Conor Morris Email & Phone Number

Cleveland, Oh, Us

Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Multimedia reporter who covers education - both K-12 and higher ed - in northeast Ohio.

Cleveland, Ohio, United States

* Report collaboratively on poverty and social disparities.* Helped build collaborative from ground up, including social media pages; editorial policies; and best practices for working together.* Collaboratively built in-depth resource guides for people struggling to pay utility bills; created impactful surveys; started blog for HS students.* Planned and executed multiple successful community events, including Student Media Day with 150 students and 25+ media pros

Athens, Oh

Award-winning watchdog reporter-editor with once-weekly newspaper The Athens NEWS. My beats were Ohio University (~23,000 students) and Athens County (Pop: 65,000+), with a focus on investigative journalism, breaking news, enterprise stories, event coverage and features.I also:-Designed pages for the physical newspaper and proof it twice a week.-Ran our social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter), while keeping a consistent voice on personal accounts for each.-Took my own photos with my Nikon D36500 and create other content as needed.-Experimented with podcasts and other audio and video reporting.At The NEWS, I was half of a two-person reporting machine which provides the most high-impact, well-written investigative reporting and breaking news coverage in our county (not to mention southeast Ohio in general).I won first place in the "in-depth reporting" category of the annual Ohio News Media Association's Hooper Weekly Newspaper awards for three years straight.We also won Newspaper of the Year in that contest in 2016 and 2018. Former general assignment reporter, promoted to associate editor in Dec. 2017.

Telecommute

Occasionally cover local news and breaking stories in Appalachian southeast Ohio (mostly Athens County so far) as a freelance reporter. This work has been intermittent up until 2019, when I freelanced a bit more for the Dispatch than usual.

Telecommute

QSR Magazine is a monthly niche food industry trade magazine, and it also features regular online content. During my time as a freelance reporter, I contributed in-depth feature stories regularly about the quick-service, fast-casual food industry. The focus of the stories (typical wordcount 1,000-1,500 words) centered around technology, industry trends, and the stories of the folks who own and work at quick-service and fast-casual restaurants and chains.Some may consider these puff pieces, but I spend a lot of time and care with each story; my reporting frequently explores and explains complex market economics through putting a human face on things. I also rely on experts' knowledge in each story, as well as insights from the executives of industry-leading brands. Some great examples are attached to this; the "Family Matters" story is my personal favorite because I interviewed the family owners of a brand selling homemade ice cream cookies.

Athens, Ohio

I ran an online news magazine and worked with a team of editors and writers – most of them students at the E.W. Scripps School of Communication. As editor-in-chief, I oversaw a crew of 80 or so people at one time, helping generate story ideas, teach new writers, advertise, communicate with the school and the public, final-edit stories, and pretty much any other aspect of organization that I have time to do. I was also key in the most recent visual redesign and URL change of the site, and I've got tons of Wordpress experience because of it. Speakeasy was Ohio University's first online student publication, and as such it's gone through multiple redesigns since 2005.

Libertyville, Illinois

The Daily Herald is a news publication based in the suburbs outside of Chicago. I was their intern at the Lake County office, where I covered the Round Lake area of communities -- four small villages in northwestern Lake County. I was treated as another reporter. I pitched a lot of my own story ideas, but I also did plenty of general assignment work to take up some slack in the newsroom.I had some great experiences with micro-level community journalism during this internship. I mined traditional municipal sources of information -- city (village) councils, mayors, police -- while casting a critical eye about the communities I covered to pick out story ideas.One of my greatest successes was the feature article I wrote on a 12-year-old girl college graduate which ended up having the highest views on the Daily Herald's website of all time. I've included that clip below along with some other examples of my work.

Leipzig Area, Germany

Studied journalism at the University of Leipzig in Germany. I wrote multiple feature and blog pieces while studying German media structures and cross cultural communication theory with OU professors in Leipzig. As well, I helped report and produce a radio piece on the student-run radio station, Mephisto 97.6.I was also able to travel much of Germany with Germans who I had befriended through my rudimentary German language skills, which was another great experience.

Marietta, Ohio

Summer intern for The Marietta Times, a local daily newspaper in Marietta, a historic town along the Ohio River. I was learning the fundamentals of reporting and photography at this early point in my career. I wrote four or so articles a week and helped our reporting staff produce content on a number of local issues. Marietta is my hometown, so this was a pretty rewarding experience for a young journalist-in-training.

Bachelor Of Science In Journalism., Journalism News And Information. Specializations In English And World Religions + Anthropology

Activities and Societies: Editor-in-chief of Speakeasy Magazine (formerly managing editor, entertainment editor, staff writer), moderator.

Bachelor Of Science In Journalism, Journalism News And Information Track, Specializations In English And World Religions + Anthropology, Graduate