High School Service

Location:

Mercer Island, WA

Posted:

September 29, 2012

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Resume:

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You are here: Home / About Us / Our Team / John Hamer's Resume

John Hamer's Resume

John C. Hamer

3824 East Mercer Way

Mercer Island, WA 98040

*********@*************.***

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Executive Director, Washington News Council, Seattle, WA (1998-present)

Founded nonprofit, nonpartisan 501c3 organization as independent forum for media fairness

to help maintain public trust in news media.

Organized 12-member Founding Board and recruited 24 original Council/Board members;

coordinated board members over 10+ years.

Raised sufficient funds to support organization from foundations, individuals,

corporations, associations and the media, including $250,000 grant from Bill & Melinda

Gates Foundation.

Built Council from small start-up to statewide organization with credibility and respect,

including from many media outlets.

Oversaw complaint process, handling 24 formal complaints from citizens that led to public

hearings and/or mediated settlements.

Conducted 30 mock hearings in college and high-school journalism classes statewide,

using actual News Council complaint cases.

Organized 20 panels and forums that brought journalists and citizens together to discuss

media performance, standards and ethics.

Created scholarship program to give $2,000 scholarships annually to graduating high-

school seniors and current college undergraduates.

Initiated Citizens Online News Council in 2009 to hold a virtual hearing on a major

complaint by inviting the public to vote online.

Won $250,000 grant from Knight Foundation to sponsor nationwide contest to start two more

news councils (New England, California).

Won grants from Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Foundation, Seattle Foundation,

Archibald, Medina and other foundations.

Media Critic, CounterPoint Center for ReMEDIAtion, Seattle (1996-98)

. Co-founded non-profit center to review, analyze and critique print, broadcast and

online news media in Washington State.

. Co-edited CounterPoint, a monthly newsletter of media criticism.

. Co-authored Watchdogs, a regular media column in Seattle Weekly.

. Freelanced columns on media issues in The Seattle Times, Seattle P-I.

Vice President, Washington Institute for Policy Studies (1994-98)

. Helped formulate policy and outreach as part of management team for non-profit

statewide public-policy think tank.

. Directed institute s publicity efforts and public-affairs program.

Senior Fellow/Publicity Director, Discovery Institute, Seattle (1990-1994)

. Named first Senior Fellow of non-profit think tank (originally Hudson Institute West)

to address city, state, national, and international issues.

. Co-authored International Seattle: Creating a Globally Competitive Community, a study

with 30 regional policy recommendations.

. Organized day-long conference on study s recommendations, featuring panels of elected

officials, academics, and journalists.

Associate Editorial-Page Editor, Editorial Writer/Columnist, The Seattle Times (1977-

1990)

Wrote editorials and columns for major metropolitan daily on wide range of topics, with

special focus on energy and environment issues.

Created Sunday Issues, a 4-page opinion section that included commentary and analysis

by local and national writers, plus editorial, op-ed and letters pages. Edited that

section for more than 10 years.

Supervised editorial writers/staffers after being named Associate Editor, including op-ed

and letters page oversight.

Attended several meetings of National Conference of Editorial Writers (NCEW), American

Press Institute (API), and Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

Won numerous regional SPJ awards for editorials and columns.

Associate Editor/Staff Writer, Congressional Quarterly/Editorial Research Reports,

Washington, D.C. (1971-77)

. Wrote and edited weekly stories and monthly reports for CQ/ERR.

. Covered Congress for CQ with focus on energy/environment issues.

. Supervised staff after promotion to Associate Editor at ERR.

Fellow, Washington Journalism Center, Washington, D.C. (Fall 1970)

. Won four-month fellowship awarded to 15 young journalists.

. Wrote regular articles for College Press Service while on fellowship.

Reporter, The Oregon Journal, Portland (1968-69)

. Wrote general-assignment, police, business, feature stories, plus concert/book/movie

reviews, and Sunday magazine articles.

EDUCATION

Stanford University, Master of Arts, Journalism/Communication (1970)

Dartmouth College, Bachelor s Degree (English) with Distinction (1968)

Lake Oswego (Oregon) High School, Graduated with Honors (1964)

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Rotary Club of Seattle Member of world s largest Rotary Club; chaired Totem (weekly

online newsletter) Committee; co-authored and edited club s 100th anniversary report in

2009.

Boys and Girls Club Tutored 4th-6th grade students in inner-city Central neighborhood

of Seattle.

Youth Tutoring Program Tutored 7th-9th grade students in two public-housing projects in

Roxbury and High Point neighborhoods of Seattle.

Cross-Country Ski Instructor Taught XC skiing to children and adults at Ski Acres Cross

Country Center, Snoqualmie Pass, Washington.

Gridiron West Dinner Impresario Originated and produced annual events to honor

leading local journalists, community leaders and elected officials; drew 400-500 attendees

every year for 10 consecutive years. Wrote parody songs and helped prepare video/photo

tributes to honorees.

Highlight of Career Persuaded Bill Gates, Chairman/CEO of Microsoft, to sing If I Were

a Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof at 2005 Gridiron West Dinner event honoring his

father, Bill Gates Sr., in Seattle.

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