what you want to read and hear about in the annual magazine and other College communications at mediacollege.wvu.edu/survey

A new major and course exposes students to the best of West Virginia

A MESSAGE

From the Dean(s) Every story has a beginning, and every story has an ending. But, it’s the middle part that counts.

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DAVID SMITH

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On the Cover Students in the Adventure Travel Writing and Photography class relax around a campfire during their Spring Break trip to the New River Gorge where they had the opportunity to work with world-class athletes to create multimedia pieces that promote adventure sports, brands and state tourism. Photo compilation by Rylee McNemar and Matthrew Shreve.

When I came to WVU in 1993 as an assistant professor, I could have never imagined the path my career and life would take. I could never have imagined that I would be a member of the faculty of the (then) School of Journalism for more than a quarter of a century. I could never have imagined that I would serve as its dean for 15 of those years. And in my wildest imagination, I could never have imagined being tapped to serve as WVU’s Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs.

But indeed that is the path my life has taken, and I owe it all to WVU and the College of Media – to my talented colleagues on the faculty and staff, to our hard-working and creative students, to our dedicated alumni and friends, and to kind and generous mentors like former deans Chris Martin and Guy Stewart, as well as Professor Paul Atkins, who so often showed me the way.

We can all be proud of the success the College has achieved over the past several decades. We’ve grown our enrollment, revenues and reputation. We’ve updated our curriculum to adapt to the changing media landscape, while retaining our focus on the fundamentals of writing, research,

reporting and ethics. We’ve modernized our facilities and learning labs and we’ve created new undergraduate and graduate programs that respond to the changing needs of our professions.

As my story in the College comes to a close, another story is beginning.

After serving as my associate dean for the past seven-plus years, Dr. Diana Martinelli became the new dean on July 1. As sad as I am to leave the College, I am comforted to know it will rest in Diana’s capable hands. She is a skillful and beloved administrator who will undoubtably take the College to new heights of achievement and excellence.

I’m excited to begin a new chapter in my new role as WVU’s chief academic officer, but I will always be grateful to the College of Media for giving me my start.

Here, I learned how to be a teacher, leader and steward of the College’s programs and people. Here, I learned that despite the many challenges we face, the future is ours to write.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve!

I am ever grateful for the encouragement, support and friendship you have shown me these past 26 years.

Maryanne Reed, Dean

Just as Dean Reed could not have imagined her career trajectory at WVU, I could not have envisioned serving as dean of my alma mater—certainly not when I was a student, a two-time graduate or even when I joined the faculty and accepted the Widmeyer Professorship in Public Relations in 2005.

I am ever grateful to Professor Emeritus Ivan Pinnell (aka “Doc P”), who first approached me when I was a doctoral student, planting the seed for me to one day “come home” to WVU, and to Scott Widmeyer and his parents—Doug and the late, lovely Ruth Ann—whose named professorship helped lure me from another university early in my academic career. In the years since, I’ve experienced much joy and satisfaction as a teacher and mentor of young professionals and future academics, as a strategic communications researcher and as an administrator working alongside Dean Reed and our college’s incredibly talented and dedicated faculty and staff.

As you know, our school lost two giants earlier this year: Professor Paul Atkins and Dr. Guy Stewart, the latter of whom served as dean for 20 years, including

during the time I earned my B.S.J. so many years ago. But the wondrous thing about academics is that their legacies live on through the launching of so many successful careers and lives who continue to “pay it forward” in a multitude of ways— people like Doc P, Scott Widmeyer and so many others who support our students, our college and our professions, which remain vital to our democracy and to spurring social good.

As I settle into the dean’s office in Martin Hall, I am humbled by the opportunity to succeed those who have come before me, and I am grateful to all of the administrators, faculty, staff and students who have left their mark on our hearts and our school over the years. It is a true blessing and honor to be associated with you all, and I am excited to see what we will continue to accomplish together.

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Diana Martinelli, Dean

M.G. ELLIS

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YEAR IN REVIEW

Year In Review PATRIOTISM, POLITICS AND THE PLAYING FIELD

National journalists, commentators and athletes explored the intersection of race and media in the sports arena as part of WVU’s annual Hardesty Festival of Ideas lecture series. Hosted by the College of Media, panelists explored the role of media beyond game coverage and how society’s heightened political division and partisanship affects the industry.

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WVU AND OU TACKLE WOMEN’S INCARCERATION

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WVU’s College of Media and the University of Oklahoma began a two-year reporting and advocacy project surrounding women’s mass incarceration. Funded by a $170,000 grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the project engages students across disciplines – documenting the problem, offering solutions and creating awareness – to improve policy and practice.

TRUTH VS. TROUBLE: COLLEGE OF MEDIA PARTNERS WITH PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING POLITIFACT

From “True” to “Pants on Fire,” student journalists in the College of Media are fact-checking politicians in the wake of the fake news era. Led by PolitiFact’s senior correspondent Lou Jacobson and teaching associate professor Bob Britten, the partnership provides realworld experience for students as they populated content for PolitiFact West Virginia and hold public officials accountable for their words.

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YEAR IN REVIEW ALUMNI AWARDS 2018

The College of Media recognized its outstanding graduates with annual awards and recognition. In 2019, awardees included Bob Kittle (BSJ, 1975), P.I. Reed Achievement Award; Betsy Klebe Dziedzic (BSJ, 1979), Friend of the College Award; Tara Curtis (BSJ, 1993), Commitment to Service Award; and Elaine McMillion Sheldon (BSJ, 2009), Young Alumna Award.

WVU LAUNCHES NEW, COLLABORATIVE MAJOR FOR INTERACTIVE DESIGN

Mountaineers are now able to bridge the gaps between journalism, communication, art and technology with the new Interactive Design for Media major. Throughout the program students take courses from both the College of Media and College of Creative Arts, gaining skills in a variety of mediums and platforms throughout their undergraduate career.

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LINDA ARNOLD INDUCTED INTO WV BUSINESS HALL OF FAME

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Author, speaker and College of Media alumna Linda Arnold (BSJ, 1976) was inducted into the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame in August 2018, celebrating her career as the founder, former chairman and CEO of The Arnold Agency. Established in 2001, the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame recognizes business leaders who have strong ties to the state and have made a significant impact on the business landscape.

COMMENCEMENT 2019

This year’s May Commencement ceremony featured keynote speaker Hilde Lysiak, a 12-year-old journalist and the founder of Orange Street News in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Lysiak spoke to more than 220 College of Media graduates as the youngest commencement speaker ever at WVU and maybe in the country.

Prior to graduation, the Reed College of Media recognized top undergraduate students at its annual Spring Honors Ceremony. Marissa Bailey, Graeson Baker, Allison Fladd, Mateah Kittle, Samantha Stocksdale, Steven Treadway and Olivia VanHorn were tied as the top overall scholars, who earned the highest GPA of the May 2019 undergraduate class.

“We are the generation that can restore the people’s trust. We are the generation of reporters who will choose to have our loyalty to one thing and one thing only— to the truth. To the facts.”

HILDE LYSIAK, founder of Orange Street News

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YEAR IN REVIEW

COLLEGE OF MEDIA HOSTS SPORTS AND ADVENTURE, BRANDED STORYTELLING SUMMER MEDIA CAMPS

Two-dozen high-schoolers from across the country traveled to WVU in July to experience life as a Mountaineer while learning the craft of multimedia storytelling. Campers spent three days immersed in the field, learning from WVU’s top media professionals as they created content for New Student Orientation and Adventure WV. Four of the participants from the eastern panhandle of West Virginia attended on scholarships thanks to a generous donation

by Douglas Widmeyer.

WVU PRSSA HOSTS REGIONAL CONFERENCE

The College of Media’s PRSSA chapter hosted “Wired and Wonderful: The Reach of Digital Storytelling,” which celebrated the importance of integrated marketing communications in reaching audiences in Appalachia and beyond. Attendees learned storytelling strategies, networked with digital leaders and developed skills with emerging technology over the course of three days.

COLLEGE OF MEDIA’S PODCAST ENTERS THIRD SEASON

CREATEATHON 2019

Local nonprofits Homeward Bound, Morgantown Theatre Company and the Rosenbaum Family House were this year’s media marathon clients. More than 50 Mountaineers and mentors stayed awake for 24 hours, giving back to their community, strategizing for the organizations and creating pro bono digital and creative content.

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“Marketing Communications Today” began its third successful season in May. The show highlights emerging trends in the media field, data’s impact on the creative process, new storytelling strategies and features a new guest every episode. Listen to episodes at wvumctoday.com.

WVU COLLEGE OF MEDIA HOSTS FIRST ESPORTS CONFERENCE

In March, WVU hosted the first Esports gaming symposium and master class which exposed 20 Mountaineers to the billiondollar global industry behind organized, multiplayer video game competitions. Led by four industry trailblazers, the event offered a general introduction to the field while attendees teamed up to develop a $1 million Esports marketing campaign. WD | Esports + Entertainment awarded the winning team an all-expense-paid trip to the Collegiate Starleague Grand Finals in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

$125,000 GRANT AIMS TO SUSTAIN THE FUTURE OF WV’S INDEPENDENT, LOCAL NEWSPAPERS

Grant-funded support from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation will allow the College of Media and the West Virginia Press Association to recruit, develop and train the next generation of independent community newspaper owners. From journalism and business training to “internships” at West Virginia newspapers, the three-year program will facilitate successful ownership transitions and modernize operations necessary for today’s local news and consumer demands.

MARYANNE REED, dean

The College of Media hosted its ninth annual Integrate Conference in May. More than 150 professionals from across the country converged at the Media Innovation Center for the three-day conference that explores the future of the marketing communications industry.

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“We believe that a vibrant local news ecosystem is vital to the state, the country and our democracy.

And we have a responsibility to help these news organizations transition to the future.”

INTEGRATE 2019

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FOR THE SOCIAL GOOD

The Path to Pineville W VU MEDIA MAG AZIN E 201 9

WRITTEN BY SAMANTHA STOCKSDALE | PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAVID SMITH

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BrandJRNY’s work with the small West Virginia town has shed new light on the Pineville experience.

Within minutes of meeting Dr. Rita Colistra, you become fully aware of her West Virginia pride, commitment to students and dedication to the public relations profession.

Nobody epitomizes the WVU College of Media mantra of pursuing passion with a sense of purpose quite like she does.

In January 2015, a grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation helped Colistra, an associate professor in the College of Media, combine all those passions into a single, impactful project: BrandJRNY. The goal of BrandJRNY is to revitalize rural, West Virginia communities while giving students a real, client-agency experience. College of Media students and faculty work with community leaders to showcase the best features of the town.

The process involves research, immersion trips, roundtable and community events, brand ideation and development and the creation of logos, ads, social media, websites, t-shirts, billboards and whatever else is needed to put the branding plan into action. The ultimate goals for each community are different, but BrandJRNY’s efforts have led to increased tourism,

All About Community BrandJRNY organizes several events and roundtable discussions throughout the process to encourage community involvement and input.

grant when Colistra recognized the need to create authentic visuals to help bring the brand, and the project’s stories, to life.

An ideal destination for adventure seekers and outdoor enthusiasts, Pineville is nested along the Guyandotte River and is home to the Hatfield-McCoy Trails’ Pinnacle Creek Trailhead, a gathering spot for ATV riders from near and far. It’s a town at the intersection of adventure and Southern hospitality – a unique place in need of a fresh brand that would showcase its charm to the world.

Outsiders to Insiders The first step in any BrandJRNY project is earning trust and buy-in from the community and establishing a branding committee of residents and town leaders who have a vested interest in the process.

These individuals, with time, become brand ambassadors and help see the project through.

On September 13, Colistra, Smith and the BrandJRNY capstone and digital storytelling students made their first three-hour trip from Morgantown to

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Often there are misconceptions about West Virginia and Appalachia that are simply not true. Creating a brand identity allows a community to come together to tell the world what they are really about.”

