David Steves

David Steves was a 2014 ICFJ Professional Fellow from the U.S., on the program "Unlocking the Economic Potential of Digital Media." He is editor of EarthFix, a multimedia project focused on environmental journalism with content contributed by public television and public radio stations throughout the United States’ Pacific Northwest region. EarthFix’s content is broadcast on the participating stations and is gathered online on the website www.EarthFix.info. The project has won many awards including from the Online News Association in 2012 and 2013 for best explanatory reporting and from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2013 for best website on a specialized subject, online video, video photography, enterprise reporting, and investigative radio reporting. Based at Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland, Steves oversaw the website’s launch in 2011 and supervises a team of multimedia journalists based in seven participating stations in the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Previously Steves worked as a reporter at newspapers around the region, winning journalism awards for coverage including the murder of a high-ranking prison official, challenges faced by migrant farm workers, the rise in mentally ill prison inmates, and questionable fundraising by a lobbying group. Steves served as state capital bureau chief for The Eugene Register-Guard in Oregon, as a reporter, editor and columnist for the Salem Statesman-Journal in Oregon, and as a writer for The Seattle Times and other newspapers in Washington State. During his study tour in Jordan, Steves hopes to learn and share about operating a multimedia news outlet. “It would be fascinating to learn firsthand how media institutions in the Middle East meet their audiences’ needs for online and broadcast journalism in a political and cultural paradigm that differs so much from that of the West,” Steves said. “I think the lessons I've learned in developing and launching a multimedia news organization could be transferred to media organizations in the Middle East.”