Hall inducts five

After a two-year delay, the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame welcomed five new members in an induction ceremony April 9 in Indianapolis.

Reporter Tim Evans; editors Tim Harmon, Leisa Richardson and Bob Zaltsberg; and the late photojournalist Ed Reinke joined the 200-plus hall of fame members as high-achieving representatives of their fields who practice and defend journalism in Indiana and beyond.

“They have waited a long time for this, and we have waited to celebrate with them,” said IJHF executive director Larry Taylor in launching the ceremony at the Marriott North in Indianapolis. The hall of fame first planned the ceremony in 2020, but was derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Taylor and board president Linda Negro presented the awards, which featured video biographies of each new member. Then, new members offered their thoughts on their careers and paths to the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.

Tim Evans

Reporter Tim Evans spent 40 years honing his skills before he broke one of the biggest national stories of recent years, the gymnastics abuse scandal perpetrated by physician Larry Nasser, for the Indianapolis Star.

Evans lauded his fellow newspaper editors and co-workers -- including hall of fame members Eunice Trotter and Leisa Richardson, and Star reporter Bruce Smith -- as mentors and role models who supported and coached him.

“I was lucky enough to sit near Bruce when I first came to the Star,” Evans recalled. “He was the first high-end reporter I really knew, and it was a learning experience.” As he watched Smith work through numerous sources in the depth of his reporting, Evans said he found the perfect model.

“If Bruce was getting seven sources, I’d tell myself I had to get eight,” Evans said.

Evans said colleagues, including “accidental mentors,” were critical from his beginnings out of college without a degree to his place 40 years later as a reporter with numerous prestigious awards.

“I have been smart enough to surround myself with good people, and I’ve been able to absorb so much from them,” he said.

Tim Harmon

As an editor at several Indiana newspapers, Tim Harmon has been devoted to making a difference, whether through investigative projects or editorial writing or making sure his staff reflected the diversity in the community.

“As a manager, I tried to get good journalists, then turn them loose on the community and watch them get better and better,” he told his audience. “And they changed things in the process.”

As a newsroom leader in South Bend and Fort Wayne, Harmon and his staff took on risky projects, such as reporting from inside a Ku Klux Klan rally or investigating a popular priest charged with child molesting.

“Early on as a manager, I saw there was more than writing a good lead,” he said. “We could get people help. We could urge the community to overcome problems.”

Changes, such as newsroom layoffs as newspaper business models change and recent shifts in the public’s perception of news vs. “fake news,” have concerned him.

“Journalists sound the alarm when values are threatened,” he said. “I love this profession because it remains a beacon of reason in a desperately fraught world.”

Ed Reinke

Dale Eisman at IJHF Induction Ceremony — Dale Eisman showed inductee Ed Reinke’s work from the Indiana University Daily Student during his talk about the late photojournalist. Four of Reinke’s friends from their days at the student newspaper through four decades of professional work shared anecdotes about Reinke’s accomplished career. (Photo by Chad Parkinson)

The late Ed Reinke served as a photojournalist covering news and sports events for more than 40 years for Associated Press, Cincinnati Enquirer and others, and created now-iconic photos in the process.

He started his career as an undergrad at Indiana University working on the Daily Student, using borrowed equipment to learn his new craft. His friends from that time and throughout his career were on hand Saturday to share their memories of a colleague so accomplished – and such a friend to his colleagues – that his memory has become a meme among photojournalists 11 years after his death.

Stickers featuring the word “Ed” on a plaid background may be seen on cameras, camera bags and other equipment wherever photojournalists are on the job. Reinke, partial to a plaid sport coat while working events, died after a fall while covering the 2011 Kentucky Derby, one of his signature events. Shortly afterward, a friend designed the stickers as a memorial gesture, one that continues to this day.

It’s easy to see why his friends never will forget Ed Reinke, according to those who stayed close throughout their photojournalism careers, sometimes working together or as competitors, often one another’s best men at their weddings, always tight friends.

Brian Horton talked about the time new photog Reinke insisted his photo of a student dropping a snowball from atop the union building be published on the front page of the Daily Student as a long, vertical shot. His enthusiasm – and his photo – convinced the editors.