DR. RITA COLISTRA, associate professor

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improved economic development and a greater sense of community pride.

“Branding is especially important to communities in Appalachia because it allows residents to take control of their own stories. Often, there are misconceptions about West Virginia and Appalachia that are simply not true. Creating a brand identity allows a community to come together to tell the world what they are really about,” Colistra explained. “These projects are especially important to small towns because they often do not have the resources or expertise to take on a project like this.”

In 2018, the American Electric Power Foundation also saw the value in this project and awarded the College a $250,000 educational grant to sustain and expand BrandJRNY’s work to communities within its service area for two more years.

Most recently, the “Colistra Kids,” a term of endearment reserved for her past and present capstone course students, teamed up with College of Media teaching assistant professor David Smith’s brand storytelling class to work with Pineville, West Virginia.

The course was created as a part of the

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FOR THE SOCIAL GOOD

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In the News BrandJRNY students talk about Pineville on WVVA, which covers news in southern West Virginia and northern Virginia.

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Pineville together. But they weren’t going in blindly. The students had done extensive research, and Colistra had visited and vetted the community through the targeted BrandJRNY application process.

During this initial trip, the WVU team hosted a community kick-off event to introduce themselves, the project and the grant to Pineville-area residents and local media outlets. Community members opened up about their hopes and dreams for the place they call “home.”

“I was so excited to visit and learn more about the town’s residents, but the experience didn’t become real for me until I visited Pineville for the first time,” said Kayla Asbury, a BrandJRNY student. “We were met with such kindness and hospitality that I immediately felt at home.”

The strong sense of community and pride was infectious. Pineville was no longer just a place on the map or a Google search term. It had a personality and a flavor that radiated through the students. It was their town now, too.

As the weeks passed, the WVUPineville relationship strengthened. There

were weekly meetings – in-person or by teleconference – with the newly founded Pineville Community Branding Committee.

Together, this empowered team hosted community events and organized creative workshops, roundtables and surveys.

But, to really understand a place, you have to fully immerse yourself in the community’s culture. Colistra worked with members of the branding committee to plan an immersion trip where students lived like locals. They toured the geological landmark Castle Rock, explored the Guyandotte river, visited businesses and experienced the thrills of ATV riding along the HatfieldMcCoy Trail System with Pineville residents and Mayor Mike Kodak.

The Colistra Kids were gaining a whole new understanding of what it meant to be a Pinevillian. They learned about the land from ATV guides and shared campfire stories with David “Bugs” Stover, a local storyteller and the Wyoming County Circuit Clerk. They were making friends in an unexpected place that was offering a truly unique and impactful professional experience, and the community members

were gaining real advocates in the northern part of the state.

“They’re coming down from Morgantown and they’re excited about our town. It makes the locals stand back and go ‘gosh, maybe we should be excited,’” Jill Hendrick, a local business owner, said.

Before long, Pineville-BrandJRNY events started with hugs and ended with students reminding locals to “tell Bugs we say hello.” Local business owners no longer questioned the team’s intentions but instead welcomed them and showed them the ins-and-outs of their store operations.

But, while the relationship-building was an integral part of the process, the BrandJRNY team still had to prove their understanding of the town and its needs through the development of a brand.

The “Brand” Part of BrandJRNY When you think of branding, visual elements likely come to mind: color schemes, logos and slogans. But the visual elements were just the beginning of a rebrand that culminated with a nearly 450-page

Experiencing Pineville BrandJRNY students spent a lot of time getting to know Pineville locals and even had the opportunity to go four-wheeling on the Hatfield-McCoy trail.

advertising and a mix of social, digital and traditional media to launch the brand.

On February 26, the team hosted a Brand Launch event at Pineville Elementary School, where they finally revealed the brand to the public. Locals gathered in the lobby and filled the halls with whispers of anticipation.

As the doors opened, more than 100 community members flooded the gymnasium and experienced the newly defined, Pineville brand for the first time. With new Pineville t-shirts on their backs and branded stickers in hand, the community buzzed with excitement.

“There’s always been a sense of pride associated with the people that live here.

And I’ve been a Pinevillian all of my life, so I’ve always been proud of what I call home,” one community member said. “And I think this [brand] really showcases home.”

Christy Laxton, lead of the Pineville Community Branding Committee, agreed.

“Having this opportunity has brought a lot of new, positive energy [to the town] and is something Pineville wouldn’t have been able to do on its own.”

Colistra, Smith and the BrandJRNY students left a lasting impression on Pineville, West Virginia, in the form of a timeless brand and unforgettable bond.

Mayor Kodak validated that bond during the students’ final presentation in May when he presented the BrandJRNY team with a plaque that deemed them honorary Pineville citizens for life.

“We helped them drive positive change in their community and helped them realize a better present and brighter future for their town while maintaining their stories and roots,” Colistra added. “We told their authentic stories, and in the end, we helped to bring the community together.”

Samantha Stocksdale (BSJ, 2019) was the brand manager for BrandJRNY for both the fall 2018 and spring 2019 semesters. She will begin the M.S. in Data Marketing Communications program at WVU in fall 2019 and will continue working as a graduate assistant for Dr. Rita Colistra and BrandJRNY.

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campaign book that combines all the knowledge from research and one-on-one interactions into a comprehensive guide that dictates all of the creative decisions.

“The goal was to give the community a cohesive identity that is authentic to their place and their people, while also providing them with the tools needed to maintain and promote that identity long term,” Colistra said.

Throughout the branding process, the BrandJRNY team never lost sight of the relationship component. Each time content was developed, options were presented to the Pineville Community Branding Committee for feedback. But because Colistra, Smith and the students had spent countless hours with the Pineville community and understood the town and its people, approvals came quickly.

The team continued to develop the campaign plan by establishing measurable goals and a detailed roadmap to navigate through various strategic communications elements to implement the new brand.

And after nearly seven months of research, strategy and creative thinking, they developed a plan that relied on storytelling,

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Missing Voices: Diversifying the News WRITTEN BY ASHTON MARRA | PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAVID SMITH

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Diversity is hard work.

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That’s how Dr. Meredith Clark, lead investigator for the annual Newsroom Diversity Survey from the American Society of News Editors, described her work to a group of some 60 people from across the country who gathered at West Virginia University in October.

Each year, Clark’s survey measures the racial and ethnic makeup of America’s newsrooms and has consistently found that minority groups go underrepresented for any number of reasons — exclusive hiring and recruiting practices and a lack of support for working journalists of color among them.

But the group that gathered at WVU’s Media Innovation Center set out to change that. Teams of professional journalists and journalism students worked together to find real-world solutions during the social hackathon titled “Missing Voices: Diversifying the News.”

“A hackathon is a really useful, productive way to get people to problem solve,” Dana Coester, MIC Creative Director and associate professor in the Reed College of Media, said. “We’re creating a collaborative, immersive environment where these teams had to really sit with each other and have difficult conversations to get to a solution.”

Each participant was assigned to one of six teams made up of students Nationwide Representation The Hackathon drew students and presenters from universities and organizations across the country, like Dawaune Hayes from North Omaha Information Support Everyone (NOISE).

“ Symposium Speakers Marjorie Fuller, the director of WVU’s Center for Black Culture and Research, and Dr. Michelle Farrier, dean of the Florida A&M School of Journalism and Graphic Design, were two participants in the symposium portion of the hackathon.

At WVU, we have been really assertive about making sure that rural voices are present at media tables and are working to make sure that our region is a larger part of the national consciousness.

DANA COESTER, MIC Creative Director and associate professor

issues [experienced by both professionals and students] and started to construct the challenges out of that.”

Grant’s challenges called on teams to create a number of physical materials they could immediately put to use in their newsrooms, whether professional or student-run.

Over the course of about eight hours, he challenged participants to create projects or initiatives that would help newsrooms hire more diverse staff, design a workshop, training or resource materials to help journalists better understand marginalized communities, or write a diversity handbook for newsroom leaders.

Diara Townes, a student at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, helped her group create a diversity reference tool with multimedia elements to help newsrooms better support journalists of color and also educate white journalists

about the minority communities they are often called upon to cover.

Her group set out the initial designs for a web app that would include an introductory video explaining why language is important when covering minority populations, a searchable database of relevant definitions and a quiz that would help professional journalists identify their own biases from the start of their reporting experience.

“We tried to break down what it means for a journalist or a reporter to support a community so people have an opportunity to not only understand their biases and perspectives, but then apply it within their newsroom,” Townes said.

Although this was not the first hackathon hosted by the Reed College of Media, it was the first focused on finding solutions to a social problem. Previous events were centered on empowering women to participate and lead in the technology industry, but those hackathons

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from Emerson College, Northwestern University, Morgan State University, the City University of New York, UC Berkeley, the University of New Mexico and WVU. They were guided through the weekend’s challenges by media professionals from Scalawag Magazine, the Maynard Institute, the Democracy Fund, Public Radio International and Rewire.News who served as mentors and teammates.

Teams first worked together to choose their diversity challenge from a list presented by the hackathon’s facilitator Michael Grant, the experience design editor for the Center for Investigative Reporting and a recent John S. Knight Journalism fellow.

“One of the really great things about how we went about creating challenges for the students was that we surveyed them to ask about the issues they see [in newsroom diversity],” Grant said, “but we also included folks who worked professionally in the space of diversity. We saw this overlap of

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Teamwork Rochelle Ford, Dean of the Elon University School of Communications, shares some Appalachian cuisine with her team. Unlike the previous competitive Hackathon models, the Diversifying the News event focused on creative collaboration.

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were traditional competitive models, with teams presenting their products or business designs to a team of judges.

October’s diversity hackathon removed the competitive piece of the model so that teams could instead focus on creative, collaborative solutions.

“I felt like I had the freedom to ask difficult questions of my teammates about what I can do to support journalists of color and journalists who identify as queer or gender fluid in newsrooms,” said WVU graduate student and West Virginia native Emily Martin. “But at the same time, I was given the opportunity I needed to explain how those same teammates can support journalists from rural areas, like Appalachia.”

By bringing participants from across the country to the heart of the Appalachian region, many experienced the diverse culture and heritage of Appalachia for the first time. One of the goals of the event was to expand participants’ view of a place that Coester said is often misrepresented or left out of national media conversations.

“At WVU, we have been really assertive about making sure that rural voices are present at media tables and are working to make sure that our region is a larger part of the national consciousness through projects like 100 Days in Appalachia,” Coester said, referring to the digital news publication incubated at the Reed College of Media’s Media Innovation Center that started as a response to the national media’s coverage of the region during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

“It’s really important to us that we are leading the problem solving for our region instead of other people doing that problem solving for us and we do that by authoring our own stories, much like the diverse group of student and professional participants wanted to author their our solutions in this space,” Coester added.

The hackathon began with a “Welcome to Appalachia Dinner” the night before teams began their work, providing participants with an immersive experience led by farmer, chef and 100 Days in Appalachia Food and Culture Editor Mike Costello.

Costello served the group a four-course meal of food steeped in local culture.

Between each course, he shared the historical meaning and heritage of what was on their plates.

When people come together for a meal, Costello said, they’re more open to having a genuine conversation with the people sitting across the table from them.

“I think sometimes the issue of diversity in Appalachia is not told because people here don’t feel empowered enough to tell their own story. I think that’s because we’ve been told both from the outside and the inside of the region what our story is,” Costello said. “That’s why it’s so important for us to try to turn narratives about shame, desperation and poverty into narratives about innovation and ingenuity [through food]. People find a lot of pride in and they find a lot of power in.”

The dinner served as a scene setter for participants, Coester said. It allowed them to learn more about the culture of Appalachia as a region, but also get them thinking and

Welcome to Appalachia The hackathon began with a dinner led by Mike Costello (below), a farmer, chef and the food and culture editor for 100 Days in Appalachia.

