Chicago journalists gathered with DePaul students and faculty at the Union League Club of Chicago last week to celebrate the 10th annual Center for Journalism Integrity and Excellence awards luncheon. 

The center honored veteran political analyst Amy Walter with this year’s Distinguished Journalist Award. Haley BeMiller, a 2014 DePaul alumna, received the Distinguished Alumna Award, and recently retired professional lecturer Rick Brown was honored with the Distinguished Mentor Award.

“It is really easy to be cynical and to be depressed about the news business,” said Walter, who is editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report. “To be with the students here this morning, you could not help but feel optimistic and have faith in the future of where journalism is going. And I am very, very bullish on it.”

Carol Marin and Don Moseley founded the Center for Journalism Integrity and Excellence in 2016 to support the ideals of journalism and train the next generation of investigative reporters. Marin reflected that it was a tumultuous time for the profession. 

“We’re not going to dwell on that,” Marin told the reporters, editors, and students in the room. “Rather, we are going to look it in the eye, as we have for the last decade, and say the same thing that your presence here today in this room says: We are strong. We are proud. We are unafraid of speaking truth to power without fear and without favor.”

10 years of hands-on training and bylines for students 

Each quarter in the center’s Advanced Reporting class, a dozen students pitch, report and produce an investigative story published on NBC 5 Chicago through a partnership with the station. Earning bylines in these well-known outlets for important stories help launch these young journalists’ careers, said Lisa Parker. She teaches the class and serves as center director. 

At the luncheon, she touted the students’ success in breaking stories on unregulated hemp product sales in Illinois last year and winning a Crystal Pillar award at the Midwest Emmy’s for a story on the lack of due process for rideshare drivers in Chicago. 

“We need these smart, driven, ethical young journalists to be ready to get out there and do the work to break that big story,” Parker said. 

Previously, student journalists’ reporting about environmental challenges, gambling addiction, criminal justice policies and more has also aired on WTTW.

Mentorship and hope for the future of journalism 

Rick Brown taught broadcast journalism and oversaw the student media outlet Good Day DePaul for 15 years before retiring last year. Brown saw it as his mission not just to teach students the ins and outs of producing great journalism for television and radio, but also to help them land jobs and build successful careers. 

“Each student and I would work together until they got that job, and that was a day of celebration, the culmination of everything we tried to do,” Brown said. He leaves a legacy of being a tough and exacting editor in the classroom and a tireless cheerleader for graduates — many of whom still call him for career advice.

Attendees of the luncheon enjoyed a video of recent alums sharing how the classes, programming, and teaching from the Center for Journalism Integrity and Excellence prepared them for successful careers. BeMiller, who now reports on state government and politics for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, shared similar sentiments in accepting the distinguished alumna award. 

“My professors taught me to be nimble because this industry is always evolving. They also shared the values that never change, regardless of what AI or social media throw our way: truth, fairness and holding the powerful to account,” BeMiller said. “This school and the city are gifts that keep on giving.”