Dr. Hans Meyer, the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism’s new, hungry and humble director

Photo via Scripps College of Commuication

Dr. Hans Meyer was officially named the next director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism on Nov. 22. Dr. Meyer will take over the director role July 1 after Dr. Eddith Dashiell’s retirement begins at the end of June. 

Dr. Dashiell faithfully served the Ohio University community as the director of the journalism school for five years and her retirement is very much well deserved. On behalf of the entire TNP staff, thank you Dr. D. To read more about Dr. D’s tenure at Ohio U, click here. 

It is like they say, all good things must come to an end. But that does not mean the next thing is automatically a bad thing at all. In this case, it is actually quite the opposite. At the beginning of November, I had the privilege to sit on a panel of student media leaders from across Ohio U’s campus and interview Dr. Meyer for the role of journalism school director. Additionally, I recently sat down with him for a one-on-one interview at his office overlooking a busy Schoonover Center front doorway as classes were changing over. 

Two big things stuck out to me when I talked with Dr. Meyer, both of which he referenced in the two times that I recently spoke with him. The first was his hunger to make Ohio U’s journalism school better in terms of enrollment, curriculum, aid to student media organizations and diversity. The second was his overall humility. Dr. Meyer is more than aware that this is not a one-man show and it hasn’t been a one-man show for any moment in his career prior to arriving at Ohio U in the fall of 2009. His trust in the journalism community around him is immense and he is committed to putting students and teachers first. 

The New Political: Can you give a rundown on your journalism career? When and where did you learn to love journalism?

Dr. Hans Meyer: I know this sounds cliche, but I mean it really is true. I fell in love with newspapers in junior high at the first newspaper staff that I joined. We mostly did feature stuff, not a lot of hard news, but it just was nice to see people reading things that I'd written. So, I did that all through high school and college as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University. After undergrad, I ended up getting a job with a local newspaper in St. George, Utah. I spent four years there really enjoying the community aspect of it. Seeing your words and your work have an impact on people, I think they have the greatest impact at that community level. You can really see when you're the only person at a city council meeting. But then people read your report that the city is going to raise tax rates the next day, and they get all up in arms. I mean, you start kind of feeling good about yourself. You understand why we ascribe such high ideals to journalism and what it can do.

From there I went on to start a weekly newspaper with another newspaper chain in Southern California. The chain is called Freedom Communications. It doesn't exist anymore, sadly, but they had a kind of a point of view. I mean, they were not necessarily like Fox News or something like that, but their founder was a huge proponent of human rights. He was one of the only newspapers to protest the Japanese internment during World War II, and he left that legacy throughout all of his papers. So when I got a chance to work with them, I jumped at it, and then I was with that company for about four years as well.

My last two years with that company were in Barstow, California, and I was actually a general manager. My experience was in news, writing, reporting and editing, but I think the publisher there saw a spark in me of understanding business and both sides of the newsroom. And so I really got a chance to kind of exercise that as a general manager of that paper and I think that's what kind of got me interested in leadership. 

Then I was at the University of Missouri for five years to get my master's and Ph.D, and then this is my first job after that. I've been here [Ohio University] for 15 years now and this was one of my top picks.

TNP: Take me back to that fall in 2009, what was it like coming here? What attracted you to Ohio University? What stood out?

HM: There were two main things. I had great interactions with the faculty. Working with Bob Stewart, he kind of brought me in to revamp how the school taught the multi-platform reporting and writing course. I think that was really attractive to me because I could take my newspaper background but then apply all of the things that I'd been learning in graduate school about technology, immersive media, multimedia and add that to the program.  

The other thing, during my interview process I went on a couple of different campus visits and whatnot but here the students were just pretty amazing. Coming from the University of Missouri, which is the biggest J-school in the country, the students there were great and were skilled and talented, but they were very, gosh. I don't want to badmouth my alma mater…a little bit of elitism, and a little bit of, an expectation of ‘I'm gonna go work at the New York Times’ or ‘I'm gonna work at CNN.’ And I came here and the students are just hungry. I mean, they're like, ‘I'll work at a local organization.’

TNP: What moment from your previous jobs makes you feel prepared to be the new director of the J-school here at Ohio U?

HM:  I don't think you ever feel 100% prepared but, I've been lucky to have good mentors in Bob Stewart and Dr. Dashiell. Honestly, while I was the general manager of that newspaper in Barstow I had some really great reporters, but they were very independent but good at their jobs. They had unconventional hours.The police reporter Tammy Shoal, I still remember her name, when I got there I was like, ‘Man, she's way too buddy buddy with the cops, right?’ She'd buy them, like, a case of beer on their birthdays. It's like, gosh, I wouldn't do that, and I thought, ‘Okay, I'm the general manager, I need to step in and say something.’ But I'm glad I didn't, because that's just how she worked, and she got great scoops and tips from it.

She really helped me to see that I needed to make the job very focused on results. What kind of stories are you writing? What kind of tips and scoops are you getting and not how many hours are you putting in or how many stories you are doing. Back in that day, if we needed to fill the paper, we could use wire copy if we needed to. You know, I'd much rather use wire copy and have a cool investigation on Sunday than a bunch of press releases that we rewrote throughout the week or whatnot.

TNP: You mentioned results from your time in Barstow and how that was a priority for you there? What do you want to continue to build on from Dr. D’s time and what do you want to make your own?

HM: Well, I have to preface that by saying I'm a big believer in shared governance. I don't want to make any decisions unilaterally. I want to make sure that the faculty are involved. I also think it's my job as the director to set a direction. So, one of the big directions that I think I'd like to take is I think we need to do a better job of promoting and helping students understand why strategic communication is part of the journalism school and how to apply the principles of journalism to strategic communication and expanding the job possibilities after graduation.

To answer the other part of the question, one of the things that I really want to continue that Dr. D did is diversity. Even though diversity is kind of being attacked on different fronts, I know, from my experience in my career, that it's important and we need to expose people to lots of different points of view. She's done a great job of that. I mean, the biggest thing was integrating our gender, race and class course into the curriculum. I think that was a great move. I think she's done other things that students haven't seen, but just the way she stands up for diversity is something I absolutely want to continue.

TNP: How do you think Ohio U students are going to impact the future of journalism?

HM: I think they'll play an important role in it and I think they've got a couple of advantages. I mean, one, we've got a great alumni network, people who are already in the industry that are doing those things. Two, I think that spirit that I talked about at the beginning, it serves you really well in kind of an uncertain industry. Being able to pivot, being able to try new things, to take risks and to show an employer that I've done these things, I think that's going to make a big difference.

TNP: What do you want to be remembered for as director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism?

HM: Honestly, I've always been the kind of person that doesn’t need the spotlight. I really prefer that; I like to let my actions speak for myself, and then in a leadership role I prefer that the people I lead, their actions speak. So I guess if I was known for something, I want to be known as somebody who enabled people to do their best work and enabled students to do their best work and to pursue their passions so that they get the credit, not me. I would be  lying if I didn't say that it would be cool to have Meyer Hall or something like that. But that's way back in my mind. I mean, honestly, that stuff's out of your control and I really focus on what I can control. I can control people feeling like this is a place that they want to work and then they want to attend, and they feel like they can really do their best work here.