Return to DePauw as Kilgore Counselor Gives Dana Ferguson '14 "Hope for the Future of Journalism"

April 1, 2017

Dana Ferguson, a reporter for South Dakota's Sioux Falls Argus Leader and 2014 graduate of DePauw University, says she felt "hope for the future of journalism as I returned to Greencastle, Ind., last week to counsel student reporters at my college newspaper."  Ferguson spent time with the staff of The DePauw, where she worked as a student journalist and served as editor-in-chief, as the spring's Kilgore Counselor.

"Students there were working hard to find and report stories, asking difficult questions and writing about the problems they're seeing at their university," Ferguson writes in a column for the Argus Leader. "Like many of us who've taken on journalism as a career, they are finding joy and satisfaction in getting answers for their peers and in holding people accountable. And that should be refreshing to everyone."

Ferguson adds, "As the Washington Post and New York Times have alluded to in their recent rebranding campaigns, responsible reporting matters. It can be the difference between allowing the light to shine on governments, universities and other institutions and allowing corruption and wrongdoing to fester in darkness."

After her experience working alongside current DePauw student journalists, Ferguson asserts, "The next batch of cub reporters are not just willing to ask the tough questions, to expose problems and weaknesses in their communities but also to recommend solutions ... As we enter an era of public officials blasting journalists and aiming to define stories they don't like as 'fake news', I hope you'll take comfort in knowing that there are journalists, even those just starting out in their careers, who are working to cut through the noise to find the real stories. We care about you, the people who live in Sioux Falls, S.D., rural Indiana and everywhere in between -- and we're committed to telling your stories." (photo: Ferguson with students in The DePauw newsroom)

You'll find the complete column at the newspaper's website.

A communication and Spanish double major at DePauw, where she was a Media Fellow, Ferguson covers state government and politics for the Argus Leader and previously was a legislative reporter for the Associated Press in Wisconsin.  She served as editor-in-chief of Indiana's oldest college newspaper, The DePauw, her senior year.

The Kilgore Counselor program was created in 1969 to honor the legacy of Bernard Kilgore, a 1929 DePauw graduate who rose from a position as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal to become president of the board of the newspaper's parent, Dow Jones and Company.  Read more here.

Source: Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader

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