A party for important friends

"You know how to throw a party," said  a friend and journalist to me yesterday." He was one of  250 people who attended  the 45th anniversary of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame yesterday, held on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma.
It's a homecoming, a reunion, as many members of the hall gather to visit and be recognized. It has grown through the years, and it's been my privilege for 17 years to coordinate it. Another friend told me earlier about my job--"Tough job. you get to throw a party for your friends once a year."
Yep. The pleasure is in knowing so many of these journalists in many fields, all across the state who are so crucial to our state. Each year I get to meet new ones. It's been my priority, with the help of a selection committee, to increase the number of women and people of color represented throughout these years.
Understandably when the hall of founded back in 1971, most journalists were white guys, but it changed rapidly since then. My goal has been to honor those people who give their lives in the trenches of every day journalism...many of whom are well-known in small towns as well as the cities.
So it is with the 12 inducted this year--the most we've ever done. We now have 410 members and you can read the bios on them on our website: okjournalism.uco.edu

Honorees are Julie DelCour of the Tulsa World,  James O. Goodwin and the late E.L. “Ed” Goodwin of the historic Oklahoma Eagle in Tulsa, Ron Hagler of CBS, the late John and Tinker Hruby of the Marlow Review and Comanche County Chronicle, Rose Lane of OKC Friday, Patrick B. McGuigan of The City Sentinel and CapitolBeatOK.com, Gary Reid of the Kingfisher Times & Free Press, Jenifer Reynolds of Discover Oklahoma, Judy Gibbs Robinson of The OU Oklahoma Daily, and Robby Trammell of The Oklahoman.

       Julie DelCour (1951- ) came to Oklahoma in 1977 after graduating from the University of Missouri and working four years at Springfield newspapers. She has covered higher education, county and city government, state and federal courts. Her coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing investigation and trials earned national attention, and Newsmaker of the Year from the Association of Women in Communications. After joining the Editorial Board in 1998, she was part of an editorial team honored by APONE for work leading to a buyout of endangered residents in the Tar Creek superfund site. In 2014, the Tulsa YWCA named her one of 100 Women With Moxie on its 100th birthday.

Edward L. “Ed” Goodwin, Jr. (1935-2014),  editor and  publisher of the historic Oklahoma Eagle in Tulsa, began working in his father’s paper as a paper carrier. He earned a journalism degree from Pittsburg State University in Kansas, and worked at other newspapers in Tulsa and Kansas City.  “Born with a torch in his hand and heart,”  he was active in the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Well known for efforts in preserving and promotion of the historic Greenwood District, he spent tireless hours fighting for just causes. He was a pillar in the North Tulsa community, putting himself on the front line for economic, political, and social justice in the city.

 James O. Goodwin (1939-  ),  publisher and editor of the  historic Oklahoma Eagle since 1979, and attorney at law, serves on a multitude of civic boards and a recipient of a multitude of awards, including Tulsa Press Club Print Icon Award and  The University of Tulsa College of Law Hall of Fame. In 2003, he received the Lifetime Excellence Award with the East Regional Health Center in Tulsa renamed The James O. Goodwin Health Center. A graduate of the University of Tulsa and  Notre Dame, he successfully challenged before the U. S. Supreme Court the constitutionality of a state statute and before the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals the constitutionality of a Tulsa city ordinance prohibiting freedom of speech and was co-counsel in the matter of reparation for victims of the 1921 Tulsa race riot.

Ron Hagler (1940- ) began his career as news film cameraman at KSWO-TV in Lawton during his senior year. He was chief photographer for KOTV in Tulsa from 1963 to 1967. He was co-owner of Hagler-Callaway Productions for 17 years, producing commercial and industrial films which won numerous ADDY and National awards. In 1983 he joined CBS as a freelance technician out of the Dallas Bureau. For 23 years, he covered major news events around the world, including the Oklahoma City bombing, and was part of an Emmy award winning team covering the Mexico City earthquake in 1985.

John A. Hruby,  (1964-2014),  co-publisher of the Marlow Review and Comanche County Chronicle, was a third-generation Oklahoma journalist, following his father Al Hruby and grandfather Harrington Wimberly. He graduated from Duncan High School, from Schreiner University in Texas and OU with an MBA. He became publisher of the Duncan Banner in 1997 when his father retired.  John bought the Review in 2007, and was active in the Oklahoma Press Association. He was vice president of the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation's board of trustees. An Eagle Scout, he worked with the Boy and Cub Scouts. A homicide victim along with his wife and daughter Katherine, he is remembered for being active in both Marlow and Duncan.