“

DR. MICHELLE FERRIER, dean Florida A&M School of Journalism and Graphic Communication

Communication, said she doesn’t see much progress being made.

“As we look to Kerner 50 years later and where we are in terms of diversifying our newsrooms, we haven’t moved very much in terms of [ensuring] that we’re providing diverse voices,” Ferrier said.

“Right now, we desperately need our people who are innovators thinking about the future of the nexus of journalism and technology, diversity, equity and inclusion issues [and] thinking about how we’re going to [design] products, distribution and content that works to serve those communities that have not had good news and information provided for them,” she added.

Those innovators, Ferrier said, are our young journalists and journalism students.

That’s why the resulting ideas and models created at the hackathon didn’t stay within WVU’s walls. Instead, those ideas were compiled into a comprehensive report shared with the news industry.

“Our goal was to take all of the solutions that were incubated at the hackathon and see how we can collaboratively move those forward,” Coester said. “Much like the Kerner Report called on the nation to take action in the diversity space, we want to call on our fellow media professionals to stand up and start including those voices that have for so long gone unheard.”

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talking about diversity and inclusion beyond issues of race and ethnicity.

“We wanted to make it a really welcoming experience, but we also used it as a way to for everyone to enter conversations about bridging divides and problem solving together from the start,” Coester said.

The hackathon came on the heels of Morgan State University College of Global Journalism and Communication’s Kerner Plus 50 Symposium, a panel of which was hosted at the MIC and was attended by hackathon participants.

Commissioned by Pres. Lyndon Johnson during the nation’s Civil Rights era and released in 1968, the Kerner Commission compiled a report that found the country was quickly diverging into two separate societies divided by race. And it called for a more diverse media to better represent the struggles, concerns and aspirations of communities of color.

But decades later, symposium panelist Dr. Michelle Ferrier, dean of the Florida A&M School of Journalism and Graphic

Right now, we desperately need our people ... thinking about how we’re going to [design] products, distribution and content that works to serve those communities that have not had good news and information provided for them.

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STUDENT PROFILES

Tapping Into the Beer Industry

WRITTEN BY MAURA FLYNN

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Neal Stewart on his IMC journey as an established master of marketing

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“My job was to remove staples from documents so they could be electronically scanned,” Neal Stewart (M.S. IMC, 2018) said.

“Seriously, my job was to remove staples.”

Stewart has come a long way since his temp job with Texas Workers Compensation in 2000. Now VP of Marketing at Deschutes Brewery, the St. Louis native has spent nearly 20 years in the beer marketing business — and it all began with Pabst Brewing Company.

In 2000, Pabst was experiencing its 23rd straight year of declining sales. But anything was better than being a stapleremover, so Stewart submitted his application for a marketing job with the brewing company. After a couple of interviews with no offer, he was ready to pack his bags and move home to St. Louis. When Pabst Brewing Company finally called him up, neither party knew quite how the partnership would change both of their trajectories.

Stewart was eventually promoted to manager of the company’s flagship — and struggling — brand, Pabst Blue Ribbon. PBR’s most successful year was 1977 when they produced 18 million barrels of beer, but over time they lost 90 percent of those sales.

At the brand’s low point in 2001, the remaining customers hailed largely from Portland, Oregon.

PBR’s typical consumer base of older men was giving way to a new clientele of anti-mainstream consumers (hipsters) that wanted a $1-per-can beer. When Blitz Beer went out of business, bars in Portland replaced it with PBR, and Stewart saw this as the perfect opportunity to turn things around.

So, why did hipsters like PBR so much? “They could define what it meant,” Stewart said. “The mission became clear: replicate what was happening in Portland around the rest of the country.”

And how do you do that without upsetting the anti-marketing, hipster consumer base? You hire them as field marketing representatives to do it for you. This was influencer marketing before “influencer marketing” became the social phenomenon that it is today.

Stewart hired hipster PBR drinkers, schooled them on the beer business and sent them into bars in select cities to discretely win over the customers and the bar owners. By 2006, PBR had become one of the fastest-growing brands and had nearly doubled all sales from the weakest point in 2001.

Just as brewing technology advances, so does the demand for good advertising and storytelling. According to Stewart, the

companies that always “win” are the ones that develop unique ways to share their brand with their teams, distributors, retailers and consumers.

And that’s different for each company Stewart has worked for – from large conglomerates to small craft breweries.

Just as PBR catered to the individuality of hipsters in the early 2000s, each of Stewart’s approaches to brand marketing comes from an equally unique source, considering three overarching “truths” at the forefront of decision making: brand truth, consumer truth and cultural truth. Stewart has been able to define those truths and find a special way to promote each company he’s worked for through a variety of different mediums.

At Dogfish Head, Stewart’s marketing team leveraged founder Sam Calagione’s personable demeanor to connect with the audience through a series of online videos. In one, he discusses the company’s innovative, step-by-step approach to brewing. In another, Calagione takes an in-depth look at Dogfish Head’s collaboration with The Flaming Lips where they created, “Dragons & YumYums,” the first beer to have its own set of theme songs.

Rainier Beer, a popular Seattle-based beer from the 70s, made a comeback by returning to the kitschy commercials that feature walking Rainier beer bottles and the iconic glowing red “R.” Stewart’s team appealed to their customers’ nostalgia, which increased engagement and, in turn, increased sales.

Stewart began working for Flying Dog Brewery in March 2006, the same exact month that Twitter was founded. They rode the Twitter wave, becoming one of the top 20 brands on the platform across all industries. Flying Dog’s sales increased 15 percent that year and 25 percent the next.

Stewart has faced beer branding challenges, as well. “Every brand requires a different strategy,” he said. “The beer business tends to be a bit of a copycat industry, and I’ve seen several brands try to mimic something that’s working for another brand only to find it wasn’t authentic to theirs and fail.”

While Stewart was making his mark on the evolving brewing industry, the marketing and advertising fields were evolving, too – and the need for a master’s degree intensified. “Most of my training has come on the job,” Stewart said. “It always bothered me not to have a graduate degree because it could prevent me from maximizing my career potential.”

WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL MOTTO? It’s not so much a motto, but I really believe in Occam’s Razor, which is a philosophical principle that states something along the lines of “if there is a simpler way to do something, it’s probably the right choice.”

WHAT IS ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE YOURSELF? Disruptive - this has been true for a long time!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BEER? I don’t really say that I have a “favorite beer” because it depends on what I’m doing and what kind of mood I’m in. I prefer to say that I have a “go-to beer” and that tends to evolve over time.

Right now my “go-to beer” is called Lil’ Squeezy, which is brewed here at Deschutes. We call it a “Juicy Pale Ale” because it’s hoppy but not as high of an ABV (alcohol by volume) as most IPAs. It’s also a gluten-reduced beer but you would never know it. It’s really good.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CAMPAIGN THAT YOU’VE WORKED ON? My favorite campaign is the RainierVision campaign that I covered in my Integrate presentation. I loved working on that campaign for several reasons. First of all, I really love the Rainier brand because it has such a rich history of iconic advertising. Second, every element was integrated and creative. From the website to the advertising to the media plan to the PR, everything was connected and maximized the budget. Finally, I loved the people who worked on this campaign. Fifteen years later, I’m still good friends with many of them.

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Stewart began studying Integrated Marketing Communications in 2016, taking electives that centered around creative strategy. When thinking of the most important lesson he’s learned throughout the program, he believes it is the thorough understanding of goals, objectives, strategies and tactics.

“IMC plays a huge role in the changes to the beer industry because brand building, marketing, internal communications, external communications and everything else in the WVU IMC curriculum is what will separate the successful breweries from the other ones,” Stewart said.

Two decades ago, there were nearly 2,000 American breweries and that has since grown to 8,000 — more than existed before prohibition. Stewart recently packed up and moved across the country to work for Deschutes, a mid-size brewery that has to compete with that growth. But he’s up for the challenge, armed with an IMC master’s degree.

“In our business, we just call it marketing,” Stewart said. “The term ‘Integrated Marketing Communication’ is not widely used but it should be because integration across functions, customers and consumer touchpoints is so incredibly important.

“Consumers will continue to love local brands and the large international conglomerates will continue to invest in smaller craft breweries. In the past couple of years, everything has changed, and brewers are beginning to understand the importance of IMC.”

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ASPECT OF YOUR JOB/THIS INDUSTRY? The beer industry never stops evolving. Right when you think you have it figured out, consumer behavior changes or some sort of new technology emerges. I also love being involved in new product development, which is a function I played a role in at Dogfish and now at Deschutes. Innovation is critical right now because consumers want to experiment with new brands and are demanding more from their beer. That’s a challenge, but with every challenge comes an opportunity.

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STUDENT PROFILES

More than a Mascot College of Media student embodies the WVU spirit as the 2019-2020 Mountaineer.

For many college students, summer break is a time to relax and In all, Eads will attend more than 250 events outside of University recharge, but College of Media rising junior Timmy Eads didn’t athletic functions during his tenure. His predecessor, Trevor Keiss, have a single day off. attended approximately 400 events in total.

Instead, the Buffalo, West Virginia native donned custom Eads formally accepted the responsibilities of the Mountaineer buckskins and a coonskin cap while carrying a powder horn and on April 11 in a “Passing of the Rifle” ceremony at the Erickson a black powder rifle, representing West Virginia University as the Alumni Center and will continue in his role until the Gold-Blue Mountaineer mascot. football game next spring. He was chosen by a committee The Mountaineer has been WVU’s official mascot since 1934, of faculty, staff and students who based their decision upon and Eads is the 66th student to fill the role. And while being the an application, essay and interview, followed by a cheer-off Mountaineer is a once-in-a-lifetime experience few have the competition, where the candidates interact with fans held during a opportunity to experience, it is also hard work and much more time WVU men’s basketball game in the spring. commitment than a full-time job. Eads drove thousands of miles “Timmy did a phenomenal job in every step of the process, and across the Mountain State to more than 150 events to act as a we felt he represented all of the core values of a true Mountaineer. parade marshal and visiting elementary schools, hospitals, rotary You can tell how much he loves West Virginia and WVU as soon clubs, day camps, sporting events and much more. as you meet him,” said Jayson Hamrick, WVU J.D. candidate and Eads does feel pressure to be at his best. Being a representative member of the Mountaineer Mascot Selection Committee. “We of the University, as well as the state, is a significant responsibility. have no doubt that he will represent WVU and our great state He is not permitted to endorse any specific product or business as terrifically over his year as Mountaineer.” the Mountaineer and always has to be aware Prior to his role as the Mountaineer, Eads of his surroundings and how he conducts was an undergraduate communications himself. “I’m one of the biggest public relations assistant for the WVU Extension Services Including Eads, four College of representatives for WVU. Everyone associates Small Farm Center, as well as an executive Media students have served me with the University, and rightfully so,” said board member of the Mountaineer Maniacs, an as the Mountaineer.

Eads. “It’s my duty to enhance WVU’s image, organization that supports Mountaineer athletic and I take that very seriously.” teams and helps promote good sportsmanship As a public relations major at the College and Mountaineer pride and tradition. of Media, Eads feels-well prepared during In high school, Eads was involved with his outreach efforts as the Mountaineer. At Future Farmers of America (FFA), which each event Eads attends, he gives a speech inspired him to pursue public relations at MICHAEL G. RUSSELL and must adapt his script to fit his audience, WVU. FFA gave him the opportunity to (BSJ, 1985) regularly applying the skills and knowledge he participate in marketing competitions and has gained in the classroom. public speaking, which sparked an interest in “When I think of the reason I wanted to content creation and marketing. He is a 2018 be the Mountaineer, it all comes down to me recipient of the American FFA Degree, one of wanting to give back to WVU and to the state the organization’s highest honors awarded to of West Virginia as a whole. Never did I think less than one percent of members.

