Alumnus Ken Baldwin gives $500,000
for business journalism endowment
Journalism alumnus Ken Baldwin, Class of 1949, has viewed the troubled financial markets with an experienced newsman's scrutiny.
The Columbia native has noted the consequences to investors of inaccurate or shallow information and how unscrupulous promoters have hurt many people. Baldwin wants journalism graduates to be better prepared to report on critical money matters.
"Business journalism and the business of journalism deserve much more of our attention these days. It's terrific when one of our alumni recognizes that need, as Ken Baldwin has. ..."
Journalists today need tenacity "to ask the right questions and dig deeper" in filling their watchdog role, says Baldwin, whose well-rounded career included time as a business editor.
To help shape careers in business reporting, Baldwin has given a $500,000 endowment to the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications: the Baldwin Business and Financial Journalism Endowment Fund.
The endowment will generate income annually to support journalism students with a depth of knowledge to investigate business and financial topics affecting consumers and taxpayers. Such support will include:
- research initiatives
- symposia
- guest lecturers
- visiting professors
- student assistantships
- related programs
A Landmark career
Baldwin retired in 1986 from a successful career with Norfolk, Va.-based Landmark Communications, a privately held media company that owns newspapers, television stations, Internet businesses, specialty publications and, until recently, The Weather Channel.
"I've been very blessed, in particular by the growth and success of Landmark and The Weather Channel," he says, explaining why he's made this gift available for the school's immediate use.
"Business journalism and the business of journalism deserve much more of our attention these days," says Charles Bierbauer, Dean of the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies. "It's terrific when one of our alumni recognizes that need, as Ken Baldwin has, and provides the resources to do something about it."
Baldwin was honored for his philanthropy March 30 during the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies' I-Comm Week (Details). The gift announcement preceded a panel discussion examining today's business and financial journalism.
A passion for journalism
Baldwin's Columbia roots are linked to the University of South Carolina. He lived on Greene Street near campus and attended University High School on Sumter Street, now the site of Wardlaw College (College of Education). He graduated from University High in 1943, at age 17, and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in the hope of becoming a pilot during World War II. He was called up at 18, but the war ended before he could train.
His decision to attend the state's flagship university was easy, and Baldwin discovered a passion for journalism. The journalism school was small then and his favorite class was about the basics--proper word usage and spelling—and taught by Professor Havilah Babcock, head of the English department.
"What I learned then I have used throughout my life. He was a wonderful professor," Baldwin says.
The opportunity to join the Gamecock staff appealed to Baldwin. He covered news and sports, and wrote columns for the student paper. He served as the paper's managing editor his last two semesters and was also a member of the Blue Key National Honor Society, a leadership organization.
Asking the right questions, making the right hires
Following his Carolina graduation, Baldwin focused on reporting. He wrote news and advertising copy for WACA in Camden, S.C., worked for The Associated Press, was Greenwood Index-Journal sports editor, covered sports at The Columbia Record and worked in sports, news and programming for WCOS-AM-FM-TV in Columbia.
He moved to Norfolk in 1956, working in sports, news, and on the maritime beat before receiving a promotion to business editor at Landmark's afternoon newspaper.
Baldwin's career shifted in 1963 with a new management position of assistant personnel director at Landmark. In 1966, he was tasked with establishing a personnel and public relations department for the Greensboro (N.C.) Daily News and Record, a property Landmark acquired the previous year.
"It was a rare opportunity to be part of a team to revive a moribund company with a need to upgrade personnel, training programs and production processes," Baldwin says.
In 1974 Baldwin was elected president of the Newspaper Personnel Relations Association, which has since merged into the Society for Human Resource Management.
He returned to Columbia in 2002 to build a home in Blythewood at the University Club, now known as Cobblestone Park. His current activities include service on Blythewood's Board of Architectural Review.
—Larry Di Giovanni: Contact