The Dow Jones News Fund awarded Professor Emeritus Loren Ghiglione — former dean of the Medill School of Journalism — the 2023 Richard J. Levine Journalism Champion Award Friday. The annual award recognizes individuals whose work contributes to the News Fund’s mission of building a diverse community of young journalists.
Ghiglione prioritized diversity during his time as dean of Medill from 2001 to 2006, increasing the share of faculty, staff directors and students that were people of color to 20 percent, 50 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
During his tenure, Ghiglione was also elected as president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“Loren has always been a champion for elevating voices of those sometimes overlooked. He is a truly deserving recipient of this award,” Medill Dean Charles Whitaker said.
Ghiglione also led journalism programs at Emory University and the University of Southern California before joining Medill’s faculty in 2001.
The recipient of the Richard J. Levine Award is chosen annually by a committee comprising Dow Jones News Fund staff and board members.
Dow Jones News Fund President Brent Jones said Ghiglione’s dedication to local news and journalism education and his strong principles of ethics and diversity aligned with the award’s purpose.
“(Ghiglione’s) leadership and body of work align perfectly with the News Fund’s early-in-career talent mission and Dick Levine’s remarkable record of service and stewardship of high journalistic standards,” Jones said in a Friday news release.
In 1987, Ghiglione was the recipient of the Ida B. Wells Award, honoring those in the media who have dedicated their careers to diversifying the nation’s newsrooms and expanding the coverage of people and communities of color.
He also served as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, where he advocated for more diversity within the news industry, from 1989-1990. There, he initiated a study on the gay and lesbian community within U.S. newsrooms. The study advanced a better understanding of LGBTQ+ journalists’ realities and their role in shaping news coverage.
“As the white editor and publisher of a dinky daily in a very white town in a very white region of the country, I hoped that hiring and maintaining a diverse newsroom staff would not only improve our paper’s coverage but also rebut all the excuses I heard from other editors and publishers about the lack of diversity in their newsrooms,” Ghiglione said in his acceptance speech on Friday.
He also said he intends to put the $2,500 prize money toward his next book, which will be about local nonprofit newsrooms.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated when Ghiglione served as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The Daily regrets the error.
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