Comprehensive and trusted local coverage of Takoma Park, MD. News and events, business listings, discussions, announcements, photos and videos.
Ryan McDermott hails from Southern New Jersey and has reported in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington, D.C., on such diverse topics as green legislation, technology, land-use issues, politics, crime and music. Ryan holds a B.A. from Rowan University in New Jersey and did graduate work in journalism at NYU. He is a voracious reader and a student of the history of journalism. A resident of Takoma Park on-and-off since 2007 and currently a resident of Silver Spring, Ryan hopes to build on the kind of reporting committed by Gay Talese, David Halberstam, Norman Mailer, Mike Royko, David Simon, Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin.
Whitney Teal is a reporter, editor and proud alumna of Howard University. A native of Texas, she's worked for media companies like Essence, Capitol File and Parents.com. Her work has also appeared on BusinessWeek.com, Change.org and Aol.
Since being published at age 10 in Scholastic Magazine, Ben has been enamored with working in the media. From performing public relations functions for Animal Planet and The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, plus writing online features for many local organizations, Ben enjoys letting other people know what is going on.
Ben has lived in Montgomery County most of his life and in Silver Spring since 1995. When he is not spending time with his wife, two children and dog, chances are Ben is out and about in Silver Spring, looking for the next interesting story to tell to his readers.
Jacqui South has been enjoying photography since her first class in middle school. She grew up in Silver Spring, attending Springbrook High School. After that she earned a Journalism degree from University of Maryland, College Park.
For many years Jacqui worked in Rockville for a patent annuity service, but continued photography part-time, photographing business conferences and events, weddings, and children. Finally, after encouragement from her husband, Jacqui started a photography business in April 2009, initially focusing on on-location portraits of children. In the short time that has followed, she has found sports photography to be an exciting area, especially basketball. She began freelancing for The Montgomery Sentinel newspaper in October 2009, and more recently for Patch.com in Septmber 2010.
Donna Walker is a veteran broadcast and multi-media journalist. She's worked in cities around the county and appeared on national and local news outlets, including BET News and the Odyssey network (now the Hallmark channel). She's very familar with the DC-Baltimore area, having spent several years reporting on and living here.
Raised in the Boston suburbs, Donna fell in love with Washington when she visited with her family at age twelve. After completing her studies in college and law school, she moved to the nation's capital and has lived in the region ever since.
As a freelance journalist, she has been lucky enough to travel around the nation and the world covering Presidents and politicians, businesspeople and artists. She is very much enjoying getting to know members of her own community through Patch.
In addition to photography, Donna's interests include travel, the arts, aerobics, and bargain-hunting! She lives in Montgomery County with her husband, Jim, a publications and web editor. They have two sons.
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Phil Meyer is Professor Emeritus in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was inducted into the North Carolina Hall of Fame in Journalism in the spring of 2008. He joined the Journalism School in 1981 and served as Knight Chair in Journalism Professor from 1993-2008. Prior to joining the school, he held a number of reporter and research positions at various media outlets.
He has won numerous awards including the 2005 Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award for Research About Journalism (with Scott Maier). He was named a Fellow of Society of Professional Journalists in 2005. In 2004, the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication gave him its Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award. And in 2000 he received the American Association for Public Opinion Research Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement.
Meyer is the author of several books including The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age and Precision Journalism: A Reporter’s Introduction to Social Science Methods. Journalism Quarterly in 2000 listed this book as one of the 35 significant books of the 20th century in journalism and mass communication; and the American Association for Public Opinion Research, observing its 50th anniversary in 1996, listed it as one of 50 significant books on public opinion research.
He received his B.S. in technical journalism from Kansas State University and his M.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina.
Jeff Jarvis is the associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York’s new Graduate School of Journalism. He also blogs about media and news at Buzzmachine.com; is consulting editor of Daylife; writes a media column for the Guardian, and consults for media companies.
Prior to his current responsibilities, Jarvis held positions including president and creative director of Advance.net; creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly; Sunday editor and associated publisher of the New York Daily News; TV critic for TV Guide and People; a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner; assistant city editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune and reporter for Chicago Today.
Jarvis is the author of What Would Google Do?
Steven Berlin Johnson is a pioneer in the web world, as a co-founder of FEED, Plastic.com, and Outside.in, which was acquired by Patch in March of 2011. He also co-created Findings.com, which launched in late 2011. Steven was the 2009 Hearst New Media Professional-in-Residence at The Journalism School at Columbia University, and served for several years as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU’s Journalism School. He is a bestselling author of seven books, and won acclaim and a Newhouse School Mirror Award for his 2010 Time Magazine cover story, "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live."
Speaking of Steven's editorial prowess, check out this video based on Steven's book, Where Good Ideas Come From, which was named one of the best books of 2010 by The Economist.
