Several regionally and nationally recognized women who represent the best and brightest in modern media are speaking to West Virginia University students and the public this week during Journalism Week 2005.
Journalism Week, which the WVU P .I. Reed School of Journalism hosts each spring, is a celebration of journalism, journalists and the role of the media in American life. This years event, sponsored by The Ogden Newspapers Seminar Series, is entitled”Making Their Mark: Celebrating Women in the Media.”
“The School of Journalism believes it is important to lift up the contributions of our female media experts, who have given so very much to the profession, the readers, the viewers and the young people who will come after them,”said Acting Dean Maryanne Reed.
The event will feature an award-winning investigative broadcast reporter, a LexingtonHerald-Leader reporter who has earned national acclaim for a series of stories on that newspapers suppression of the civil rights movement, a nationally recognized advertising executive and two outstanding public relations executives.
Laure Quinlivan
Laure Quinlivan, an investigative reporter and producer at WCPO -TV in Cincinnati, Ohio, will speak at 7 p.m. tonight (March 1) in Room 205, Martin Hall. She has won televisions highest honors, including two George Foster Peabody Awards, the Columbia duPont Award, the Society of Professional Journalists Public Service Award, the Urban Journalism Award and the Walter Cronkite Award. Ohio lawmakers honored Quinlivan on the floor of the Senate recently for her latest accolade, being named”Best Reporter in Ohio.”She will discuss what it takes to be an investigative reporter, how to find the stories that matter and how to report them.
Linda Blackford
Linda Blackford, a reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, in Room 342, Brooks Hall. In July 2004, the LexingtonHerald-Leader issued an apology for failing to adequately cover the civil rights movement four decades ago. Blackford, an award-winning former Charleston Gazette reporter, wrote the front-page mea culpa. The series of articles, titled”Front-page news back-page coverage,”marked both Independence Day and the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Blackford’s articles detailed how the Lexington Herald and the Lexington Leader, the city’s two newspapers at the time, weren’t simply mistakes or oversightsThe papers’management actively sought to play down the movement.
During Wednesdays speech, entitled”Righting a Wrong: Telling the Stories of the Civil Rights Movement in Lexington,”Blackford will detail how the project began. She will also discuss her role as the reporter and writer, the ethical and moral implications of the project and what it’s like when a reporter becomes part of the news.
Pamela Maphis Larrick, Anne Marek and Susan Lavenski will work one-on-one with students throughout the week.
Pamela Maphis Larrick
Pamela Maphis Larrick, chairman and CEO of FCBi Worldwide, provides leadership, strategic vision and passion for creative quality at FCBi Worldwide, the interactive and direct marketing company of Foote Cone&Belding. In her role, Larrick oversees FCBis operations spanning 40 offices in 28 countries and including strategic consulting, relationship marketing, database management, on-line services, e-business strategy, customer care, offline and online media planning and execution, and branded content.
Larrick was named one of Ad Age Globals”Global Power 100”in 2002, a list of the most”innovative, daring and dynamic leaders in marketing, advertising and media.”She has also received the Emerson Lifetime Achievement Award for Innovation in and Service to the direct marketing industry by the John Caples Awards organization. In 1997, she was named one of 25 women leaders of the advertising industry by Ad Age in the first year it bestowed those honors.
Anne Marek
Anne Marek, senior account executive, joined Widmeyer Communications in Washington, D.C., in 2004 with a diverse background in public relations, non-profit media campaigning, political fundraising and television production. At Widmeyer, Marek provides media relations and communications outreach to various clients in the public and private sectors.
Prior to joining Widmeyer Communications, Marek was Communications Manager of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD). Hired to streamline the FDD Communications Department, Marek built an efficient communications operation, implementing various media tracking, analysis and outreach solutions. Marek coordinated events centered on promoting pro-democracy activists from the Islamic world including various outreach projects on behalf of The Women for a Free Iraq campaign, an alliance of over 100 Iraqi women to rally support for the liberation of Iraq.
Susan Lavenski
Susan Lavenski, senior vice president for Charles Ryan Associates, has spearheaded public awareness campaigns for public entities and corporations throughout the region. An expert in media relations and public involvement, she counsels clients in both the public and private sectors.
Lavenski is the leader of Charles Ryan AssociatesTransportation Practice Group and in this capacity has provided public involvement counsel on more than 20 transportation projects in four states since 1999. Her duties at Charles Ryan Associates also include managing the public relations staff and providing strategic counsel for all accounts.