Joy “Tinker” Hruby (1966-2014), co-publisher of the Marlow Review and co-owner of the Comanche County Chronicle, was born in Kerrville, Texas. She and John Hruby were married there in 1989. She earned degrees from Schreiner University and an education degree from Cameron University. She taught second grade in Duncan and also worked in real estate, banking and as a private investigator. A Girl Scout, she was a scout leader,  a member of the Jaycee Janes, and supported the Stephens County Humane Society. A homicide victim along with her husband and daughter Katherine, she worked with her husband to produce a quality newspaper and was active in both Marlow and Duncan.
    

Rose Lane (1962- ), managing editor, general manager and deputy publisher of OKC Friday, started there in 2002 as News and Society  editor. She earned a bachelor's degree  from Truman State University in Missouri in 1984. She was assistant news director for KRMS/KYLC radio in Osage Beach, Mo. in 1985-86 before joining  the daily Reveille/ Lake Sun Leader  as reporter. In 15 years she served as associate editor and special sections editor. In 1996, she helped start the weekly, Lake Week. In 1998 she became editor and sales executive for  Vacation News. She's worked with the Oklahoma Press Association; awards include  the OPA’s Quarter Century Club.

  Patrick B. McGuigan (1954- ) covered sports for the Bishop McGuinness High School newspaper, and wrote for The O’Collegian when earning  bachelor’s and master’s degrees at OSU. He is editor and publisher of The City Sentinel, and in 2009 founded CapitolBeatOK.com, an online news service. He writes for Perspective Magazine, the OCPA publication. He was editor of The Initiative and Referendum Report in Washington for 10 years and in 1988 was elected to the National Press Club. He directed The Oklahoman  editorial page from 1990-2002. McGuigan is state secretary-treasurer for SPJ, a member of the OKC Gridiron Club, and has written three books and edited seven.

Gary Reid (1936- ), publisher emeritus of the Kingfisher Times & Free Press, is an Altus native and graduated from OSU. His first newspaper job was working for his brother, Ken, and Ed Burchfiel at the Pauls Valley Daily Democrat. He was editor of the Wewoka Daily News before buying the Hollis News. In 1979 he purchased Kingfisher and still works full time, writing his column, View from Behind the Plow. A  staunch defender of the public’s right to know, he fought against a corrupt city administration, resulting in the ouster of city officials. He received the Oklahoma Press Association  Beachy Musselman Award, SPJ's First Amendment Award, and was Kingfisher Citizen of the Year, all in 2002.

Jenifer Reynolds (1958-    ), co-host of  the television show Discover Oklahoma since 2002, was born in Miami, Oklahoma. While at Oklahoma State University, she won the DuPont-Columbia Award, the broadcast equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize. She worked six years in radio news at KOSU-FM and WKY-AM, followed by 14 years at KWTV-TV, where her reports led to reform of state charity bingo laws, management changes at the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, new EMS service in Oklahoma City, and closure of a DEA storefront selling precursor chemicals for illegal drugs. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Women in Radio and Television in 2001.

 Judy Gibbs Robinson (1956- ), assistant director of Student Media and editorial adviser to The Oklahoma Daily at OU, began her career at the Columbia (Mo) Daily Tribune before joining The Associated Press, working in Utah, New York, West Virginia, Oklahoma and North Carolina. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and a master’s from the OU Gaylord College. She spent four years as minority affairs reporter at The Oklahoman, returning to OU in 2007. Along with reporting and writing awards, she was named a College Media Association Honor Roll Adviser in 2012. She’s a member of CMA, the FOI-OK board and SPJ.

 Robby Trammell (1952-   ), news director for The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com, was editor of the paper at Seminole High School paper and Seminole Junior College. Earning his bachelor’s degree at UCO, he worked full time covering Edmond for The Oklahoman. He was reporter and managing editor of the Seminole Producer for 15 years and led The Oklahoman’s Tulsa bureau in 1987-1990. As an award-winning investigative reporter, he exposed  Seminole County County commissioners bid-rigging, opening a statewide federal inquiry and public corruption scandal; the secret indictment of an Oklahoma governor; also probing the Oklahoma City bombing. He has a master’s at OU. He is on the Oklahoma Press Association board.

