Pulliam Center for
contemporary media

John McWethy '69

1947-2008

John "Jack" McWethy '69, a long-time ABC News correspondent, DePauw graduate and an important mentor for students at the Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media, passed away unexpectedly February 6, 2008.

Most recently a Pulliam Visiting Professional in Television in October of 2007, McWethy donated his time and talent freely to work with numerous media students at DePauw. In the past two years he appeared on numerous University panels and spent time with students at campus paper The DePauw, as well as WGRE and D3TV.

McWethy began to develop his skill for writing and interviewing in numerous summer newspaper jobs, before entering DePauw in 1965. He cut his teeth as the editor of The DePauw newspaper during numerous run-in's with DePauw administrators in the turbulent late 1960's.

McWethy encouraged student journalists to never be complacent; to question authority, work to find the story within the story and to never be afraid to ask for answers from those in power, whether they were University administrators or heads of state.

In his role as "media mentor" at DePauw, McWethy assisted students in planning for their lives after college. He helped them to discover their strengths, and worked to open doors for them in the industry. He appeared in the Media Fellows recruitment video in a cameo role, talking about the Pulliam facility and the benefits of a DePauw media education. In the Fall of 2007, he spearheaded a project to implement "convergence" between the three major student media outlets, urging them to work together more closely to combine their different strengths to create better campus journalism and to more--effectively utilize the world wide web as a media outlet.

For more information about Jack McWethy, his life, work and time at DePauw, please follow the links below. There is also a link to McWethy's final hour-long interview on WGRE, from October of 2007.

We salute John McWethy for his unceasing commitment to quality journalism, his remarkable career at ABC and his unflagging loyalty to DePauw University and our campus media.

 

 

 

DePauw Story by Ken Owen DePauw 2003 Commencement Story ABC News

The Denver Post Second Denver Post piece Poynter Institute - Bob Steele

Interview 10/9/07 on "TIGERFIRE" on WGRE
(save this link to download, or stream below)

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McWethy Speaking on PTSD at the PCCM in October, 2007
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