FOR RELEASE: April 26, 2013
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Andrew Oppmann, 615-3389-8851 or Andrew.Oppmann@mtsu.edu
MURFREESBORO — Representing
nearly three centuries of combined journalistic excellence, the first members
of the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame proudly stood before family, friends
and colleagues at MTSU today to encourage the next generation of media
professionals.
“This is the first all-inclusive hall of fame in the state
to showcase talented media professionals in all areas,” John Hood, MTSU
director of governmental and community affairs, told the crowd assembled inside
Murphy Center for the ceremony.
“These people all put Volunteer State journalism on the
world map of credibility. We also appreciate that the hall of fame is at MTSU,
because its College of Mass Communication is recognized globally for producing
all kinds of media professionals.”
The hall’s inaugural inductees include:
·
Chris
Clark, retired chief news anchor for WTVF-TV NewsChannel 5 in
Nashville, who produced multiple global documentaries and played a strategic
role in convincing the Tennessee Supreme Court to allow cameras in courtrooms.
Clark, the longest tenured news anchor in Tennessee with his 41-year stint at
WTVF, is currently an MTSU mass communication instructor.
·
Anne
Holt, who is a 30-year veteran and three-time Emmy Award winner
at WKRN-TV News 2 in Nashville. Among her numerous accolades, she is a
recipient of the coveted George Foster Peabody Award for investigative
reporting and the Distinguished Service Award from the Tennessee Association of
Broadcasters.
·
The late Dan Miller, the longtime chief news anchor at Nashville’s WSMV-TV
Channel 4, where he was once named the “Most Popular News Anchor in America”
and was voted Nashville’s “Best News Anchor” multiple times. A winner of
multiple Emmy Awards, Miller died in 2009.
·
John
Seigenthaler, who is chairman emeritus of The
Tennessean in Nashville, founding editorial director of USA Today and founder
of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University as well as MTSU’s
Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies.
·
Dean
Stone, who is editor of The Daily Times in Maryville as well as a
featured columnist. He served multiple terms as president of the Tennessee
Associated Press Managing Editors, now known as the Tennessee Associated Press
Media Editors.
·
William
Bryant “Bill” Williams Jr., a third-generation
community newspaper publisher, who is publisher emeritus of the Paris (Tenn.)
Post-Intelligencer, a newspaper that has served the Henry County community
since 1866.
Each of the inductees had words of thanks for their
supporters as well as encouragement for the students gathered for their own
annual awards ceremony for their scholarship and work products.
Holt reminded the young people of their “obligation” to
ensure the accuracy of their news stories. Miller’s wife, Karen, recalled the
“flurry of information to be sifted through” in the newsroom where her husband
worked, often with their young daughter at his feet under his anchor desk,
“working” alongside her dad.
Seigenthaler, who started in 1948 as a copyboy in the
newsroom of the newspaper he’d later lead, noted the dedication of the media
industry people around him, saying, “For most of my professional life, I’ve
interacted with all the people up here in this inaugural class with me.”
Stone, who continues working at his newspaper at age 88 and
has founded and contributed to numerous service organizations in Blount County,
said that his journalism work was a part of his determination to be of service
to the community. And Williams, who has 28 members of his extended family
working in some form of media outlet or printing and still serves as the
paper’s chief editorial writer, joked that he has a granddaughter in college
radio to continue the family tradition.
The new Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame at MTSU, which was
officially unveiled in October 2012 after four years of planning, will be
housed at the John Bragg Mass Communication Building inside the Center for
Innovation in Media.
The hall was the brainchild of Hooper Penuel, a retired
lieutenant colonel and public information officer for the Tennessee National
Guard, and newspaper columnist Dan Whittle.
“It was an idea born about four years ago of a backyard
visit,” Hood explained to the crowd, “to include all aspects of modern
journalism, not only print, radio and TV but electronic media and public
relations in Tennessee.”
MTSU journalism professor Larry Burriss joined the pair in
their efforts, becoming president of the hall’s board of directors with Whittle
as vice president and Penuel as secretary/treasurer.
After the special Hall of Fame induction, the College of
Mass Communication recognized another group of MTSU alumni and friends as
members of its “Wall of Fame.”
The Wall of Fame began in 2000 as a way to both honor
successful mass-communication graduates and inspire current students to
continue working toward their goals. Each year, each of the college’s departments
solicits nominees from faculty, chooses an honoree and submits his or her name
to the dean. The inductees are added to the Wall of Fame roster at the
college’s annual Awards Day for students.
The 2013 Mass Communication Wall of Fame inductees bring the
total membership to 75. They are:
·
Dr.
Harold Baldwin, an MTSU professor emeritus of
photography and the latest “Friend of the College,” who built and curated the
renowned photo gallery on campus that now bears his name and will reopen soon
in a revamped site.
·
MTSU alumnus Garry Hood (B.S. ’77), a respected TV production executive who has
served as head stage manager for more than 1,000 hours of the finest network
television specials, including Olympic opening and closing ceremonies,
presidential inaugurals, the Kennedy Center Honors, Super Bowl halftime shows
as well as the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, Tonys and other award shows,
commercials, music videos and films.
·
Alumnus Keith Ryan Cartwright (B.S. ’01), an award-winning journalist since
his college days at Sidelines, the student newspaper, enjoyed a successful
freelance writing and television production career before becoming the senior
writer for Professional Bull Riders Inc. He now manages online content for the
organization’s website and helps produce televised bull-riding events that draw
more than 100 million viewers each year.
·
Alumnus Gary Overton (B.S. ’84), chairman and CEO of Sony Music Nashville
and the former longtime executive vice president of EMI Music Publishing’s
Nashville division. Overton, who served as chair of the Country Music
Association in 2012 and is a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts
and Sciences, also was superstar Alan Jackson’s personal manager and served as
head of A&R for BNA Entertainment and vice president of Warner/Chappell
Music.
·
The late Dr. Thomas “Tom” Hutchison, a longtime member of MTSU’s Department
of Recording Industry who made significant contributions to MTSU’s Music
Business Program, including serving as coordinator of the Music Business
Internship Program and the Executive Online Music Business Program. He also was
instrumental in starting the MTSU/ASCAP Songwriting Degree and in bringing the
NARAS-sponsored Grammy University Network to MTSU, which was one of the first
colleges to adopt the program. Hutchison was on leave from MTSU to serve as
professor of marketing and director of the School of Business and Management at
Husson University in Bangor, Maine, as well as executive director of academic
affairs for Husson’s College of Business, when he died unexpectedly in May
2012.
The College of Mass Communication capped today’s ceremony by
honoring more than 100 students in the Department of Electronic Media
Communication, School of Journalism, Department of Recording Industry and
graduate studies program for their scholarship and professional
accomplishments.
“This all has been an example to our students that
professionalism and talent can be recognized and rewarded,” Mass Communication
Dean Roy Moore said.
“This year we are fortunate to be presenting our students
with more than $35,000 in scholarships and awards, all funded through private
donations.”
For more information about the Tennessee Journalism Hall of
Fame, visit http://www.tnjournalismhof.org.
For more information about MTSU’s College of Mass Communication, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/masscomm.
—30—
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learning, growth and service. We hold these values dear, and there’s a simple
phrase that conveys them: “I am True Blue.” Learn more at www.mtsu.edu/trueblue.
For MTSU news anytime, visit www.MTSUNews.com.
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