  

The journalism of April 19, 20 years ago--part 2

Front page of The Daily Oklahoman, April 19, 1995

 The Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building bombing on April 19, 20 years ago, affected the entire state. I think it is the only news story since statehood getting almost universal coverage in Oklahoma's almost 200 daily and weekly papers. Pearl Harbor, or 9-11 since then, may be close.
At the time of the bombing, there were 47 dailies and 136 weeklies in Oklahoma. From Boise City to Idabell and Pitcher to Eldorado, I found only four newspapers that didn't have stories about the bombing. My content analysis was for The Oklahoma Press Association newspaper, The Oklahoma Publisher.
The newspaper most affected by the bombing was the daily business newspaper, the Journal-Record, located across the street north from the federal building. Its building now houses the Bombing Memorial museum.
Several staff members, including one of our UCO grads, were injured and were lucky they weren't standing in front of their south windows when the blast occurred. After missing the next day's issue, in an amazing feat of journalism, those journalists used our computers in the UCO Vista to produce the remarkable next issue.
It was "only" a two-page paper--front and back--headlined "Eyewitness Accounts of the Tragedy," were first person stories by each staff member. 

•  

Oklahoma's two largest newspapers, The Daily Oklahoman and the Tulsa World, starred in their coverage, not just the day after but for weeks and months to come. The World's photo coverage was stunning.
For Oklahoma City's hometown The  Oklahoman, it was the paper's finest hour.  The building, a few miles north of the bombing and built to withstand a tornado, shook. The reporters and photographers were downtown almost immediately, some in their heels scrambling through rubble.
The entire news staff showed up, putting in long hours, day after day. I wasn't supposed to work that night, but went in, and got a "Yes" nod from my editor and helped edit stories and write headlines for the next day's paper. As reports of dead children came in later that day, in the break room, I saw an assistant editor looking out the window and crying.
As the weeks went by, the paper started  "Those Who Died" vignettes, little stories about each of the victims, written by several members of the staff, making the story intensely personal. Those became the model for what the New York Times did after 9-11. 
I believe the paper did more than just cover the news and humanity--it became a tangible psychological force in the survival and healing of the city and state. Every morning, people could pick up something solid, something that said the world is still normal, there is still goodness among all the bad news, something you can count on, even when your foundation of security has been blasted away. The coverage was continual; it was months before a bombing related story didn't appear on the front page.
It was also the source for news by others--it in many ways "owned" the story. Rick Bragg, Pulitizer winner for the New York Times said The Oklahoman was the paper of record--he had to pick it up every day to see what was going on.
The  Oklahoman should have won a Pulitizer Prize for its exceptional work. A tradition is the award goes to  local newspapers for excellence in responding to local crises. But it didn't, to the consternation of those hard-working journalists. My opinion is that the Pulitzer judges snubbed the paper because they so strongly disagreed with the paper's very conservative editorial page.  That was a crime, because the news staff more than earned it.

• 
  

"Oklahoma City tragedy affects everyone" 

cried the headline in the Ringling Eagle in far southern Oklahoma a week later, telling the story of the state.
As an old weekly newspaper man, I was proud of how those all local news papers responded around the state--reflecting the hardiness and goodness of Okies.
"The bombing washed over Oklahoma like a harshly dropped stone in a serene pool," wrote the Wynnewood Gazette, summarizing the impact as well as any.
In my content analysis of those papers in the next two weeks I found--

• 84 staff stories about local activities and local impressions of the bombing
• 57 staff photos of local activities related to bombing
• 44 staff photos about people who took part in the rescue and other efforts
• 28 photos of the bombing site
• 25 stories about the bombing
• 21 stories about victims with local connections
• 12 editorials

• 
  

For  non-journalists, understand that headlines are measured by how tall they are in points--a printer's measure. There are 72 points to an inch. Many headlines today are rarely more than 36 points (a half inch) or 48 points.
The Daily Oklahoman's "Morning of Terror" in all caps was a 144 point headline.
Largest headline in the state was at the Edmond Sun, which came out with the story the afternoon of April 19, "Explosion" in all caps, 268 point
Tulsa World, "Bombing Terror," 186 point
Largest of the weeklies
Meeker News, "Act of Terrorism," 144 point.

