Journalists arrive on campus to start Kiplinger Program

COLUMBUS -- Talented journalists from across the country will soon arrive at The Ohio State University’s Columbus campus to start the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism.

The six journalists, who begin the program in early January, are coming from a wide range of posts, including The Los Angeles Times, The Seattle Times and the Albany ( N.Y.) Times Union. They include award-winning newspaper reporters and an Emmy award-winning television producer. The journalists have covered a diverse range of issues, from media content and decision making to race and ethnicity issues, police beats, courts, the Ohio Statehouse and national and local political campaigns.

“We could not be more pleased that the newly restructured program attracted such a high level of talent this year,” said Kiplinger Director Debra Jasper. “The competition to get into the program was extremely tough, and those select few who were chosen are dynamic individuals with a strong interest in producing public affairs journalism that makes a difference.”

The updated Kiplinger Program will welcome the Fellows in 2005 to their new home in the John Glenn Institute, a nonpartisan department at the University. The Institute runs a broad range of programs training policymakers, expanding policy research and stimulating interest in public
service and public policy.

Fellows will spend their six months in the program holding in-depth discussions with media leaders, completing a major journalism project, and interacting with students, faculty experts and policymakers at both the Columbus campus and the Institute’s Washington office.

Here are the journalists who will be participating:

J. Patrick Coolican, a reporter for The Seattle Times, has covered police, politics, higher education and suburban cities. Most recently at The Times, he worked as content director/blogger for the newspaper’s election web site. He also worked as a roving enterprise reporter and covered such issues as the impact of endorsements on elections, gay divorce, new treatments for soldiers returning from war and a school district’s practice of handcuffing students. Coolican also has worked for the Manchester (Conn.) Journal Inquirer and The Keene (N.H.) Sentinel. He graduated cum laude from an honors program at the University of Notre Dame structured around the Great Books canon of Western philosophy, science and literature.

Tom Jacobs is an Emmy award-winning journalist with nearly three decades in television news and information programming. His 1978 appointment as news manager at WKYC-TV, an NBC owned-and-operated station in Cleveland, made him one of the pioneers among African-Americans to reach the ranks of news management in a major television market. He went on to hold senior news management positions in Boston, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., with Westinghouse, Metromedia and Black Entertainment Television. He has won five regional Emmy awards and was a National Emmy finalist for a community service documentary on the plight of the homeless. He also has created and been executive producer of several ground-breaking programs, culminating in two nationally broadcast PBS series dealing with multi-culturalism, “The Calling” and “VillageAmerica.” He studied history and political science at Denison University.

Elizabeth A. Jensen, a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, covers television news and media content and decision-making. She has covered television’s increasingly complicated role in the U.S. political process, the rise of non-U.S. media and discontent in public broadcasting. She also broke the news on Sinclair Broadcast Group’s plan, later aborted, to have its stations air an anti-Kerry film 10 days before the election. Jensen previously worked as a senior writer for Brill’s Content as well as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News, Variety and other news outlets. She has a master’s degree in international relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she spent her second year on a MacJannet Scholarship at l’Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva, Switzerland. She specialized in Latin American politics and religion, international trade and public diplomacy. She also has a degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Paul E. Kostyu is an award-winning reporter and Statehouse Bureau Chief for Copley Ohio Newspapers. He covers state agencies, the Ohio Supreme Court, the state legislature and governor. His work has won numerous journalism awards, including three first-place investigative reporting awards since 2003 and two first place reporting awards in 2004 from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors. Before returning to work as a journalist, Kostyu was a tenured associate professor of journalism at Ohio Wesleyan, where he taught media law, advanced reporting, journalism history and other media courses. He is also a nationally known expert on the Freedom of Information Act. He is editor of the Working Press, the national convention newspaper for the Society of Professional Journalists and former president of the Central Ohio SPJ Chapter.

Joel Moroney is an award-winning special projects reporter for the Mansfield News Journal, where he has covered a variety of beats and is responsible for the newspaper’s investigative stories and coverage of all criminal justice issues. In 2002, he co-authored an eight-day series, “What Killed Corey Jones,” which won several awards, including first place enterprise, best coverage of children’s issues and a state public service award. He was also recognized for another series, called “Policing the Police,” exposing problems with the Mansfield Police Department. Moroney has a degree in journalism and communications from The Ohio State University. During his time in college, he spent a year at the Akron Beacon Journal covering the Ohio legislature and state government.

Breea C. Willingham is a reporter for the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union, where she covers Schenectady County Courts, the town of Niskayuna, and race and ethnicity issues. Her story on single black women who can’t find compatible black men was recently nominated for best feature story in the Hearst quarterly contest. She previously covered education for the
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, The Greenville (S.C.) News and police and courts for the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C. She was a Fellow in 2001 at a Race and Ethnicity seminar at the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and a Fellow in 2001 and 2002 at seminars at the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media. She has a master’s degree in business management from Webster University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Deborah Merritt, director of the Institute, said she is eager to welcome the new ldquo;Kips” to the Institute and Ohio State. “This is an outstanding group of Kiplinger Fellows,” Merritt commented. “They have extensive experience in covering public affairs issues and will add to our understanding of both policy issues and the critical role that journalists play in public policy debate.”

Merritt also noted that the Fellows will give back to the University in a number of ways, including mentoring students at The Lantern and WOSU, conducting workshops and working with John Glenn Scholars. In addition, the Fellows will be among the first residents of Page Hall, the historic building on Ohio State’s Oval that the Institute moves into on Dec. 8. In the new building, the journalists will have significant opportunities to explore policy issues with policy faculty, interdisciplinary scholars, Senator John Glenn and visiting policymakers.

The Kiplinger Program was conceived in 1972 by Austin H. Kiplinger as a tribute to his father, W.M. Kiplinger ‘12, one of the first two journalism majors at Ohio State and editor of The Lantern his senior year. The Kiplinger Foundation, also founded by W.M. Kiplinger, has supported the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism since its founding in 1972. The Kiplinger organization, which publishes business forecasting and personal money management information, including the Kiplinger Letter and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, is now led by W.M. Kiplinger’s grandson, Knight. He continues to be a strong supporter of the program, saying journalists need the chance to sharpen their public affairs skills and build substantive knowledge of the subjects they cover. “It’s important for journalists to take a break from the daily grind and explore such topics as economics, history, law, science, sociology and corporate finance,” Kiplinger explained. “And the Kiplinger program allows them to do that in a world-class setting.”