Every two years the Public Affairs Reporting program at University of Illinois Springfield reminds us of its impact on the world of journalism by inducting successful graduates into the Bill Miller PAR Hall of Fame. Bill Miller was director of the 40-year-old program during its first 19 years, followed by Charlie Wheeler, former Sun-Times reporter, who has led it since 1993. The one-year master’s degree program uses state government as its reporting laboratory and emphasizes on-the-job training by placing students in internships reporting for news organizations, including Illinois Times. This year’s inductees were 1974 graduate Robert Secter, political reporter for the Chicago Tribune, 1978 grad Deborah Singer Peterson, editorial writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Chuck Abbott, a 1975 graduate who covers agriculture for a food and environment website. In his acceptance remarks, Secter contrasted the role of journalists with the ubiquitous Internet “content-providers.” They provide content, he said. “We provide context.” For 40 years the public affairs reporting program has helped prepare journalists to put the world in context. –Fletcher Farrar, editor and publisher
This article appears in Mar 12-18, 2015.
