I have 30-plus years of newsroom experience, working in print and digital environments, as a staff writer and editor for newspapers, magazines and an international wire service, reporting on local, national and international events.
My management style is collaborative, and I believe in building teams.
____ Professional Experience _____
Communication Consultant — November 2018 to Present.
Works with nonprofit organizations to develop marketing campaigns using email, websites and social media to increase public awareness of and build participation in clients’ programs and projects. Helps nonprofit organizations craft website and social media content, newsletters and presentations.
NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER
Editor in Chief — January 2012 to October 2018
Managed a news room of four editors, five copy editors and production staff, eight reporters and correspondents, and a dozen regular contributors and longtime stringers producing a daily news website and biweekly newspaper.
- In 2018, the website was named best news website by the Catholic Press Association and was one of four finalist for Editor & Publisher’s Eppy Award: “Best Weekly or Non-Daily Newspaper Website with under 1 million unique monthly visitors.”
- During my tenure as editor, NCR staff writers and reporters won scores of awards from the Catholic Press Association, and were finalists and winners in the Religion Newswriters Association annual awards.
- At the end of my tenure, the website was receiving 450,000 unique visitors a month and 1.2 million page views per month.
Lead writer and coordinating editor of editorials.
- During each year of my tenure as editor, NCR won first place for Best Editorial (national newspaper) from the Catholic Press Association and first place for Best Editorial Section three times between 2012 and 2018.
- Regular commentator on Catholic church news for other news outlets, including CBS Morning News, PBS News Hour, various local and national programs for National Public Radio, The Mercury News, New York Times among others.
- In 2015, was lead writer and coordinated the publication of an editorial calling for an end to the death penalty in the United States that ran simultaneously on four national Catholic news sites, which represented a broad spectrum of political and ideological views. The New York Times took note of the effort: “Catholics on Left and Right Find Common Ground Opposing Death Penalty.”
Growing a newspaper into the digital age.
- Working with the publisher, shifted the newsroom culture from a print focus to what we called “a digital first” strategy. Our emphasis shifted to producing content for the daily website and encouraged greater use of graphics, video and audio. We trimmed the use of blogs and commentaries on the website to better showcase our reporting. We encouraged the reporting team to look for “conceptual scoops,” going deeper into a story than other outlets would and exploring aspects of a story that others ignored.
- Digital first strategy entailed redesigning the website to make it more accommodating to multimedia use and to be more responsive to mobile users.
- Digital first strategy also entailed working with my managing editor to reorganize a production process that was still dominated by the needs of our print product. We had to reassign staff duties and responsibilities, teaching staff new skills and designing new systems to track stories from conception through reporting and editing and into production.
Managing Editor — June 2010 to December 2011
- While keeping the duties of web editor, added responsibilities for coordinating production of the biweekly newspaper, including scheduling of stories and regular features. Solely responsible for the newspaper’s Opinion and Arts section.
- Managed NCR’s internship program from its inception. Recruited and hired participants; assigned stories to and edited two paid interns for terms of up to a year.
Web Editor — March 2003 to June 2010
- Managed the transition from a static website that was a repository for some of stories that appeared in print into a full-service, stand-alone news product offering original content along with repurposed print stories.
- Established the first blogs for the website including recruiting and editing contributing writers. Opened first social media accounts for the news organization.
- Became chief content editor for web-based stories. Launched and produced first NCR podcasts.
- Managed transition from html based website to content management system, using Drupal.
__ Based in Bangkok __
Freelance, foreign correspondent — 1995 to 2003
Covered business and economic news, human rights and development issues, and religion, for local newspapers and magazines (including Industry Magazine, The Bangkok Post, The Nation), regional publications (including Asiaweek magazine and The Edge a weekly business magazine based in Kuala Lumpur) and international outlets (including National Catholic Reporter, Catholic News Service).
Associate Editor, Union of Catholic Asian News — 1992-1995
English language editor and copy editor for the Union of Catholic Asian News, which at that time had fully-staffed, full-time bureaus in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta and New Delhi, and part-time bureaus in Bangladesh, South Korea, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. From the Bangkok office we produced a daily bundle of news stories, features and commentaries covering the Catholic Church, human rights and development news throughout Asia.
Staff writer/reporter, various publications — 1985-1986
Staff reporter for the weekly newspapers, The Catholic Key of Kansas City, Mo., and New Catholic Explorer of Joliet, Ill., and as a stringer for the wire service Catholic News Service.
____ Academic Experience _____
Adjunct Instructor, International Bachelor of Arts Program, Bangkok University, Bangkok, Thailand — 1999-2002
Working in the Faculty of Communication Arts, taught the program’s Introduction to Media Writing course. Instruction was in English for Thai and international students.
Visiting Instructor, Asia-Pacific Development and Communication Center, Dhurakij Pundit University, Bangkok, Thailand — 1999-2002
Part of a team that taught three and four week courses in Communication for Social Development to professional development staff members of programs sponsonsored by United Nations offices and international non-governmental organizations, such as UNICEF, World Health Organization, Save the Children, etc. Students, 20-25 per session, came from throughout South and Southeast Asia. My section of the course dealt with “engaging media as partners in development,” basically a workshop in public relations for development professionals.
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis. — 1989-1991
Taught news writing and introduction to public relations writing while working on a master’s degree in mass communication. Co-taught introduction to mass communications, perquisite for all communication majors.
____ Education _____
Master’s in Communication, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin — December 1991
Bachelor of Arts, English and Education, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Missouri — May 1983
____ Memberships and interests_____
- Catholic Press Association of U.S. and Canada
- Religion News Association \Media Consortium (independent news producers)
- Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
- The Writers Place, Kansas City
- Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand
- Parent leader in Tsunami Swim Team of Kansas City
- Lector at St. James Catholic Church, Liberty, Mo.
- Back yard gardener and canner
Dennis Coday 