Matt
Mansfield
Associate Professor and Co-Director of Medill News Service, Washington
Matt Mansfield is co-director of Medilll's Washington program. He is particularly interested in how multimedia and data-richstorytelling can play a greater role in public policy reporting. That's why he left a career in daily newsroom management for a new challenge in journalism education. And, specifically, it's why Matt came to Medill, a place uniquely qualified to help lead the way.
Matt had been deputy managing editor for the San Jose Mercury News in California, where he oversaw design, graphics and photography as well as business reporting. In his eight years in Silicon Valley, Matt held just about every editing title at the news organization. He is widely known as one of visual journalism's top voices, advocating around the world on the power of presentation in engaging audiences in new ways. His championing of the craft has helped visual journalists earn greater legitimacy in newsrooms. Matt also worked for Knight Ridder on several chain-wide management efforts, reporting directly to the Vice President for News on initiatives from multimedia and design to restructuring of major news organizations.
During Matt's tenure, the Mercury News was judged a World's Best-Designed Newspaper. The newspaper's photography was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for documentary photography from the historic recall election that swept Arnold Schwarzenegger to power.
The Mercury News was ranked as one of the 10 best newspapers in the United States by the Columbia Journalism Review, four times won Best of the West for design and graphics, and finished among the top winners at the Society for News Design, Malofiej Infographics Awards, and Pictures of the Year International for both print and online storytelling.
The Mercury's multimedia site was judged "Best of the Web" by the National Press Photographers Association, and last year the photography staff won an Emmy in multimedia reporting for "Uprooted," which examined how land use and redevelopment change the lives of real people in the Bay Area. Matt has also been on the masthead of Time Out Chicago as art director, overseeing the magazine's design and photography. He previously worked at newspapers in Illinois and Indiana.
He is a past president of the international Society for News Design. He was also the site chair for the Society's 2004 Annual Workshop & Exhibition in San Jose where he was the executive producer of "25 Influential Moments in News Design," a multimedia presentation and commemorative issue of Design magazine that celebrated the achievements in visual journalism of the last 25 years.
Mansfield is a partner, along with Scott Goldman, in the media consulting firm MG Redesign. Their clients range from big places, like The Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer, to medium-sized organizations, like The Lexington Herald-Leader and The Spokesman-Review, to small places, like The Anniston (Ala.) Star and The Huerfano County (Colo.) World.
Matt has taught publication design at Santa Clara University and has led seminars in newsroom management, cultural communication, design and graphics use, and photojournalism at the Poynter Institute, the America Press Institute, Inland Press, Midwest Press Institute, California Newspaper Publishers Association, Unity: Journalists of Color, the Asian-American Journalists Association and many SND Quick Courses and the SND Annual Workshop.
Office
1325 G St. NW, Suite 730, Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone
202-661-0103
Email
matt@northwestern.edu