STUART WOLPERT that it could have such a huge impact on what This summer, he’s most looking forward to (BSJ, 1975) my potential future would be,” said Eads. “The giving back to the community that has given truth is that this is helping me better myself him so much. every single time I put the buckskins on. It’s “Being able to give back this summer helping me better myself for a future career, means everything to me. This state and and that’s something I’m very thankful for.”

University have provided me with so many Due to the demands and time opportunities over my life,” said Eads. “To be NATALIE TENNANT commitment on the students chosen, the able to represent them both daily all over is an (BSJ, 1991) became the first female to Mountaineer Advisory Council has imposed a experience that I value tremendously. I can’t serve as the Mountaineer in 1990. one-year term limit on serving as the mascot. say enough how incredible it’s already been.”

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DID YOU KNOW?

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WRITTEN BY ALLY KENNEDY

FAVORITE MOUNTAINEER TRADITION? Hearing the crowd sing Country Roads after a win.

PERSONAL MOTTO? Look at everything as an opportunity to get better.

ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE YOURSELF? Passionate HOW MUCH DOES THE RIFLE WEIGH? Honestly, I have no clue. It felt heavy at first, but now I’m used to it.

FAVORITE PART OF BEING THE MOUNTAINEER? Definitely the people.

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PHOTO CREDIT: BRIAN PERSINGER, OFFICIAL PHOTO SESSION AT LONG POINT TRAIL, FAYETTEVILLE, WV

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO AS THE MOUNTAINEER? Leading the Mountaineers on the field for the first home football game.

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Regardless of where you’re from or what you do, West Virginia University has a way of pulling you in, exposing you to the wonders of the state and making you feel at home. This is especially true for the students, athletes and alumna who were brought together by a unique College of Media course.

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ROB RAGO

W R I TTEN BY ERI C A L I NDSAY

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KAYLA STARC

HER

Welcome to West Virginia Magdalena Lewy Boulet is an ultra endurance trail runner from California who competes all over the world. WVU College of Media students were there for her first run in West Virginia. Through the Adventure Travel Writing and Photography course, they used multimedia storytelling to create athlete profiles, gear promotions and state tourism features.

VICTOR WILLIAMS

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In March, 13 students piled into three vans and hit I-79 to spend spring break at the New River Gorge in southern West Virginia. Sophomore Kayla Starcher is originally from Rainelle, just 30 minutes from the gorge, but Victor Williams, a senior from New York, had never been farther south than Morgantown. And, neither of them had been whitewater rafting. The Adventure Travel Writing and Photography class was about to change that.

Led by Teaching Associate Professor Emily Corio, these students were experiencing the best of West Virginia for the first time. Not only would they be hiking and rafting through a heavenly slice of Appalachia, but they would capture it with cutting-edge photo and video equipment and turn it into creative multimedia stories, including a written piece, a short video and a portfolio of photographs.

“I was apprehensive at first because I’m not a huge outdoor sports person, but I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and see where this class would take me,” said Starcher. “I got hands-on experience with GoPros, DSLR cameras and audio equipment. We spent time learning different photo and video concepts and styles and I was able to really refine my skills.”

Corio developed the adventure media course in 2014 and has travelled with students to Canaan Valley, West Virginia, and Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. This was the second trip to the New River Gorge.

“One of my favorite things is when we go to these places in West Virginia, and the students who have lived here their entire lives say, ‘I just fell in love with my state,’” Corio said.

But this trip to the gorge was a little different. While the class typically focuses on tourism and travel stories, this year Corio partnered with Innovator-in-Residence Lauren O’Connor (BSJ, 2008; MS IMC, 2016) to incorporate adventure athletes and brands.

O’Connor has spearheaded marketing efforts for small and large organizations including Hewlett-Packard (HP), Trigger Point Performance and GU Energy Labs, where she met Magdalena Lewy Boulet, the company’s lead on Innovation & Product Development. In addition to her day job, Boulet is an Olympic marathoner-turned-ultra endurance trail runner and O’Connor encouraged her to participate in this unique course alongside three West Virginia-based adventure athletes: mountain bikers Sue Haywood and Ian McDonald and stand-up paddle boarder Melanie Seiler Hames.

Boulet travelled across the country from California to meet students at the New River. Five months later she would go on to be the top female finisher of the Leadville Trail 100 Run, finishing the 100-mile ultramarathon through the Rocky Mountains in 20 hours, 18 minutes and six seconds. But on the Friday of spring break, she was working with WVU College of Media students.

MEREDITH PAVLOVICH

AUTUMN COLLINS

—Lauren O’Conner

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“When in your college career would you ever find yourself living with professional athletes in a cabin in the woods in West Virginia? This is truly one of the only classes in the country that provides this view into the global, multibillion-dollar outdoor recreation and sport industries.”

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A First Time for Everything Students from 30 miles down the road joined students from as far away as Senegal, Africa, for the adventure trip to the New River Gorge where many of them experienced whitewater rafting for the first time.

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KRISTIAN DAVIS

MIA EDMUNDSON

ROB RAGO

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Whitewater Surfing You may have heard of stand-up paddle boarding, but did you know that athletes like Melanie Seiler Hames SUP in whitewater?

Hames and the students balanced their adventure activities with interviews and lifestyle photos at locations like Cathedral Cafe in Fayetteville, West Virginia (right).

“This class presents a unique opportunity for our students to help tell the rest of the world about these incredible untold stories in the state.”

KHADIJA-AWA DIOP

—Emily Corio

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“We brought in professional athletes who’ve had these incredible careers,” O’Connor said. “When in your college career would you ever find yourself living with professional athletes in a cabin in the woods in West Virginia? This is truly one of the only classes in the country that provides this view into the global, multibillion-dollar outdoor recreation and sport industries.”

Corio, who has been a faculty member with the College of Media since 2011, understands the unique opportunity for WVU to have a hold in this educational arena. In addition to this course, she helped develop the new major in Sports and Adventure Media. And, she brings more than a decade of prior journalism experience into her classes.

Before joining the College of Media, she was Assistant News Director for the statewide public television and radio network in West Virginia where she reported and produced stories for radio, television and the web. She’s always had a passion for the outdoors and has won awards for her work on environmental issues.

“West Virginia is a state with abundant natural resources for adventure recreation and tourism, but these are hidden gems in a lot of ways. This class presents a unique opportunity for our students to help tell the rest of the world about these incredible untold stories in the state,” Corio said. “We have students who want to have a media career in tourism or travel. Through this class, students were exposed to a level of professional experience they hadn’t experienced elsewhere.”

Williams, who graduated in May with a B.S. in Journalism, is one of those students. He’s back home in New York now, but plans to move to Japan to pursue travel writing and photography by the end of the year.

“I took this class because it’s verbatim what I hope to do in journalism – adventure travel writing and photography,” Williams said. “This class was the highlight of my college career. Every day was different – we got to explore every sport and talk to every athlete – and then we all came together in a cabin at the end of the day to show and critique our work.”

Those cabin critiques allowed the small, but diverse, group of students to bond with Corio, O’Connor, the athletes and each other. There were sophomores, juniors, seniors and even a master’s student. Students who grew up just down the road gathered around the coffee table with students from as far away as Senegal, South Africa.

“I think that’s the beautiful thing about WVU,” Starcher said. “It attracts people who’ve grown up and lived in West Virginia their entire lives and also people who come to WVU from all over the world. It brings everyone together and this trip was an awesome representation of that.”

And their work was just as varied. There were videos that depicted the whitewater rafting experience, driving

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RNER ANDREA WA

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MATTHEW BEIK

RYLEE MCNEMAR

down the windy country roads and exploring the small town of Fayetteville. There were photos that focused in on brands like GU, HOKA footwear and Ibis Cycles with more of an advertising angle. And there were written stories that explored the unique backgrounds of the athletes.

“Something about Sue Haywood really spoke to me,” Starcher added. “She’s a very independent woman who owns her own business that teaches others about mountain biking. I wanted my story to focus on how women in Appalachia fight stigmas and how Sue uses mountain biking to encourage other women and children and even herself to keep going.”

Then there’s McDonald who, at 12 years old, won the 2014 USA Cycling National Cross Country Mountain Bike Championship for his age group. He took the students through his home town of Oak Hill, West Virginia, and to a trailhead where he and Haywood rode over the same section of rocky trail until each student was able to get the perfect shot. That same day, the class headed to the river to catch Seiler-Hames “surfing” the Gauley, running through rapids and dropping down waterfalls while standing on a paddle board.

All of this was happening in a state that often finds itself at the bottom of rankings, through a university frequently pegged as a “party school.”

“This class is really a testament to It’s programs like this course and the new major in Sports the fact that you can do anything you and Adventure Media that want to do through the WVU Media will change that perception.

It’s faculty like Corio and College. If you have an idea, they’re alumni like O’Connor who going to encourage you to pursue it.” will continue to create new experiences for our students.

—Lauren O’Conner And it’s students like the 13 who spent spring break at the New River Gorge who will be forever changed by the College of Media, and who will share what and how they learned with the future generations of students. And eventually, the rest of the world will know what we already do: West Virginia and WVU is the place to go for adventure media education.

“It’s so important and critical to expose students to unique opportunities in the real world that they maybe never thought about,” O’Connor said. “If I can have even a sliver of the impact on these students that my mentors at the College had on me, I’ll be thrilled. This class is really a testament to the fact that you can do anything you want to do through the WVU Media College. If you have an idea, they’re going to encourage you to pursue it.”

RYLEE MACNEMAR

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MATEAH KITTLE

Ride Along Ian McDonald and Sue Haywood rode over rocky terrain and through shallow streams, allowing students to capture what it’s like to ride alongside competitive mountain bikers.

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TO 32

John Temple is sitting in an apartment in Las Vegas with a group of people he barely knows. They are wary of him — his motives, his identity, his intent. But Temple has a job to do; he’s gathering information for his latest book. He can’t just leave when things get uncomfortable.

W RITTEN BY ALLY KENNEDY

John Temple’s work as a journalist and writer goes beyond telling a good story

All of a sudden, the group stops talking and asks

recently broke that the Federal Bureau of

to see Temple’s driver’s license. They quiz Temple

Investigation had created a fake documentary

about the information on his identification,

company called Longbow Productions, where

making him recite his address, date of birth,

undercover agents had posed as journalists to

height, weight. But something doesn’t match

conduct interviews.

lenses, and he doesn’t have glasses on. They are suspicious. And they have a right to be.

Is Temple a journalist like he says? Or is he really an FBI agent?

Trust is an important commodity when you’re

Identifying with the patriot movement,

a journalist. And veteran investigative reporter

the group is already distrustful of the federal

John Temple knows that trust is earned — not

government, and even more so since news

easily, and sometimes, not at all.

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up. Temple’s license says he needs corrective

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The standoff that started it all Five-years ago, alarming images were circulating

of people can live distinctly different realities

flat on his belly on a highway bridge near the

employs an intriguing cast of characters in a

of the most shocking photos depicted a man lying U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s base camp in

Bunkerville, Nevada. He’s wearing a tactical vest,

dramatic series of events to convey this notion.

“One of the goals of the book is to show

what it was like to be in the media bubble that

jersey barriers. His weapon is trained on a group

took advantage of that. Their actions don’t seem

of federal agents overseeing the roundup of cattle belonging to rancher Cliven Bundy.

This image and surrounding events stuck

with Temple — so much so, that he decided to write a book about it. “Up in Arms: How the

Bundy Family Hijacked Public Lands, Outfoxed

the Bundys and followers were in, and how they

quite as outlandish if you understand what their reality was,” Temple said. “If you’re getting your news from mainstream news sources, then your

reality is totally different than if you’re taking in information from patriot movement sources.”

