MTSU has unveiled its new Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame, inducting their first class from both electronic and print communicators. MTSU College of Mass Communications Dean Roy Moore says the partnership is a reminder of Tennessee's journalism excellence...
Each of the inductees spoke to the crowd gathered Friday at MTSU's Murphy Center. They include the late Channel 4 anchor Dan Miller, former NewsChannel 5 anchor Chris Clark, News 2 anchor Ann Holt, Chairman Emeritus of the Tennessean John Seigenthaler, Dean Stone of the Daily Times in Maryville and Bill Williams, Publisher Emeritus of the Paris Post-Intelligencer. Clark quipped during his speech...
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. Several media locals, including WGNS' Bart Walker, were on the organizational committee for the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame. An extended story is online at wgnsradio.com, keyword journalism.
- 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.
- 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.