TU alumni at the helm of print, broadcast media outlets
From the Baltimore Beat to “60 Minutes,” TU grads assume leadership positions in the media
By Rebecca Kirkman on February 9, 2019
After a year of behind-the-scenes work to revive the Baltimore Beat, the independent news outlet will return on March 6, again helmed by editor-in-chief Lisa Snowden-McCray ’03.
Conceived by former Baltimore City Paper staffers including Snowden-McCray and Brandon Soderberg weeks after the 40-year-old alternative weekly’s closure, Baltimore Beat first debuted in November 2017 as a weekly newspaper. It ceased operations just four months later after running out of funding.
Next month, the Beat will be reborn as a nonprofit online news outlet through the Baltimore Institute for Nonprofit Journalism founded by Soderberg, Baynard Woods and Marc Steiner.
Snowden-McCray says the Beat aims to provide an outlet for more voices coming out of Baltimore.
“We are one of the few outlets in Baltimore, or even the country, with a black woman at the helm,” Snowden-McCray says. “That perspective matters, especially in a majority-black city like Baltimore. Journalism is still very white, and that is reflected not only in the stories that are told, but how those stories are framed.”
Funding through donations will give Snowden-McCray and her staff the freedom to report on stories often overlooked in traditional media. “We at the Beat tend to tackle some things that other outlets won't: things like #metoo and politics, sex work, policing and race.”
It’s not the only recent achievement by TU alumni in the media.
On Feb. 1, Tribune Publishing announced Baltimore Sun Media Group executive Timothy J. Thomas ’81 will serve as interim general manager of The Morning Call Media Group. In this position, Thomas will essentially be filling the role of publisher, which has been vacant at the Allentown, Pennsylvania, newspaper since late July.
And on Feb. 6, Bill Owens ’88 was named executive producer of “60 Minutes” on CBS. His long career with the network began as an intern in summer 1988. He had been executive editor of “60 Minutes” since 2008, and he co-executive produced and launched “60 Minutes Sports” in 2012.
Owens was awarded an honorary doctorate at TU’s spring 2012 commencement ceremony.
This story is one of several related to President Kim Schatzel’s priorities for Towson University: TU Matters to Maryland.