Gazette-Mail's Ward receives MacArthur Fellowship

Staff report 3 hrs ago



Ken Ward Jr. in his office at the Charleston Gazette-Mail newsroom on Sept. 21, 2018.

Photo courtesy John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Ken Ward Jr., an award-winning reporter at the Charleston Gazette-Mail and the Charleston Gazette for more than a quarter-century, was today awarded a MacArthur Fellowship – commonly known as a “genius grant” – from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Ward was chosen because he excels at “revealing the human and environmental toll of natural resource extraction in West Virginia and spurring greater accountability among public and private stakeholders,” according to a citation from the MacArthur Foundation announced today. ... Ward, 50, is the only journalist in the group of 25 fellows announced today, a group that includes scientists, artists, authors, scholars and advocates. He sees the fellowship as an “incredible honor,” but also an indication that the reporting done here is valuable.

“This shows the importance and value of the kind of journalism I believe in, and that most of us have been trying to do for decades here,” Ward said. ... “This incredible honor from the MacArthur Foundation is a strong vote of confidence in local journalism, and more to the point in local journalism that doesn’t just parrot the official line, but questions and holds accountable powerful people, industries, governments and other institutions that might not be acting in the public interest.”

He noted that his Gazette-Mail colleague, Eric Eyre, won the Pulitzer Prize last year for “exposing the companies responsible for the flood of pain pills that has fueled West Virginia’s drug overdose epidemic.”
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MacArthur Foundation Announces 25 New 'Genius' Fellowships

By Sopan Deb

Oct. 4, 2018
....

This year's winners, announced on Thursday, spanned several professions; they include a journalist, scientists, artists, musicians, writers and a human rights lawyer.

Ken Ward Jr., an investigative journalist who has reported for The Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia ever since he graduated from West Virginia University in 1990, received the call in his newsroom as he was going to the coffee maker. Mr. Ward, 50, has won acclaim for his dogged coverage of the coal industry, including the 2014 Elk River industrial chemical spill that left 300,000 people across nine counties without access to clean drinking water. Given the tumult of local newspapers all over the country -- including the sale of The Gazette-Mail this year, causing layoffs -- Mr. Ward was thankful and, of course, surprised by the fellowship, which gave him a "great sort of nest egg."



Ken Ward, an investigative reporter for The Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia, won a fellowship.CreditJohn D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

"It's a great kind of financial security for my family," Mr. Ward said. "I hope to keep doing the kind of work I am doing and maybe find some ways to do some experimentation of other ways to do local journalism."

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