The Ohio Newsroom Names Managing Editor
COLUMBUS, OH – July 7, 2022 – Award-winning journalist Clare Roth has been chosen to lead The Ohio Newsroom, becoming the first managing editor to take the editorial reins for Ohio’s largest daily statewide news collaborative. Roth, a seasoned journalist, will coordinate the journalistic work of Ohio’s network of public radio newsrooms to cover the many “news deserts” in the state that typically don’t have coverage, pull stories that would not have been otherwise told, and share them statewide. Roth will start her position as managing editor for The Ohio Newsroom on July 25.
“Clare brings creative energy, editorial heft, and a collaborative spirit to this critical role,” said Wendy Turner, general manager, Ohio Public Media Services. “She’s a strategic thinker and coalition builder, which are essential attributes for building this initiative and meeting this moment.”
Roth was most recently news editor at WFPL in Louisville, Ky. where she oversaw coverage of health, education, the environment, and Southern Indiana. She began her career as a producer of Iowa Public Radio, having returned to her native state after graduating from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. At Iowa Public Radio, Roth booked interviews with everyone from pig farmers to presidential candidates. From there she worked at NPR member station WOSU 89.7 NPR News in Columbus, Ohio where she hosted “All Things Considered” and anchored the daily drive-time program, election nights, breaking news, and the occasional talk show. The state’s Associated Press Media Editors Association named her their broadcast rising star and best radio host in back-to-back years.
“I started my career at a statewide station, and it taught me what a difference public radio can make in news deserts,” said Roth. “It also drove home how good journalism can help create community and connection across county lines.”
“So many of the new journalism models require starting from the ground-up,” said Ronnie Agnew, general manager at WOSU and member of the search committee. “The Ohio Newsroom is not a bright, shiny new object, but rather a reorganization of existing assets and partnerships to address the challenges of the new environment.”
About The Ohio Newsroom
The Ohio Newsroom is a formal collaboration of Ohio’s existing network of public radio newsrooms that creates a sustainable model offering news coverage. This coverage includes news from rural areas, towns, and municipalities that are not typically covered as widely and frequently as the urban “C-Cities Corridor” of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. The collaborative consists of Ideastream Public Media (Cleveland), WOSU Public Media (Columbus) and WYSO (Yellow Springs), Cincinnati Public Radio (Cincinnati), WCSU (Wilberforce, Ohio), WGTE (Toledo), and WYSU (Youngstown).
The core goal of The Ohio Newsroom is to expand the frequency, quality and depth of reporting available to all public radio stations to address the issues that can make our state better for all involved. It is Ohio’s largest newsroom, positioned to cover, uncover, and illuminate the most important issues, events, and stories affecting the lives of all Ohioans.
About WOSU Public Media
The mission of WOSU Public Media is to engage, inform and inspire our diverse community. An NPR and PBS affiliate licensed by The Ohio State University, WOSU is a non-commercial multimedia organization serving over two million citizens in Central Ohio through broadcast, digital, programming, public engagement and education e
xperiences. Learn more at wosu.org.
CONTACT:
Amy Tillinghast (she/her)
Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
1800 N. Pearl Street | Columbus, OH 43201
amy.tillinghast@wosu.org | 614-688-2166 | wosu.org