In all, it took Temple about two years to

the Federal Government, and Ignited America’s

research and write the book — a shorter time

for the West Virginia University Reed College of

timely, and he wanted to use this story to try to

Patriot Movement” is the fourth nonfiction book Media journalism professor and its recent release is getting a lot of attention.

The book chronicles Cliven and Ammon

Bundy’s 2014 standoffs with the federal

government over land-grazing fees in Nevada, as

well as Ammon’s transformation from successful businessman to the leader of the armed

insurgency that took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon for 41 days in 2016.

Temple found that no mainstream media

outlets have contextualized all the factors —

religious, political, environmental and economic — that set the stage for these events, so he set out to accomplish that.

“I had other books in mind, but the Bundy’s

than any of his others. But the subject matter was shed some light on the divisions and information silos happening in current-day United States.

He sometimes spent 10 hours a day just writing.

He also spent countless hours reviewing lengthy

court documents and records, assessing the major media coverage and viewing dozens of cell phone videos uploaded to the internet by members of

the Bundy family and their followers. Altogether, he catalogued upwards of 1,000 documents

and interviewed nearly 50 people, including the

Bundys themselves, their friends, supporters and militia members. For Temple, being in the field and interviewing these extraordinary people is the most exciting part of book writing.

“I find it stressful sometimes but ultimately

story felt so timely and related to all of the civil

exhilarating to me to go somewhere completely

said Temple. “It felt like it was the first big

talk to people who are totally different from

discontent that our country is experiencing,” W VU MEDIA MAG AZIN E 201 9

based on where they’re getting their news. Temple

and he’s aiming a Saiga .223 semiautomatic rifle that is wedged between the gap of two concrete

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At the heart of the book is the idea that groups

media outlets and gaining national attention. One

public event that awoke mainstream Americans

to the idea that people were really unhappy with the federal government, and I thought that was worth exploring.”

different than my usual surroundings and to

the people I’m usually around,” said Temple.

“Invariably, you tend to realize that most people just want to be heard and have someone tell their story.”

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D I V I S I O N

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Uncovering the truth From the patriot movement to the opioid epidemic,

groups, including addiction counselors,

These are largely based on his areas of interest and

medical students and law enforcement. He

Temple’s books have covered a variety of topics.

have all fallen into the true crime genre. But the

journalist in Temple has an obligation to address

bigger, overarching themes that are important and relevant to the American public.

Temple’s three other nonfiction books include

medical professionals, lawyers, journalists, has also been featured by numerous media outlets including the Washington Post,

Huffington Post, USA Today, CSPAN, Bustle, the Daily Best and Variety.

Temple’s work has even become a resource

“American Pain: How a Young Felon and His Ring

for lawmakers. U.S. Rep. David McKinley of

Epidemic,” “The Last Lawyer: The fight to Save

Temple to question acting Drug Enforcement

of Doctors Unleashed American’s Deadliest Drug Death Row Inmates” and “Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner’s Office” – all of which have shed light on current events.

“American Pain,” Temple’s most

successful endeavor thus far, is the true story of twin brothers Chris

and Jeff George who built the largest pill mill in the United States using a painkiller distribution scheme

that filtered the highly addictive

drug through a chain of pain clinics in Florida. The physicians at the clinics distributed substantial

quantities of oxycodone to addicts posing as patients—giving rise to a new prescription drug industry

and tipping the scales of the current opioid epidemic.

The book has received critical

West Virginia used original data reported by

Administration head Robert Patterson about the opioid manufacturing quota during a televised hearing.

“One of the goals of the book is to show what it was like to be in the media bubble that the Bundys and followers were in, and how they took advantage of that.

Their actions don’t seem quite as outlandish if you understand what their reality was.”

acclaim since its publication in 2015 and was recognized as a 2016 Edgar

Allen Poe Award nominee for Fact Crime by the Mystery Writers Association, one of the most

write a book about the opioid crisis, a topic

also named a New York Post Favorite Book of

to want as much information as they could get

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prestigious awards a writer can receive. It was

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“It was very interesting and gratifying to

2015 and Warner Brothers recently bought the rights to create a flim based on the story.

Since the book’s release, Temple has spoken

widely about the opioid epidemic to a variety of

that is so relevant right now. People seemed about this topic,” said Temple. “I’m hoping

that ‘Up in Arms’ sheds light on the division in our country the same way ‘American Pain’ shed light on the opioid epidemic.”

John Temple’s Books 1

Deadhouse, published in 2005, chronicled the real-life exploits of a team of death investigators at the coroner’s office in Pittsburgh.

“Compelling … Fascinating …

Unsentimental … (Deadhouse has) the staccato rhythm of a good crime novel.” — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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2

3

The Last Lawyer, published in 2009, chronicles the decade-long legal defense of Bo Jones, a North Carolina farmhand convicted of a 1987 murder. The book’s main character, Ken Rose, has handled more death penalty cases than almost any other attorney in the country.

• Winner of the 2010 Scribes Book Award from the American Society of Legal Writing.

“A compulsively readable indictment of a fatally flawed system. It reads like first-class legal fiction, but it’s far more compelling because it is, tragically, legal fact.” — Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts

American Pain, published in 2015, traced the rise and fall of the country’s deadliest pill mill and examined the roots of the opioid epidemic.

• Edgar Allan Poe Award nominee for “Best Fact Crime Book” • New York Post “Favorite Books of 2015” list • INDIEFAB “Book of the Year” in True Crime • Suspense Magazine “Best True Crime Books of 2015” list “A tale of sun-baked greed that could have sprung from the keyboards of Florida novelists Carl Hiaasen or Tim Dorsey.” — USA Today

Up In Arms chronicles how an isolated clan of desert-dwelling Mormons became the guiding light – and then the outright leaders – of America’s patriot militia movement.

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“John Temple delivers another fierce and searching portrait of an American sub-culture. His last book, American Pain, opened up the vault on painkiller pill mills, delivering a prescient harbinger of the opioid crisis. Now, his new and piercing look at the Bundy clan and the wider Patriot militia culture is a must-read for anyone trying to understand the continuing schism between rural and urban America.”

— Anthony Swofford, bestselling author of Jarhead: A Marine’s Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles

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John Temple’s Rules for Writing It takes a long time to corral some 100,000 words into a coherent, complete, and accurate story. After doing it a few times, I’ve developed a few rules that work for me.

Make an appointment to write.

Writing is hard, so if I wait around for a time when I “feel like writing,” I’ll find easier things to do. As W. Somerset Maugham put it, “I write only when inspiration strikes.

Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” I’m sharpest in the morning, so that’s when I schedule my most important work. I write it into my calendar, and treat that time as I would any other appointment.

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Know your priorities.

Every day, there are colleagues I need to meet with, student work I need to grade, classes I need to prepare for, and kids who need to go to rehearsal. Those things feel more urgent than completing my word count, but they’re not more important than finishing a book. So, I make sure that all those urgent things don’t take precedence over the important thing.

Kill the internet, especially social media.

No explanation needed.

DAVID SMITH

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Get going.

A blank page is hell, so I lower my standards and fill it with something, as quickly as possible. When I’m beginning something new, I often just write about the idea, filling the screen with stream-of-consciousness ramblings rather than trying to come up with the perfect first sentence or paragraph.

Before long, I’m immersed in a scene or an idea and making real progress.

Becoming a storyteller Storytelling is something Temple always wanted

the classroom experience for his students. Just

class in college that he realized writing could

class in college, students of Professor Temple are

to do. But it wasn’t until he took a journalism

actually be a career. He began reporting for the school newspaper, saw his name in print and

like he was influenced by his first journalism forever impacted by having taken his course.

“Taking Professor Temple’s capstone class

his mind was set. He majored in journalism

helped me solidify the path I want to take with

his bachelor’s degree and went to work for

(BSJ, 2019). “He taught my classmates and

at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), received the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review as a general

assignment reporter and a health and education beat reporter.

He would spend six years as a newspaper

reporter in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and

Florida, before returning to Pitt to teach creative nonfiction writing and earn his master’s degree in fine arts.

Throughout his career, Temple became more

and more interested in complex issues and social

problems. He began taking on writing projects to

my journalism career,” said Kristen Uppercue I not only how to accurately complete a

multimedia piece, but to also focus on an

underreported topic, such as highlighting the people behind an issue. He’s practicing daily

what he’s teaching us, bringing his knowledge as an investigative journalist and nonfiction writer to his teaching.”

In addition to teaching, Temple is able to

focus more heavily on research and long-form

writing. And he has ambitious goals: tell good

stories, bring attention to the world’s problems and encourage empathy for

those with different views and

“I think the truth is always complex, and journalists and storytellers should look for ways to present their subjects as human beings, despite their flaws or bad deeds.”

backgrounds.

“The value of empathy in

journalism was really driven home for me while I was

writing my latest book. I’ve

definitely thought about this in the past, but the country

and political environment is so divided right now, so it

feels even more important to write stories that put

ourselves in the shoes of

address issues affecting his community like the

people who aren’t like us,” explained Temple.

that arise from premature births. But life as a

journalists and storytellers should look for

condition of halfway houses and complications

in-depth research or passion projects. He wanted to pursue work with a sense of purpose and

ways to present their subjects as human beings, despite their flaws or bad deeds.”

academia would allow him to do that.

He joined the College of Media in 2002, where

he could use his career as a journalist to enhance

For more information about Temple’s books, visit

www.johntemplebooks.com

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newspaper reporter doesn’t allow much time for

“I think the truth is always complex, and

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FACULTY NEWS

Faculty News and Awards

HELLO

Welcome new faculty members

COLISTRA AND BRITTEN RECEIVE FACULTY AWARDS

Rita Colistra, Ph.D., was recognized with the College of Media’s Faculty Research Award, and Bob Britten, Ph.D., received the Outstanding Teaching Award for the 2018-19 academic year. Colistra was honored for her research and work as the principal investigator and project director for BrandJRNY, a community branding initiative launched by the College of Media in 2015 to create strategic communications campaigns for communities in West Virginia. Britten led a class that partnered with PolitiFact, a Pulitzer-Prize winning news organization, and taught student journalists how to properly fact-check politicians.

HEATHER COLE is a new teaching assistant professor in the Interactive Design for Media program. Previously, Cole was an assistant teaching professor of digital arts at Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pennsylvania, as well as the program chair of the Game Minor. She earned her MFA in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College in Plainsfield, Vermont.

NICE WORK

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Promotions

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JOEL BEESON was promoted to professor. Beeson is currently leading a collaborative initiative with Morgan State University’s School of Global Communication and Journalism, a historically black urban institution, to develop a Social Justice Media Project.

He is also an invited beta partner, storyteller and producer with the Google Cultural Institute and the College’s Media Innovation Center. His virtual exhibit, “Soldiers of the Coalfields: The Hidden stories of Black Appalachians in WWI,” was one of 100 stories highlighted by the Google Cultural Institute. He also produced a virtual reality project for Google Expeditions, “WWI Through the Eyes of the Chicago Defender,” which takes viewers on a tour of WWI-era United States as seen through the eyes of the nation’s most influential black weekly newspaper at that time. Beeson earned his doctorate in American Studies at the Union Institute and University investigating how Critical Race and Feminist Standpoint theories can inform counter narratives in social documentary projects using oral history methods.

GINA DAHLIA has been promoted to teaching professor.

Dahlia currently serves as chair of the Journalism program, managing director of the Media Innovation Center and the general manager of “100 Days in Appalachia.” She is the executive producer of the award-winning “WVU News” program, a student-produced newscast that airs statewide on PBS and cable. The show has garnered more than 75 regional, national and international awards in the last several years. Dahlia also established a relationship with ESPNU for a program called “Campus Connection,” which allows young journalists to work with sports broadcast news professionals and showcase their work on various platforms associated with ESPNU. Prior to joining the College faculty, Dahlia had a career in television news as an anchor, reporter and producer at WDTV News Channel Five in Bridgeport, West Virginia. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at West Virginia University.

