The senior vice president and executive editor of the Associated Press received the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism’s most prestigious award Monday.
Kathleen Carroll accepted the Carr Van Anda Award for more than a decade of leadership at the AP and a heralded career in journalism in front of an audience that filled Baker University Center Theatre.
After an introduction from Andy Alexander, Scripps Howard visiting professional, Carroll spoke to the crowd about the importance of curiosity in journalism and looking beyond what an agency tells the public.
Carroll highlighted the journalist’s role of engaging and informing its audience through anecdotes from AP reporters.
“I hope that people have a better understanding of how the AP works, and I hope they have a better understanding that some of the best practices of journalism are demystified a little bit,” Carroll said.
Although Carroll isn’t an Ohio University alumna, she is the boss of at least 21 Bobcats, said Robert Stewart, director of the school of journalism.
Stewart and other journalism faculty compiled a list of OU alumni working for the AP on Monday.
“That was the fun part for me today, getting that list put together,” Stewart said.
Although Carroll said she had received some emails from OU alumni working at AP asking to give their regards to the school, she was surprised to see how long Stewart’s list was.
“I hadn’t seen that list before Bob showed me (during the day Monday), and it seemed to add a few people by the time we got to the speech,” Carroll said.
Alexander said he was happy to see women of the journalism school interested in her role as arguably one of the industry’s most influential news managers.
“I think they see Kathleen as someone who has been a groundbreaker for women in the executive ranks she has,” Alexander said.
1964 OU alum David Venz, a retired vice president for public communications for Airbus, and his wife Lucy, a retired news producer for ABC, said they were impressed that OU hosted a speech by such a powerful journalist.
“Having someone like her here, you can envision yourself in that world, and you can get yourself there,” Lucy said.
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