Associated Press Fort Worth Correspondent Angela K. Brown, who has covered major news stories in Texas for more than a decade, will be headquartered in the Schieffer School’s Convergence Center in the Moudy Building. According to Associated Press, only one other school’s journalism program, the University of Missouri, hosts an AP bureau.
During her career with the AP, Brown was awarded the Texas Associated Press Media Editors’ AP Reporter of the Year in 2004 and the Society of Professional Journalists’ First Amendment Awards in 2008 and 2009. Other experience included the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and the Cleveland, Tenn., Daily Banner. She graduated from Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.
As a correspondent,Brown’s presence on campus will provide students of various media disciplines the opportunity to learn from her professional experiences, such as coverage of the Fort Hood shootings and the Texas Rangers’ federal bankruptcy case.
David Whillock, dean of the College of Communication, said, “We are excited about the opportunities for our students to view first-hand how a professional of this caliber operates on a day-to-day schedule. Her presence on campus is an excellent enhancement of our academic mission.” The Schieffer School is a division of the College of Communication.
This appointment is especially meaningful for John Lumpkin, director of the Schieffer School. As a former AP Chief of Bureau for Texas, he said it is an honor to host a bureau of one of the most far-reaching news agencies in the world. “The professional experiences of the AP’s Fort Worth correspondent could serve as an inspiration for the students as well,” Lumpkin said.
The AP also looks forward to this new relationship with one of its affiliates. According to current Chief of Bureau Dale Leach, “The AP is thrilled to have its Fort Worth correspondent on the campus of Texas Christian University, especially with the Schieffer School.”
The prior location of the AP bureau in Fort Worth was the downtown offices of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where AP had been for more than half a century. The bureau’s legacy includes coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and numerous other international news events.
For most of that time, celebrated journalist Mike Cochran occupied the position. Cochran, who covered the JFK assassination and other major news events in the region, is the author of Texas Vs. Davis, the definitive account of the Fort Worth mansion murders and the prosecution of defendant Cullen Davis, and, with Lumpkin, WestTexas, an extended essay and book-length photographic journey of the state’s unique region.