FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb. 21, 2007

Joe Wills
530-898-4143

Oakland Tribune Editor to Talk on Diversity in Journalism

Martin Reynolds, managing editor of the Oakland Tribune, will give a talk on diversity in journalism Thursday, March 1, as part of a campus visit funded by California State University, Chico's partnership with the MediaNews Group newspaper company.

Reynolds' talk is in Ayres 106 and begins at 7:15 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public.

Reynolds will also be the featured speaker at CSU, Chico's "High School Journalism Day" Saturday, March 3. This annual event brings high school students with an interest in journalism to campus for workshops, training and a chance to win awards for journalistic excellence.

CSU, Chico entered a partnership in 2006 with MediaNews Group, one of the country's largest newspaper companies, with 54 daily newspapers in 12 states, including Chico's Enterprise Record. The aim of the partnership is to enroll and train journalism students from historically underrepresented populations. CSU, Chico will receive $59,000 from MediaNews Group during the course of the four-year partnership.

One aspect of the partnership is to invite visiting newspaper professionals to CSU, Chico to work with current or prospective journalists. Along with his public talks, Reynolds will sit in on journalism classes and critique the work of the staff of The Orion, CSU, Chico's award-winning student newspaper.

Reynolds was named managing editor of the Oakland Tribune Nov. 10, 2006. Previously he had been a reporter as well as assistant editor, associate editor and special projects editor at the newspaper.

As a reporter, Reynolds won a William Randolph Hearst award for his story on former Black Panther William Lee Brent and garnered a nomination for the Society of Professional Journalists Emerging Young Journalist award. While associate editor, Reynolds started the company's first multimedia training seminars and the development of student news bureau programs with the UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University.

A Berkeley native, Reynolds, 38, attended San Francisco State before beginning his reporting career. Along with his work as an editor, Reynolds is also a professional song-writer and vocalist. He has toured in the United States and Europe and performed on-stage with artists including Carlos Santana, Joshua Redman, The Coup and Wu Tang Clan.

Reynolds' March 1 talk will focus on the reasons why journalism needs diversity in newsrooms. He will discuss the changing demographics in California and how that impacts news coverage and the journalists covering the state.

Dave Waddell, adviser to The Orion, said the MediaNews Group partnership will fund an expansion of CSU, Chico's High School Journalism Day. Along with approximately 60-80 area high school students, an additional 10 students will be attending from the Media Academy in Oakland as well as other students from the Bay Area.

Waddell said several Orion editors had their first exposure to Chico through High School Journalism Day, including Red Bluff High School graduate Stephanie Teague, now a magazine journalist in New York, and Lassen High's Travis Miller, who last completed an internship at the Austin American Statesman. CSU, Chico's Department of Journalism started High School Journalism Day in 1997.

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