Indiana University

News Release

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Last modified: Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Longtime Indianapolis news director Lee Giles joins IU School of Journalism faculty

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Lee Giles, who retired in May from his position as news director of WISH-TV (Channel 8) in Indianapolis after 35 years of service, will join the Indiana University School of Journalism this fall as a visiting professor.

One of local television's longest-serving news directors, Giles led WISH-TV's news operation from May 1968 to May 30, 2003. He joined the Indianapolis CBS affiliate in 1963 as the station's first editorial director. He was named the station's vice president in 1996.

"The School of Journalism is very excited that Lee Giles is going to be a visiting professor in the school for this coming year," said School of Journalism Dean Trevor Brown. "His extraordinary experience and expertise in broadcast news at Channel 8 will give students an opportunity to learn about the craft and professional values of broadcast news from someone who has nurtured such remarkable talents as Jane Pauley."

Giles, who started his broadcast news career in 1959 as a writer and reporter for WLW Radio and WLW-TV in Cincinnati, was honored in 2000 with the First Amendment Service Award, the highest recognition of the Radio Television News Directors Foundation. He was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Indiana Associated Press Hall of Fame this year. He will be inducted into the Indiana Pioneers Hall of Fame in September.

As news director at WISH-TV, Giles oversaw the growth of personnel and worked to enhance news coverage and operating efficiencies. He helped launch the market's first 60-minute evening newscast and broadly expanded the station's weekend news. He also implemented new technologies in the newsroom and cultivated on-air talent such as Emmy Award-winning newswoman Jane Pauley of Indianapolis, who began her journalism career at WISH-TV in 1972. Pauley, a longtime co-host of NBC's Today Show, graduated from IU in 1971. Giles served as national chair of the Society for Professional Journalists' Jane Pauley Task Force on Mass Communication Education, which issued a critique of broadcast journalism education in 1996.

Giles served as an associate faculty member of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis for 12 years teaching speech and telecommunications. He also taught television news for four years at Butler University in Indianapolis.

He will teach broadcast news at the IU School of Journalism. The course will cover techniques of gathering, analyzing and writing news and features for broadcast.


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