COLLEGE OF MEDIA FACULTY AND STAFF HONORED FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE

JIM IOVINO has joined the College of Media as the Odgen Newspapers Visiting Assistant Professor of Media Innovation. Prior to coming to WVU, he was the deputy managing editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Reporting for its Tree of Life massacre coverage.

Iovino managed all digital editorial initiatives at the Post-Gazette, including driving audience-first and digital subscription efforts. Previously, Iovino was a senior news editor of operations and managing editor for NBC Universal in Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C. Iovino has an extensive journalism background that includes newspaper and television leadership experience.

Elizabeth Oppe, Ph.D., Tricia Petty and Geah Pressgrove, Ph.D., have been recognized for their outstanding service to WVU Reed College of Media students and to the state of West Virginia. Oppe, a teaching associate professor at the College, is the recipient of the Beginning Service Award, a Heebink Award for Distinguished Service to the state of West Virginia. Petty, assistant dean of students and enrollment services, is a recipient of the Nicholas Evans Excellence in Advising award. Pressgrove, an associate professor at the College, has been awarded the 2019 Faculty Award for Distinction in Mentoring Undergraduates in Research. They were honored by President E. Gordon Gee at the annual faculty and staff awards dinner at Blaney House on April 24.

COLLEGE OF MEDIA FACULTY, STUDENTS AND ALUMNI RECOGNIZED BY PRSA-WV

Associate Professor Rita Colistra, Ph.D., was named the Practitioner of the Year, and Associate Professor Geah Pressgrove, Ph.D., was named the 2019 Public Relations Educator of the Year at the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) West Virginia Chapter Awards Gala in Morgantown on June 19. For the third consecutive year, the WVU PRSSA Chapter was recognized as the Chapter of the Year. In addition, College of Media alumna Blaithe Tarley (BSJ, 2018) was named the West Virginia Young Professional of the Year. Tarley is the strategic communications coordinator for the Greater Morgantown Convention and Visitors Bureau.

GEAH PRESSGROVE was promoted to associate professor with tenure and was recently named chair of the advertising and public relations program. She has been the faculty advisor for the award-winning PRSSA chapter for the past five years and founded CreateAthon@WVU, a 24-hour creative blitz where teams of students work with professional mentors to produce marketing and communications deliverables for nonprofit organizations. With Pressgrove’s guidance, WVU became a national CreateAthon partner in 2016. She is also the faculty lead in a partnership with the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication where students and faculty are working together on a reporting and advocacy project around the issue of women’s incarceration in West Virginia and Oklahoma. Prior to coming to WVU, Pressgrove worked in an agency and did freelance work for diverse clients including nonprofits, foundations, corporations, entertainment properties, municipal governments, political campaigns, and healthcare organizations. She holds a doctoral degree in mass communications at the University of South Carolina.

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LOIS RAIMONDO has been promoted to associate professor with tenure. Raimondo is the Shott Chair of Journalism and an international award-winning journalist. Prior to joining the faculty, she worked as a staff photographer at The Washington Post and a freelance photographer and writer. She spent four years as the chief photographer for The Associated Press bureau in Hanoi, Vietnam. Raimondo’s work has appeared in publications including National Geographic, The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Newsweek and Time. She has received national and international recognition for both her photo and written journalism. In 2005, Raimondo was awarded the Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship to report on the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Pakistan. In 2002, she was awarded the Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting for her front-line reporting from the war in Afghanistan.

She holds two master’s degrees, one in news-editorial from the University of Missouri-Columbia and the other in comparative literature from Indiana University.

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IN MEMORY

The Loss of

LEGENDS

WRITTEN BY ERICA LINDSAY

The College of Media community lost three influential leaders this year. Paul Atkins, Guy Stewart and Chris Martin were revered by students and colleagues and helped pave the way for the college to become a leader in modern media education.

W VU MEDIA MAG AZIN E 201 9

Guy Stewart

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GUY STEWART (BSJ, 1948; MSJ, 1949) grew up in Keyser, West Virginia, and started his career in journalism during high school, working for the Cumberland Evening Times, Mineral Daily NewsTribune and the Wheeling Intelligencer. After graduating from WVU and earning a doctorate from the University of Illinois, Stewart returned in 1960 to serve as a professor, director of graduate studies and, later, dean of the P.I. Reed School of Journalism.

He is the longest-serving dean of the college and was responsible for expanding the school’s curriculum, advancing renovations at

Martin Hall and raising more than $2 million in scholarships and endowments from 1969-89. His efforts to modernize the school’s curriculum and facilities are still evident today.

Stewart was also a driving force in the West Virginia Press Association and Jackson’s Mill State 4-H Camp. In 2006, he was inducted into the WVU Order of Vandalia, the university’s highest honor for service to the institution.

Paul Atkins

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PAUL ATKINS (BSJ, 1949) grew up in Welch, West Virginia and enrolled at West Virginia University after World War II, taking advantage of the new G.I. Bill. For three years after graduation, he worked at the Lynchburg (Virginia) News and the Richmond Times-Dispatch as a reporter.

In 1953, Atkins joined the faculty at the P.I. Reed School of Journalism and began a 33-year career as a teacher and mentor for up-and-coming journalists. The “Flying-A” served as faculty advisor for the Daily Athenaeum for 12 years and was known for marking up the previous day’s newspaper with red pen and displaying it on the wall at Martin Hall, with his standard “-A-” signature at the end. Later, Atkins was instrumental in securing funding to build and furnish the DA’s current location on Prospect Street.

Atkins received the College’s prestigious P.I. Reed Achievement Award in 1986 and the Commitment to Service Award in 2013. Atkins continued to make an impact on students long after his teaching years when he and his late wife Mildred promised the entire proceeds of their estate to the college. And he regularly donated to a scholarship established in his name by the Dominion Post in 1993.

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IN MEMORY

W VU MEDIA MAG AZIN E 201 9

Chris Martin

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CHRIS MARTIN spent 23 years at WVU as a faculty member, the director of the school’s undergraduate writing program, news editorial sequence chair, dean of the School of Journalism from 1997-2003 and vice president of WVU University Relations from 2003-2013.

As dean, Martin was responsible for starting new programs that elevated the school’s national reputation and for bringing top talent to WVU. She launched the nation’s first online master’s degree in integrated marketing communications, spearheaded fundraising efforts that led to the creation of the Ogden Newspapers Visiting Professorship, led major curriculum revisions in response to the changing media landscape and created projects that provided students with hands-on, real-world experiences.

Her innovative approach continued in her role as vice president where she took over communications, media, marketing and branding operations for the university. She oversaw the development of WVUToday and a growing array of social media vehicles for recruitment, retention and affinity building. Under her leadership, WVU University Relations won numerous national and international awards.

Atkins and Stewart both died at the age of 95, Atkins on February 19 and Stewart on May 14. Martin died on August 8 at the age of 67.

IN MEMORY We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the following WVU Reed College of Media alumni who have passed away from June 2018 through May 2019.

Paul A. Atkins, Jr. (BSJ, 1949) Ann G. Clapham (BSJ, 1948) James A. Cochrane (BSJ, 1974) William M. Crooks (BSJ, 1968) Roosevelt A. George (BSJ, 1961) Bernice A. Gist (BSJ, 1945) Thomas H. Harman (BSJ, 1986) Michael D. Herron (BSJ, 1973) Robert L. Hodges (BSJ, 1977)

The West Virginia University

P.I. Reed School of Journalism was founded in 1939 and renamed the Reed College of Media in 2014.

Jack M. Johns (BSJ, 1960; MSJ, 1974) David G. Lucas (BSJ, 1964) Philip L. McLaughlin, Sr. (BSJ, 1991) Barbara A. Paddock (MSJ, 1987) John P. Samsell, Jr. (BSJ, 1956)

William K. Stevens (BSJ, 1957) Guy H. Stewart (BSJ, 1948) John C. Veasey (BSJ, 1959)

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Deborah J. Sheets (BSJ, 1971)

We’ll be sharing historical photos and facts, celebrating at the annual Alumni Reception on October 10 and encouraging giving in honor of this as part at the annual We’ll be sharing historical photos andmilestone facts, celebrating of the WVU Day of Giving on November Alumni Reception on October 10 and encouraging giving in honor of th 13. Follow us @wvumediacollege and be milestone as part of the WVU Day of Giving on November 13. Follow u sure you’re subscribed to receive updates @wvumediacollege and be sure you’re subscribed to receive updates fro from the WVU Reed College of Media by the WVU Reed College of Media by visiting mediacollege.wvu.edu/alum visiting mediacollege.wvu.edu/alumni.

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DONORS AND SCHOLARS

DONOR HONOR ROLL

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The College of Media would like to than our donors who have given to the 2018-2019 annual fund. The annual giving list represents cash and pledge payments received through June 30, 2019.

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$250,000 OR MORE Joe W. Gollehon The Estate of James Hunkler $100,000 - $249,999 American Electric Power Foundation Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation Joseph and Connie Long $25,000 - $99,999 The University of Oklahoma Foundation Ford Foundation Alexis and Jim Pugh The Nutting Foundation James and Barbara Gilkerson Scott D. Widmeyer Douglas Widmeyer Ralph S. Robinson Wyncote Foundation $10,000 - $24,999 Raymond and Susan Gillette Online News Association Positive Futures Network Samme L. Gee Chad and Catherine Mezera Scott Poling IMO Kathleen Kilgore Poling Robert and Luanne Kittle Gilbert and Susan Meyer Jr. $5,000 - $9,999 Elizabeth and Jim Dziedzic Janette and Michael Heitz Jennifer A. Manton Louise C. Seals Park Foundation, Inc. Public Relations Society of America $1,000 - $4,999 American Advertising Federation West Virginia Incorporated Joseph W. Barnes Nicole R. Beason Col. Thomas J. Boyd Barbara S. Casey David S. and Abbey Castleman Matthew M. Cummings Meredith L. Delaney Thomas and Lori Dowling

Cyndi and Eric Greenglass Beedeah and Noel Hassen Ralph and Janet Izard Suzanne and Paul Johnson John League and April Dowler Dr. Diana and Dr. David Martinelli Jane M. McNeer Robert and Katherine Miller Gretchen S. Palek Adam T. Prather Maryanne Reed and William Yahner Stanley J. Reed and Joyce Branda Sean and Candice Robertson The Estate of Gruine Robinson James J. Roop Archie Sader and Alfreda Dempkowski Scripps-Howard Foundation Janet Shaffron Jacelyn and Steve Swenson Dr. Barbara-Leigh Tonelli John and Cindy Walls Pamela and Karl Yagle $500 - $999 Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. Shawn and Sharon Anderson Bonnie J. Bolden Scott and Carol Bosley Charles Ryan Associates, Inc. Charles and Rebecca Ryan Caitlin E. Cline Giles Davidson and Daniel Waldmann Direct Development, Inc. Maurice and Elfi Fliess Ronald and Peggy Guziak Charles and Patricia Harman David S. Hazelton R. Douglas Huff Paige L. Lavender Stephanie J. Mathias Monongalia General Hospital Northwestern Mutual Life Dr. Ivan and Margaret Pinnell Profund Advisors LLC Martha G. Smith Kristi L. Specker M. Anne Swanson Michael and Sarah Tomasky William Randolph Hearst Foundation $100 - $499 21st Century Fox America, Inc. John A. Agate Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. John and Joyce Allen Susan M. Aspey Dr. Carolyn and Billy Atkins Terry and Cynthia Baker

Dustin T. Barnes Johnna G. Barto Linda L. Benson Shirley J. Bishop Hannah E. Booth Joyce A. Bower Timothy and Kathleen Brady Steven and Jacqueline Breeden Dr. Teresa R. Brown Ruth C. Buchanan Edward O. Buckbee Kendra and William Calhoun Kimberly A. Cameon John and June Canfield David A. Christopher David and Debra Clarke Darrell and Madaline Cochran Wendell R. Cochran Tara E. Curtis Kathleen A. DeMarco Pamela Bonar Dillon Direct Online Marketing Duane E. Dub Benjamin C. Dunlap, Jr. Jessica and Elliott Edwards Bethany L. Fagan Jay and Cheryl Ferrebee Victor A. Folio Sherilyn and Mark Frey Michael and Teresa Fulton Susan V. Garnand Amy J. Goodwin Michelle L. Goodwin Greater Morgantown Convention and Visitors Bureau Alyssa and Patrick Gregg Dr. Leigh F. Gregg Charles and Melanie Gregory Karen Haring Kellie A. Hayes Jeffrey W. Hertrick J. Ford Huffman Charles D. Hylton Patricia Johnston and Lawrence Frail William and Susan Jones William and Virginia Kavage Geraldine Kessel Lynn P. Kessler-Hiltajczuk Dawn Warfield and Thomas Knight Carolyn B. Lewis Drs. George Lilley and Mavis Grant Dr. Brenda J. Logue Maria and Michael Lorensen M.J. Brunner Inc. David W. Marold Victor and Theresa Mason

GIVING SOCIETIES

In recognition of the growing importance of private giving, the College of Media honors its friends and supporters through a tiered system of lifetime giving levels and inducts new members each fall. Below is a list of new donors or donors who have moved into new giving societies during the past year.

