2008 Diversity & Family Friendly Speakers
Mizell Stewart III
Editor, Evansville Courier & Press
Mizell Stewart III is a veteran newspaper journalist who has coordinated coverage of such high-profile news events as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the deadlocked 2000 presidential elections. He joined the Evansville Courier & Press in June as the newspaper’s editor, succeeding J. Bruce Baumann.
Stewart came to Evansville from the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal where he was named managing editor in February 2006. Before moving to Akron, Stewart was a consultant for the former Knight Ridder newspapers. While in that role, he helped lead a team of Knight Ridder journalists who coordinated coverage of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath at the Sun-Herald in Biloxi, Miss. The newspaper's coverage won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Stewart also is the former editor and vice president of the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat. He moved to Tallahassee as managing editor in January 2000 and was promoted to the top newsroom position in May 2003.
In Tallahassee, Stewart was part of an operating team that successfully turned around a 15-year trend of declining circulation. He also directed several award-winning reporting efforts, including the newspaper's coverage of the 2000 presidential election and an in-depth examination of Florida's foster care system.
From 1994 to 2000, Stewart worked at the Beacon Journal in a series of news editing posts. During that time, he also worked as a reporter and editor at the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News and as a reporter for the Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun.
Originally
from Cleveland,
Stewart began his newspaper
career in 1982
as a 16-year-old
summer photography
intern with Sun Newspapers.
He has lectured
at The E.W. Scripps
School of Journalism
at Ohio University
and in the Department
of Journalism at
Bowling Green State
University.
He has given presentations
on leadership,
management, reporting
and diversity for
the American Press
Institute, the Poynter
Institute for Media
Studies, the American
Society of Newspaper
Editors, the National
Writers Workshops,
Investigative Reporters & Editors,
the National Association
of Black Journalists
and the World Journalism
Institute. He was
a Pulitzer Prize juror
in 2001 and 2002.
Stewart is a journalism graduate of Bowling Green State University, where he is a member of the Journalism Alumni Hall of Fame. In 2007, Stewart was named a McCormick Tribune Fellow by the National Association of Minority Media Executives and attended the Advanced Executive Program at Northwestern University. He is also a recipient of the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Community Leadership Association, given to outstanding graduates of community leadership programs nationwide.