•  

By the way, The Daily Oklahoman became a national leader in helping train journalists on how to deal with victims of trauma and for helping journalists deal with their own trauma. It won the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma's  Excellence in Covering Trauma
Award that year and used the funds to conduct a national workshop on the UCO campus for journalists.
And the printing plate that produced their April 20  front page hangs in the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame honorees

Thursday, we honor ten more men and women in the 42nd annual ceremony at the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. It's my privilege to work as director of the hall, following founder Ray Tassin and colleague Denny Hall. 
IMeanwhile, here are their brief bios.

 JIM ELLIS (1953- ), sports editor of the Miami, OK, News-Record since 1977, also covered sports for the Sequoyah County Times in 1975-77.  Born and raised in Miami, he is a 1971 graduate of Miami High School, a 1973 graduate of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and a 1977 graduate of Northeastern State University. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Eight-Man High School Football Hall of Fame in 2011, and is a member of the Oklahoma Press Association Quarter Century Club. He was a member of the organizing committee of the Oklahoma 8-Man Football Coaches Association All-Star game held in Miami, and still serves. A virtual one-man sports department, he covers more than six high schools plus Northeastern A&M and also assists with page design, photography and feature stories, as well as news coverage such as the Joplin tornado.

CHRISTY GAYLORD EVEREST (1951- ) became chairman and CEO of the Oklahoma Publishing Co. in 2003, the third generation of the Gaylord family to lead The Oklahoman, until its sale in 2012. A director of Opubco since 1975, she was named president in 2002, having served as corporate secretary and vice-president.  Extremely active in the community, she is a past Chairman of the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents and past trustee and Chairman of Casady School. Inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2004, she is a past recipient of the Governor's Arts Award, and the Casady School Distinguished Graduate Award. She’s served on numerous boards for art, education and health organizations. A trustee of the E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation, she’s a member of the Advisory Committee of the Inasmuch Foundation. She is a driver for Mobile Meals, a weekly tutor at North Highland elementary, and Chairman of the OU Cancer Center Leadership Council.

 GERALD C. GREEN (1939- ), city editor and employee of the Clinton Daily News since 1982, is widely known for his accurate and fair reporting. He led the paper to numerous OPA and AP awards. His career began at the Austin American-Statesman as a sports deskman while attending the University of Texas, where he graduated in 1961. As a captain in the U.S. Air Force, he was a base and wing information officer; news officer for the American Forces Korea Network; and Minuteman missile crew commander. In 1968 he became editor of The Ord Quiz in Nebraska, and in 1977 copy editor for the Dallas Morning News. He started The Leader at Clinton in 1978, winning the OPA Sweepstakes Award for the state’s 37 largest weeklies. He is a member of the Clinton Kiwanis Club.

WILLIAM “BILL” C. MORGAN (1930-2012) began his 62-year career in journalism at Oklahoma A&M University at the Daily O’Collegian. After graduation, he returned to his hometown of Bartlesville to work at the Bartlesville Record. In the Korean War, he served in the U.S. Army Press Corps as regional editor for the Stars and Stripes in Tokyo.  In 1954, Morgan joined the Henryetta Daily Freelance. In 1957, he bought the Wetumka Gazette, renaming it The Hughes County Times. Morgan also published The Calvin Chronicle and Oklahoma Peanut and eventually acquired The Weleetkan. He won numerous awards from OPA and other organizations for layouts, columns and editorials on wildlife, soil and water conservation. Morgan worked on the campaigns of Henry Bellmon and Dewey Bartlett, serving as a delegate to the 1968 Republican National convention. Always outspoken and opinionated, his "In Our Times" column was looked forward to by all readers whether they agreed with his viewpoint or not.