FRIENDS OF MARTIN HALL $100,000 - $249,999 Joseph and Connie Long P.I. REED CIRCLE OF FRIENDS $25,000 - $99,999 Ralph S. Robinson The University of Oklahoma Foundation P.I. REED SOCIETY $10,000 - $24,999 Michael and Teresa Fulton Chad and Catherine Mezera Scott Poling IMO Kathleen Kilgore Poling Positive Futures Network Public Relations Society of America Dr. Sandra Englebright Utt

SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS The WVU Reed College of Media awards nearly 50 scholarships to our students.

Through the generosity of our donors, more than $160,000 is awarded in various scholarship amounts to approximately 100 students each academic year.

This is a list of scholarships that were awarded in 2018-2019.

BROWN COMMUNICATIONS, LLC SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Gabriella Brown CARY JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Mark Schoenster Anne Parker Amber Neice CATHARINE PATTON CLARK PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARSHIP Graeson Baker Colin Spangler Johnna Herbig COLONEL THOMAS J. BOYD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Patrick Kotnik Kenzie Dye CUMMINGS SCHOLARSHIP Chelsea Harper DAVID MATTHEW HASSEN JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Jillian Clemente DON S. MARSH SCHOLARSHIP Logan Polen DOUGLAS & RUTH ANN WIDMEYER ENDOWED JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Charles Montgomery EDITH WATSON SASSER SCHOLARSHIP Kristen Uppercue

MAKE A GIFT To learn more about making a donation or providing scholarship funding, visit our website at mediacollege.wvu.edu/give or contact: Joshua Walters Director of Development WVU Reed College of Media joshua.walters@mail.wvu.edu 304-293-6775

FRANK AND REBEKAH AHRENS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Ciara Litchfield FRANK M. KEARNS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP Shayla Klein GEORGE GIANODIS JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Joseph Severino Douglas Soule Lily Hicks Jacob Shockley Brittany Osteen Julia Mellett Matthew Minard GILBERT & MARGARET LOVE JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Kayla Gagnon Tanner Cava Julia Hillman

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Vincent and Kassy McGourty Jonathan B. Miller Joseph D. Joseph and April Mock Stephen W. Montgomery Henry and Barbara Nagel Marcelyn Nauman William and Cindy Nevin Valerie G. Nieman Linda and Ted Nordstrom Paula J. O’Connell Paula I. Otto George and Kim Panos Thomas D. Perry Tricia and Dr. Jeffrey Petty Phyllis and Duane Petty Nathan A. Pieratt Pitney Bowes Steven and Dr. Susannah Poe William and Ella Poland, Jr. Geah N. Pressgrove Heather Prohaska David and Kathleen Raese Ronald I. Raether Meredith Raine Glenn and Grace Richards Zachary and Megan Richards Robert M. Rine Dr. David Rodgers and Robin Roberts Virginia T. Royce Jane Duffy and George Russell Patricia and Dr. Michael Ryan Dr. John C. Ryor Charles and Mary Scott Michael Serig Preston and Shi Anne Shimer Bennett B. Smith Linda and John Spencer Joseph P. Steranka Prof. Thomas J. Stewart Dr. Francis and Deborah Super Jeffrey and Janice Swoope TC Energy Texas Association of School Boards Brandon J. Thomas William and Mona Tiernan Mark A. Tietbohl John and Sharon Ullom Danny R. Weber Narvel and Sharon Weese Deborah Harmison White Valerie and Robert Wilkinson Carole Williams Glenn and Dawn Witherspoon, Jr. Marsha L. Wyatt Jennifer L Yurko

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DONORS AND SCHOLARS GRUINE ROBINSON REED COLLEGE OF MEDIA SCHOLARSHIP Connor Taylor Kasey Lettrich Timothy Eads

Patrick Orsagos Juliet Thomas

HILDA G. AND JAMES E. MCNEER JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Emily Zekonis

PEGGY PRESTON TIERNEY SCHOLARSHIP Janine Posey William McNemar Kayla Starcher Jeffrey McCullough Jonathan Kraus Johnna Herbig Anthony Tate Taylor Steele Alexan Watt Alessandra McDaniel Parker Sheppard Olivia Gianettino

IRENE CAPLAN MOKSAY SCHOLARSHIP Taylor Frame JAMES & BARBARA GILKERSON JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Mia Edmundson Sara Brinsfield Megan Hardy Mary Alvarez JOHN H.S. MARTIN & HELEN H. MARTIN JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Holly Fry LEONARD S. GROSS SCHOLARSHIP Morgan Veltri LINDA E. YOST SCHOLARSHIP Abigail Briggs LINDA JEANNE LECKIE SCHULTE SCHOLARSHIP Clairice Hemme MADELYN JEANNE RUPINSKY SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Hannah Belt MARK S. & FRANCES S. GROVE ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP Kristen Uppercue MARTHA E. SHOTT ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP Rachel Johnson Darren Hartwell Annika Godwin Hunter Bennett Abigail Riggs

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MICHAEL & JANETTE HEITZ SCHOLARSHIP Zoe Moore

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OGDEN NEWSPAPERS & NUTTING FAMILY JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Natalie Comer Adam Payne Gillian Wanosky Anna Saab Olivia VanHorn Desiree Hines Caroline Nicholas Avery Lyons Jordyn Johnson Darren Hartwell ORSON AND SPOKES FOUNDATION JOURNALISM ENDOWMENT Holden Strausser

PAUL S. & THEO S. DEEM SCHOLARSHIP Erin Gore

PERLEY ISAAC REED SCHOLARSHIP Emily Rinehart RALPH AND JANET IZARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Allison Fladd RAYMOND & SUSAN GILLETTE JOURNALISM MINORITY SCHOLARSHIP Brittany Brown Maxwell Shavers ROBERT & LUANNE KITTLE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Daniel Spetz ROBERTSON URBAN MINORITY SCHOLARSHIP Jade Dawkins Aiko Roth Mary Alvarez SCOTT D. WIDMEYER AFRICAN-AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP Maxwell Shavers SCOTT D. WIDMEYER FIRST GENERATION SCHOLARSHIP Jacqueline Bonar THOMAS PICARSIC SCHOLARSHIP IN JOURNALISM Maura Flynn TIMOTHY J. TEWALT JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Hannah Farish VARGO-OTTO STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP Samuel Gorski W.E. CHILTON III JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Seth Mitchell Evan White Haleigh Casto

PAUL & MILDRED ATKINS REED COLLEGE OF MEDIA SCHOLARSHIP Ryan Alexander

WILLIAM AND JEAN REED JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Mary Madeline Gould Kierstin Lindkvist Rhyanna Wiethe

PAUL A. ATKINS SCHOLARSHIP Karlee Gibson Cassandra McPhail

WILLIAM F. TOLBERT JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP Haley Wentz

ENHANCEMENT FUNDS Enhancement funds make it possible for Reed College of Media students to get the real-world experience that enhances both their character and their resumes. In 2018-19, these funds allowed students to intern for organizations like the U.S. State Department in Italy and study abroad in Japan and South Korea.

FRANK M. KEARNS MEMORIAL FUND Patrick Orsagos Santander, Spain CHARLES HODEL ENDOWMENT Jocelin Leon Disegno Italia, Tuscany/Milan Vincent Powell Barcelona, Spain GEORGE ESPER INTERNATIONAL STUDY ENHANCEMENT IN JOURNALISM Karli Celestin Japan and South Korea Mia Edmundson Japan and South Korea Maura Flynn Japan and South Korea Gillian Wanosky Japan and South Korea JIM AND BETSY KLEBE DZIEDZIC CAREER DEVELOPMENT FUND Julia Hillman US State Department, Milan, Italy JOHN AND CINDY WALLS CAREER DEVELOPMENT FUND Mark Schoenster VISTA WorldLink, Florida JOHN AND CINDY WALLS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FUND Chelsea Harper ArtsMonongahela, Morgantown, WV WVU REED COLLEGE OF MEDIA STUDENT ENHANCEMENT FUND Taylor Scites Romania Hannah Belt DPR Group, Frederick, MD Sierra Powers Pittsburgh Riverhounds

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

Five Lessons in Crisis Communications

WRITTEN BY MARTY MACHOWSKY

Chief communications officers (CCO) and the entire communications/PR team at every business and organization will face no greater challenge than a real, full-blown crisis.

It is the only time that your work will be scrutinized and evaluated in real-time; that one slip-up can cost you your job; and that success will never be forgotten.

All eyes will be on you. Fortunately, you are not alone. All eyes will be on everyone in the C-Suite, too, especially the chief executive officer (CEO) and the general counsel (GC).

Crises never evolve as planned, that’s why they are crises. Your long-term planning efforts, while important, will not be enough. You may have a plan and protocols in place, draft statements ready to dust off, and a dark website ready to turn on, but it will not be sufficient.

Here are five lessons that will help you manage a crisis:

Crisis communications is hard because communications cannot solve a crisis. It can, if a pending crisis is based on unfair or inaccurate information, deflect a potential crisis. It can inform key stakeholders of steps the company or organization is taking to manage the underlying issue. And effective crisis communications can earn trust and time for the underlying issue to be resolved.

Marty Machowsky, an adjunct instructor for the WVU Integrated Marketing Communications master’s degree program, is a communications and marketing professional with expertise in technology, health care, corporate affairs, financial services and crisis communications. He has supported a broad range of clients including GE, Logitech, Microsoft, Pfizer, AT&T, Samsung, Verizon, S&P, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and startups. He is currently president of 90Degree Communications.

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1. Know, and have a plan, to address your business’s or organization’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

For example, every business or organization that collects customer, client or member data should have a plan to address a data breach. How will you notify customers that their personal proprietary information (PPI) has been compromised? How will you maintain the trust of your employees, if their financial information and medical records are stolen? Once you have the list, engage important stakeholders as you develop your crisis management plans. Do this through strategy workshops, training sessions and scenario planning exercises.

2. Don’t panic! The reality is that crises happen all the time. Whatever your business or organization is facing, you are not alone; it may just seem that way. And most crises, large and

small, are managed successfully. As communicators, your first obligation is to protect and nurture your company’s or organization’s brand through the crisis. But your real goal should be to emerge from the crisis with your brand enhanced. Think Tylenol.

