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NEWS about the journalism program

Second Emmy Award for Gary Langer '80

Gary Langer '80, polling director for ABC News, has added a 2008 Emmy Award to the one he won in 2005. Both were for the polling unit's work on "Iraq: Where Things Stand"; they are the only two Emmy Awards ever to cite a polling operation.

Under Langer, ABC News has conducted three polls of ordinary people in Afghanistan and five in Iraq. As part of the network's coverage of the conflicts, the polls measure changes in residents' daily lives.

"Iraq: Where Things Stand" won ABC the 2008 Emmy for "Best Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast." More on Langer, who has been with ABC since 1980 and been polling director since 1998.

Journalism alumni win new round of '08 awards

As the fall awards season gets rolling, UNH journalism grads are again being recognized for excellent work. Lynne Tuohy ’77 of the Hartford Courant won a New England public service award, and UNH alums took first place for feature writing in all three newspaper size categories in the region. Steve Damish '83 of The Enterprise in Brockton, Mass., won not just a New England award but two national feature-writing awards from the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors.

Tuohy and fellow Courant reporter Lisa Chedekel won the Sevellon Brown Award from the New England Associated Press News Executives Association (NEAPNEA) for a series of stories about the Haven Healthcare nursing home chain. The series had previously won Connecticut’s top awards for public service and investigative reporting.

In NEAPNEA’s feature-writing contest, Tom Mooney ’82 of the Providence Journal won first place for large papers, and Steve Damish ’83 of The Enterprise in Brockton, Mass., won for medium-sized papers. In the under-30,000 size category, three 2004 UNH journalism grads won feature-writing prizes. Karen Sanborn Lovett and Ashley Smith of The Telegraph of Nashua shared first place, and Melanie Asmar of the Concord Monitor took second.

See the alumni awards page for more winners and links to winning stories.

Meet the 2008 student award winners

This year we added the Natalie Salatich Jacobson Journalism Scholarship to our roster of student awards. Thanks to Natalie (UNH '65) and WCVB-TV in Boston, from which she retired last year, we presented the first "Nat" award to John Ferguson '09 at a ceremony in May.

For more on John and the other '08 award winners -- Abbie Crocker '08, Mike Farrell '09, Amanda Flitter '10 -- see the student awards page.

Jane Harrigan says goodbye

Holy exclamation point! It's a journalist writing in first person! Spring 2008 was my last semester teaching at UNH after, somehow, 23 years. The UNH journalism program has changed my life in a thousand ways I never could have imagined when I crept terrified into Ham Smith in 1985. Journalism is infinitely challenging, of course, but the real reason I've loved this place is the people. I will forever be proud of what all of you have accomplished and will keep accomplishing.

From now on I'll be freelancing (writing, editing, coaching, whatever) and, once Dave retires in January, aiming to have more FUN. But you know I'm the E-Mail Queen, so please keep in touch. You can find me in Atkinson, N.H., or at jane.harrigan@yahoo.com.
Please contribute your memories to my virtual scrapbook: janeharrigan.ning.com

Our 2008 visiting journalist: Natalie Jacobson

One of UNH's most visible alums, Natalie Jacobson '65, spent the week of March 24 on campus as the Donald Murray Visiting Journalist. Natalie retired in 2007 from WCVB-TV, Channel 5 in Boston, where she had worked since the station went on the air in 1972. As the first female evening news anchor in Boston, she covered nearly every major event in recent New England history.

During a week in which the journalism faculty and 175 majors did their best to deplete her impressive energy, Natalie repeatedly reminded students of journalism's crucial role in democracy and urged them to uphold high standards even when others do not. "I would suggest," she told the students, "that you begin by choosing one thing that needs fixing, and fix it."

More on Natalie Jacobson's career.
Her farewell speech.
UNH students to benefit from Jacobson scholarship.

This She Believes

"Courage Comes With Practice," an essay by Theresa MacPhail ’94, aired recently on National Public Radio’s "This I Believe" series. Read or listen.

Theresa’s adventurous life since UNH has included three years in China. She’s now at UC-Berkeley working toward a Ph.D. in medical anthropology, specializing in bird flu. "It’s like getting to do research for the most amazing feature story ever," she says.