  NEAL KENNEDY (1949- ) began his radio news reporting as a student at KCSC-FM in 1969 at then Central State University, graduating in 1971.  He also worked at The Oklahoma Journal, at night in 1969-70, and at WKY radio until 1974. He worked for KRMC News in Oklahoma City in 1974-75 and at KVOO News in Tulsa in 1975-1999. He reported for KRMG News in Tulsa from 1999-2008. His news work earned the Edward R. Murrow Award, and numerous AP and UPI broadcasting awards. He is past president of the AP and UPI broadcasting associations, past president of Oklahoma Sigma Delta Chi, on the board of the Tulsa Press Club, and in the Tulsa Press Club gridiron cast from 1977-1997. He taught broadcasting at Tulsa Community College and Rogers State University, was a KVOO Explorer Post 1170 leader, and an announcer at the Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in 1977-2007. He was born in Hawaii Territory.

ANTHONY SHADID (1968 –2012) was foreign correspondent for The New York Times based in Beirut. He won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2004 and 2010 for coverage of the Iraq war. From 2003 to 2009 he was Islamic affairs correspondent for The Washington Post. He also worked as Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press in Cairo, news editor of the AP Los Angeles bureau, and for the Boston Globe. His 2005 book Night Draws Near, covered the war’s effects on Iraqi people, Ridenhour Book Prize. He won numerous awards, including Overseas Press Club and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Shadid was a 2011 recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the American University of Beirut. Born in Oklahoma City and a graduate of Heritage Hall High School, he was a 1990 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He died from an asthma attack covering the turmoil in Syria.     

STAN STAMPER (1953- ) began his journalism career at age 11 as sports photographer for the family-owned Hugo Daily News, becoming printer’s devil the next year. He graduated from OU in seven semesters with a journalism degree, where he worked as a staff photographer at the Norman Transcript and also earned his private pilot’s license. He returned to Hugo as advertising manager in 1975. In 1980 he and his wife Judy bought the paper, becoming the youngest daily newspaper publisher in America.  He also publishes the Choctaw County Times, and has written two aviation novels. The new Hugo airport was named after him in 1983, and he was named Oklahoma Aviator of the Year in 1997. He was chairman of the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission, and has served as officer and member of several local and state organizations. Named Hugo citizen of the year in 1994, he’s also won many awards for writing and photography.

JAMES D. WATTS, JR. (1961- ) has covered the arts for the Tulsa World since 1992, winning awards in arts criticism from the AP and the Society of Professional Journalists, the Governor’s Arts Award for media in 2001, and a 2008 Pulitzer nomination in criticism. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, he was valedictorian of the H.H. Herbert School of Journalism in 1983. He began his career at the Broken Arrow Ledger in 1983 as reporter and wire editor. From 1984-1986 he was editor of the monthly Lost Treasure Magazine, and joined the Continental Heritage Press in 1986 as editor of three magazines. From 1987 to 1992 he was fine arts report and critic for the Tulsa Tribune. He won the Harwelden Award in 2006 for contributions to the arts in 2006, and was a participant in a national institute in classical music and opera in 2004 in New York City. .

FAITH L. WYLIE (1953- ) was bitten by the journalism bug in high school where she was yearbook editor, worked in the educational TV studio, and met John Wylie. She and John purchased the Oologah Lake Leader in 1984, where as co-publisher she handles all layout and design work, including the newspaper’s pioneering web site. The paper has won 14 OPA Sequoyah Awards and eight first place honors from the NNA. OPA presented both she and John the Beachy Musselman Award in 1993. She earned a BFA in graphic design from the University of Kansas; was production artist at Sun Publications in Johnson County; Kansas; graphic designer for BR Johnson Studio in 1976-1978; and was art director at Old American Insurance Company in 1979-1984. She has served as president of the Oologah Historical Society and was named Chamber Citizen of the Year in 1985.     

JOHN M. WYLIE II (1953- ), co-publisher of the Oologah Lake Leader since 1984, is known for award-winning investigative journalism. His career began in 1972 as correspondent for the Des Moines Register and UPI and news director of KDIC-FM while a student at Grinnell College. He joined the Kansas City Star in 1974, becoming its first full-time energy and environment writer. He was part of the Star team that won a Pulitzer for coverage of the Hyatt disaster in 1982. At Oologah, his investigations for the Leader and national and international publications of McGraw-Hill have concentrated on energy regulation, attracting national attention. His reporting has earned more than 200 writing awards. The Leader has won 14 OPA Sequoyah Awards and eight first place honors from the NNA. OPA presented both he and his wife Faith the Beachy Musselman Award in 1993. Active in numerous journalism and community groups, he was named Oologah Citizen of the Year in 1991.