Full text of email in which Penn State trustee/AccuWeather founder Joel N. Myers blasts the NCAA for sanctions against the university.
JUNE 10, 2012 | The last will and testament is supposed to be the final word on a person’s life, wealth and material assets. In almost all cases the documents become public records, on file at the local courthouse for anyone to see. In June, I discovered Joe Paterno’s will was, curiously, not among them. The Associated Press and newspapers across the country picked up the story. After the article appeared, the parent company of The Citizens’ Voice filed a court action pressuring the Paterno family to release the will and have a judge overturn an unusual court order that had sealed the matter.
JAN. 15, 2013 | So far this year, I broke major developments in a hit-and-run crash that killed a five-year-old; covered the latest turn in the Jerry Sandusky case; chronicled a whirlwind day of victory and defeat for a teenager accused of killing his great-grandfather; and revealed a secret criminal investigation into a county official accused of illegally recording telephone calls.
As rumors swirled about Joe Paterno’s health, Mike confirmed the former coach’s condition had worsened and that his wife was summoning friends to say a last goodbye. CBS, ESPN and other outlets picked up the story, citing Mike’s reporting and thousands retweeted his posts on Twitter.
Reporting on the Penn State scandal
Listen to Mike’s recent appearances on the public radio program “Here & Now” reporting on the Penn State child-sex abuse scandal.
“Here & Now,” WBUR/PRI .: December 13, 2011
Mike joins host Robin Young by telephone from Bellefonte, Pa. to discuss the latest in the child-sex abuse case against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The five-minute report, delivered off-the-cuff after Sandusky abruptly waived his preliminary hearing, led the noon broadcast. (Listen)
“Here & Now,” WBUR/PRI .: December 17, 2011
Mike joins host Robin Young by telephone from Harrisburg, Pa. for a brief update on testimony in a preliminary hearing for two Penn State administrators accused of covering up child-sex abuse against against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The report led the noon broadcast, setting up an in-depth story on more allegations of abuse at the university. (Listen)
WVIA-TV | Each month, Mike hosts “State of Pennsylvania,” a regional version of “Meet the Press” on WVIA-TV. The hour-long show features reporters from newspapers across the region discussing the latest news and issues affecting the region and giving insights into how they decide what makes a worthwhile story.
The long, long wait for justice
THE CITIZENS VOICE, MAY 6, 2012 | This wasn’t like him. Michael J. Kerkowski wouldn’t just disappear without telling anyone. His children were expecting him to pick them up from day care, after all. And, his girlfriend, Tammy Fassett, promised his parents that they would stop over and see the brand-new television set — the same set that still flickers and flashes in his mother’s living room a decade later.
Bigler Conference: News Design
Here are some examples from today’s discussion on news design
This week in the news: Mike covers the aftermath of a machete attack on a 15-year-old and a former mob associate’s wild Valentine’s night. Oh, and he discusses the state of the news business with four other journalists on the WVIA-TV program “State of Pennsylvania.”
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Mallary Jean Tenore of Poynter.org featured my May 3 front page in an story on the bold techniques newspaper editors/designers used in covering the killing of Osama bin Laden.
She writes: The Citizens’ Voice’s Tuesday front page combines the use of red, a bold headline and a bin Laden image in a way that differentiated it from many other front pages. It’s one of the few papers that used so much text to illustrate the news.
Read more, including the story of my colleague Tamara Dunn’s exemplary work on deadline to get news of bin Laden’s death into the first-day newspaper, at Poynter.org.
Read more about our coverage on Charles Apple’s news design blog:
• How some of those striking bin Laden covers were developed
• A look at Tuesday’s graphics-heavy bin Laden presentations