100-Year Anniversary

Our Next Event

A Celebration of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism's Legacy of Foreign Correspondence

Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 2:30 p.m.

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2:30 p.m. – Normandy Park on Richland Avenue Near the Ohio University Inn

The rededication ceremony will honor the war correspondents that landed at Normandy, France on D-Day (June 6, 1944) with American troops and covered the march to Germany. Normandy Park was originally dedicated in 1981, an effort led by John R. Wilhelm, a former D-Day correspondent himself. Wilhelm was the dean of the College of Communication at the time of dedication and was also a former director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.

4 p.m. – Vernon R. Alden Library, Fifth Floor

The unveiling and rededication of the Cornelius Ryan Room on the fifth floor of the Vernon R. Alden Library will commemorate Cornelius Ryan, an Irish journalist who was also John R. Wilhelm’s friend and D-Day colleague. Ryan compiled his World War II reporting notes, originally for The (London) Daily Telegraph, into several successful books. He was the author “The Longest Day: 6 June, 1944 D-Day” and “A Bridge Too Far,” both of which were turned into blockbuster films. Ryan’s collection of extensive notes and papers was donated to Ohio University after his passing, and are currently housed in the Vernon R. Alden Library. The Ryan Room is part of the Robert E. and Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections.

Speakers

Peter Copeland

Peter Copeland has been a journalist, foreign correspondent, Washington bureau chief and author during a career of more than 40 years.

A former Washington bureau chief for the E.W. Scripps Co., Copeland was the editor and general manager of Scripps Howard News Service, which distributed stories and photos to newspapers and digital media around the world.

He began his career as a night police reporter in Chicago. Copeland covered Latin America for five years based in Mexico City and came to Washington to cover the Pentagon. He covered the U.S. invasion of Panama, the Gulf War and the intervention in Somalia and has reported from dozens of countries on five continents.

Copeland has written, edited and produced stories for newspapers, magazines, television and online. He has published five books. The most recent is a memoir, “Finding the News: Adventures of a Young Reporter.”

Copeland has been a regular visitor to Ohio University as a speaker, guest lecturer and recruiter. He is a member of the Gridiron Club and has been a board member of the National Press Foundation, Scripps Howard Foundation, International Center for Journalists and the Thomas Jefferson Center for Protection of Free Expression. Copeland was on the board of GFR Media, the largest media company in Puerto Rico. He also was a member of the White House Correspondents Association and the American Society of News Editors.

Born in Chicago, Copeland has a degree in government from Lawrence University and studied politics at the University of Exeter in England. He lives in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City with his wife, Maru Montero. They have two grown children.

Twitter: @PeterMCopeland

Jim Heintz

Jim Heintz is a correspondent for The Associated Press, covering Russia and much of the former Soviet Union since 1999. A San Francisco native, he grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and began his journalism career as a stringer for Toledo public radio station WGTE. Heintz studied print journalism at Ohio University and worked at The Post from 1980-82.

After university, he was a general assignment reporter at The Athens Messenger for two years, then joined The AP at its Columbus bureau in 1984. Heintz transferred to New York City in 1987. In 1996, he was named AP’s Stockholm-based news editor for the Nordic-Baltic region. In Heintz’s career overseas, he has covered events ranging from wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq to figure skating. He was in Kyiv, Ukraine, for the outbreak of the conflict with Russia; Heintz returned to Moscow amid heightened security concerns in June 2022. He is a graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.

Twitter: @jeheintz

Steve Maschino

Steve Maschino is a first cousin (twice removed) to Ernie Pyle, a Scripps-Howard Newspapers World War II correspondent. He is also a director of the Ernie Pyle Legacy Foundation, which was established to foster ongoing recognition of the distinct contributions of Pyle, who died April 18, 1945, from a sniper’s bullet at Iejima, an island in the Pacific Theater. Pyle was a nationally syndicated roving correspondent for Scripps-Howard before he volunteered to cover the war. Pyle went ashore on Omaha Beach with American soldiers during the D-Day landing and received a Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his war correspondence. Pyle wrote about soldiers on the front lines and was considered the G.I.’s best friend. Burgess Meredith portrayed Pyle in the film, “The Story of G.I. Joe.”

Maschino is an environmental and safety manager with 40 years of experience who resides in the Dallas, Texas, area where his daughters and parents live.

The foundation’s recent accomplishments are establishing “Ernie Pyle Remembrance Day” on April 18 to honor Ernie on the day he was killed and “National Ernie Pyle Day” via a resolution of the U.S. Senate on Aug. 3, Ernie’s birthday. Most important is the work being done to honor young journalists through the Ernie Pyle Legacy Award in a partnership with the Scripps Howard Foundation. The award program connects to journalism departments of more than 600 schools and universities.