3. Manage the issue, not the crisis (sometimes they are the same thing). You are going to need help from the rest of the business or organization to do this. It’s your job to convince them that it’s the right thing to do for the brand. Boeing, for example, has done a poor job managing the crisis involving two crashes of its 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

First, the company was reluctant to point the finger at the automatic stall prevention system, suggesting that poor pilot training or pilot error may have been involved. Then, it took the CEO too long to say, “we are sorry.” Boeing managed the crisis and tried to assign or apportion blame. The company did not manage the issue.

4. You don’t have to put your CEO front and center. The decision to use or not to use your CEO to address a crisis is a judgment call involving the severity and complexity of the crisis, how long it will take to resolve the underlying issue, the style and comfort level of the CEO or organization leader, and the bench strength on the leadership team.

For example, if the crisis du jour is a cyberattack, your CTO may be the best person to be the face of the business or organization. If it is an employee related crisis involving employment discrimination or sexual harassment, the head of HR may be best.

5. Send lawyers, guns and money!

There is an unavoidable conflict between CCOs and their team and GCs and the lawyers when managing a crisis. It can be subtle. It can be open, obvious and noisy. It is always there. CCOs and their teams are communicators. We are trained to communicate. GCs and their legal teams are trained not to ask questions, if they do not already know the answer. They will press to release the least amount of information into an environment that is information hungry.

Communicators are forward looking and, frequently, optimistic. For us, a crisis is an opportunity for our company or organization and for its leaders to lead. Lawyers are, as they should be, backward looking, more interested in what happened rather than what can happen. Their job is to limit exposure, limit liability and protect the business or organization and its leaders.

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CLASS NOTES

Class Notes 1960s

Nancy Jacobs (BSJE, 1969) retired from Maryland’s Senate in 2015, after 20 years in the state legislature. She was the first woman elected Senate Minority Leader in Maryland history.

1970s

Ron Cutright, (BSJ, 1975) retired following an international career first with an intelligence service and then with the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.

James Joslyn, (BSJ, 1978) is a photojournalist with WJLA-ABC7 in Arlington, Virginia.

Gregory Matics (BSJ, 1974) retired after 33 years working as a managing editor, general manager and publisher serving Jackson County, West Virginia. He was honored with WVPA awards in the weekly newspapers divisions for news, sports and feature writing, photography, layout and design, enterprise and for his lifestyle column, “From The Hilltop.”

Neil McGlone, (BSJ, 1979) is an independent associate with LegalShield in Houston, Texas.

W VU MEDIA MAG AZIN E 201 9

Valerie Nieman, (BSJ, 1978) is a professor of English and Creative Writing at NC A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. She has two books scheduled for publication this year-- “Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse,” and an Appalachian horror novel, “To the Bones.”

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1980s

Kevin Kinder (BSJ-1984) is a reporter for Blue & Gold News in Charleston, West Virginia.

1990s

Lisa Drobney, (BSJ, 1996) is the director of operations at Associa in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Stanley Wearden (MSJ, 1981) has

worked in higher education leadership for over 14 years, and in 2019 became the president of Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Danielle Milazzo Halloran, (BSJ, 1993) works in business development at RKL eSolutions in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She returned to WVU as a parent with her daughter joining the class of 2022.

Kevin Kinkead, (BSJ, 2007) is the Philadelphia 76ers beat writer for Crossing Broad Sports in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

2000s

Matt Masaschi, (BSJ, 2003) is a public affairs specialist in the U.S. Coast Guard in Alameda, California.

Tricia Cesarino Ball, (BSJ, 2009) is the director of marketing at the Appalachian Transportation Institute and Center for Business and Economic Research in Huntington, West Virginia. She is currently working on projects with marketing students at Marshall University and economic development in southern West Virginia counties.

Brandon Brumage, (BSJ, 2007) is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

He has recently published a book about finances and planning on Amazon titled, “Strugglehood: A Practical Guide to Financial Situations No One Bothered Teaching Us.” Daniel Bullock (BSJ, 2005) designs and teaches language, communications and specialized curriculum/ trainings to various United Nations departments, global staff, diplomats and country delegates, both at UN headquarters and UN duty stations abroad.

David (Scott) Castleman, (BSJ, 2005) is the manager of U.S. & Mexico Gas Communications at TC Energy in Houston, Texas.

Rebecca Child, (MSJ, 2000) is the assistant copy desk chief at SmartBrief in Washington, D.C. Alison Hill, (BSJ, 2000) is an executive producer at Wieden & Kennedy in New York, New York.

Barbara Casey (BSJ, 1959) is

the CEO of Casey & Sayre in Los Angeles, California. This year, she was inducted into the WVU Academy of Distinguished Alumni as a leader in homebuilding, public relations, branding and professional advancement for women.

Zack Miller, (BSJ, 2007) is the founder of Hatch in Norfolk, Virginia. He has signed with Morgan James Publishing in New York City for the release of his book, “Anomaly: How to Finally Stand Out From The Crowd.”

Bryon Sabol, (BSJ, 2002) is an associate director of S&P Global’s Program Management Office in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Kodi McKinney,

(BSJ, 2008) is a partner/ co-founder of Marauder, a musicmarketing firm that connects media and music industry professionals internationally. Based in New York, New York, Marauder also curates cultural exchange for music export offices and festivals from around the world.

2010s

Leann Arthur, (BSJ, 2010) is the regional curator for Holland America Line in Seattle, Washington where she develops onboard enrichment programming for one of the world’s oldest cruise lines.

Victoria Rihl (BSJ, 2014) is the social media manager

for Sesame Street in New York, New York where she manages all viral Sesame Street accounts including Cookie Monster, Elmo and Oscar the Grouch.

Colleen Good (MSJ, 2016) is a communications specialist for the WVU Honors College in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Rachel Nieman (BSJ, 2012; MS-IMC 2015) is the director of recruitment and retention at the WVU College of Business and Economics.

Hollie Greene (BSJ, 2017) is the social media specialist for The Educatius Group in Boston, Massachusetts.

Jessica Robey (BSJ, 2012) is an academic and career advancement specialist at the Caroline Center in Baltimore, Maryland. From March 2015 to June 2018, she served as a literacy volunteer with the Peace Corps in Jamaica.

Emma Hoff (BSJ, 2014) is the webinar producer for Shipman & Goodwin LLP in Hartford, Connecticut.

Tiffany Doolittle (BSJ, 2011) works at ESPN and was nominated for Forbes 30 under 30 and Women in Cable Television Mentor Award.

John Baldridge (IMC Certificate, 2016) is the senior manager of Carnegie Mellon University’s digital marketing and communications in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Aurora Driscoll Barker (MS-IMC, 2017) is the admissions director for Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Claire Berlin, (MS-IMC, 2011) is the director of advancement communications at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio.

Jennifer Cooper (BSJ, 2012) is a digital content specialist at RevLocal in Granville, Ohio.

Dayna Kleinstein (BSJ, 2017) is the registration coordinator for MJH associates in Princeton, New Jersey.

Karon Leigh (MS-IMC, 2017) is the marketing and communications manager for Friends of the Verde River in Cottonwood, Arizona.

Allie Smith (BSJ, 2016) is the art director for People Ideas & Culture in Brooklyn, New York.

Nicole Linder (BSJ, 2014) is a student at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in Denver, Colorado.

Chrissi Steiner (MS-IMC, 2018) is a teacher at Brison Elementary School in New Bern, North Carolina.

Claire Mangine (MS-IMC, 2017) is the marketing coordinator for the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York.

Blaithe Tarley (BSJ, 2018) is the strategic communications coordinator for Greater Morgantown CVB in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Ashton Marra (BSJ, 2012; MS-IMC, 2017) is a teaching assistant professor at WVU in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Eric Winkfield (MS-IMC, 2016) is the public affairs manager for Pepco, an Exelon Company, in Washington, D.C.

Ben Murray (BSJ, 2018) is the director of Mercer University’s athletics video services in Macon, Georgia.

Jennifer Yurko (MS-IMC, 2014) was promoted to director of advertising research at Comcast Spotlight where she will manage the Houston, Denver, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City and Albuquerque markets from Denver, Colorado.

Brittany Cavanaugh (BSJ, 2014) won

an Emmy award for “Outstanding Studio Show – Weekly” while working as an associate producer for mixed martial arts coverage on ESPN College GameDay.

Nicole Curtin (BSJ, 2015) is the assistant director of athletic media relations at Towson University in Towson, Maryland.

Ed Frick (BSJ, 2018) is a sales development representative of Logz.io in Boston, Massachusetts.

Jewel Hazelton (MS-IMC, 2017) was named to PRSA Georgia’s 2019 Inaugural “Forty Under 40” class.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Visit mediacollege.wvu.edu/stay_connected to submit your current information or to be included in Class Notes.

ME DI ACOLLE GE MAG .WVU.E DU

Patrick Delaney (MS-IMC, 2013) is the communications director for the U.S. House Agriculture Committee in Washington, D.C.

Meredith Eddy (MS-IMC, 2018) is a digital media strategist at BlaineTurner Advertising and became a Facebook Certified Buying Professional this year after passing the Facebook Advertising Core Competencies and Facebook Certified Buying Professional exams.

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THE LAST WORD WITH

Ken Ward

INTERVIEWED BY ERICA LINDSAY

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Ken Ward Jr., an investigative reporter at the Charleston Gazette-Mail, is one of the newest recipients of the MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.”

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He is the only West Virginia University alumnus and fourth native West Virginian to receive the honor, and the only journalist among the 2018 class. With more than 25 years at the Gazette, Ward has earned a national reputation for reporting on the coal mining industry’s exploitation of Appalachian communities.

use similar writing skills in PR or advertising or what have you – is to ask hard questions, to ask the questions the public needs to know the answers to about issues that affect their lives and their community. West Virginia is my home, and I think few places need reporters asking tough questions more than West Virginia does.

How did you end up studying journalism at WVU? Was this something you were interested in as a kid? When did it occur to you that investigative journalism was your calling?

I started delivering the Cumberland TimesNews when I was 11. My father was a big newspaper reader, and I guess that rubbed off. I took a newspaper course in high school and worked at the student newspaper at Potomac State College and then The Daily Athenaeum at WVU, though I started out college as a music major, and also someone who took a lot of math and science. I guess I got involved in investigative reporting when I was looking into some funny business by the administration at WVU, and then the proposal for the MEA power plant in Morgantown and writing about the concerns residents had about that.

Is there a specific piece or project that you would consider career-defining and why?

Probably covering the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster and the trial that followed, in which Massey CEO Don Blankenship was convicted of conspiring to violate federal mine safety and health standards.

You’re a West Virginian who seems to care deeply about the well-being of other West Virginians. You’re also known for asking the tough questions. Do those things go hand-in-hand?

What does it take to do what you do? Do you think your personal connection to the issues helps you dig deeper?

I think that’s obviously the job of a journalist – as opposed to others who may

What does the future of journalism look like? What does local journalism offer that national news outlets can’t?

The only honest answer to the first question is nobody knows. When I started at the Gazette we didn’t have a fax machine in the newsroom … and look now. Hopefully, local journalists are in a better position to understand their community and to write about the challenges that community faces – but not all local journalism does that. There’s a lot of bad local journalism out there, too. And sometimes it takes an outsider to ask certain questions.

But if local journalists care about their communities, they will not wait for national outlets to do that.

What do you hope to do with the McArthur Foundation grant money?

Send my son to college, maybe be able to someday retire. Newspaper work doesn’t pay much in money, and my family has paid the price for my hobby of a career.

But given the state of the industry, it’s also nice to have a backstop. And who knows, maybe I’ll find some ways to use some of the money to help figure out what comes next for local journalism.

Read more about MacArthur Fellows at macfound.org/fellows

DID YOU KNOW? Ken Ward is the second

native of the tiny town of Piedmont, West Virginia, to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.

The first was Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., the great African American scholar and writer.

PHOTO CREDIT: JOHN D. & CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION

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