Horton said Reinke reacted “like a little kid at Christmas” when he saw the Courier-Journal’s full color, high-quality section after the 1972 Kentucky Derby. Years later, Reinke was the planner for all of the Associated Press coverage of the Derby.

But Reinke also appreciated nature and small beauties, often making pictures of the natural world or observations of people at work and play, his friends said. And his early adoption of technology and creative use of multimedia paved the way for less enthusiastic photojournalists to adapt as well.

“From his early 20s, he had enthusiasm for making images, loved the thrill of sharing with readers, and enjoyed the fun of working with colleagues,” Horton said.

Leisa Richardson

Leisa Richarson at IJHF Induction Ceremony — Inductee Leisa Richardson credited mentors and colleagues with her success as a newspaper leader at several publications, including the Cincinnati Enquirer and her current post at the State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois. (Photo by Chad Parkinson)

Editor, manager and reporter Leisa Richardson said the honor of being a member of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame “was more than I ever expected when I started out as an obituary writer.”

That job was at her hometown newspaper in Anderson. She said her goals at that time were to write and to provide for her two sons.

“Journalism has given me so much more,” Richardson said. “I have worked with extraordinary people, within the newsroom, within the community, with people who have been willing to share their stories with journalists.”

Richardson’s obituary gig led to a copyediting job at the Danville, Illinois, Commercial News. She returned to the Anderson paper as editor/publisher, then moved on to the Indianapolis Star in a variety of leadership and management roles. She later spent 14 years at the Cincinnati Enquirer, retired early, then came out of retirement to lead the State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois.

“So many have moved me far, pushed me hard, showed me my way,” Richardson said. “I owe all of them.”

Richardson has been that motivator herself, working closely with staff and, as a leader, diversifying newsrooms. As someone who has often been the only female, the only Black person or often both in a newsroom, she knows the importance of hearing all voices.

“I found my voice advocating for newsroom diversity, and I also found value in organizations such as the National Association of Black Journalists,” Richardson said.

She acknowledged the many challenges in the field, but said she keeps her eye on what is important.

“We all work hard,” she said. “We work hard because we make a difference. We change communities. We change lives.”

Bob Zaltsberg

Retired editor Bob Zaltsberg credits his staff, his publisher and his community for any successes he had in his 33 years as editor of the Herald-Times in Bloomington.

First, there was the presence of Scott Schurz, publisher and principal in the Schurz network of news organizations.

“He had my back even when our paper was making things uncomfortable for some of his friends,” Zaltsberg said.

Then there was his staff, with changing personnel over the years but always smart, thoughtful and, often, award-winning individuals who kept his newsroom energized.

And, there was community, from Indiana University’s huge directory of experts, many of whom had literally written the book on the subject at hand, to local leaders of business and nonprofits who had extensive knowledge in many areas.

Those “primary sources” were rich assets, too, such as Mabel Gunther, who was a regular on Zaltsberg’s Tuesday Caller program, an afternoon dedicated to calls from the public. While the conversations usually referred to stories or editorials in the paper, Zaltsberg and Gunther formed a friendship over the 11 years of weekly calls.

“One time, she said ‘truth is a prism shattered at the top of the world, and all we can find are shards,’” he said. “She was the embodiment of our readers, people who cared about what they read, what happened in their communities, and had wisdom beyond what we see.”

All of these sources helped Zaltsberg frame the estimated 10,000 or so editorials he wrote over the years, he said, pieces that elicited reactions ranging from fury to celebration to support for change.

Also during the celebration, Taylor introduced IJHF board members and the Indiana University Media School team that helped stage the event. The Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame partnered with the IU School of Journalism (now part of the Media School) in 2009. The Media School team supports the hall with videos and print materials, and has been essential to the development of the hall’s new website. The hall’s archives are housed at the Media School in Franklin Hall on the IU campus in Bloomington.

Taylor also announced that the next class of inductees will be honored in spring 2023. The nomination process opens this spring, with submissions due Oct. 31. Learn more on the IJHF website.