Hearst Names Fellowship After Fred Young

Fred Young began his 46-year career at Hearst Broadcasting (now Hearst Television) at the group’s WTAE in his native Pittsburgh in 1962. He started as a desk assistant while still a college student and worked himself up to news director and then to general manager.

He eventually moved to New York for corporate jobs, accumulating journalism plaudits for himself and the group before retiring as senior vice president of news in 2008.

Recognizing that accomplishment and hoping to put others on a similar career trajectory, Hearst is honoring Young today by naming its two-year-old fellowship program for TV news producers after him.

The goal of the Fred Young fellowship is to continue Young’s legacy, identifying talented college graduates with leadership skills and give them the training they will need for a fast start and swift rise in the TV business, according to Hearst News VP Barbara Maushard.

Young was a mentor to many, she said.”If you visit newsrooms across this country, you would find plenty of people who worked for Fred or met Fred along the way. He treated them like family. He brought people under his wing and help them reach their full potential.”

Young, who remains involved in journalism as a college lecturer and member of the Hearst Collegiate Journalism Awards and the College Journalism Accreditation Council, said he is pleased by the recognition, but the true reward is seeing people who came up through the Hearst ranks succeed not only at Hearst, but at other station groups.

Young said he expects the fellowship to produce more great home-grown TV executives. “Forget the name,” he said. “It’s a great program.”

Young said he will not be involved in the selection of the fellows, but that he would like to see the opportunities go to those who want to make TV news a “career rather than a stepping stone to something else.”

Hearst also announced the Young fellows for 2016: Amina Lovell of Columbia University, Courtney Sonn of Boston University and Alexis Porter of Howard University.

Like previous fellows, they will receive hands-on training at a Hearst station for 10 weeks and, if all goes well, be given a permanent job as a producer at that or another Hearst station.

In the selection process, said Maushard, “we are looking for someone who has done well academically, but who also has well-rounded experience in journalism and someone who is committed to producing to the broadcast side as well as the multiplatform approach.

“The advantage is, it is a structured opportunity to learn and put your best foot forward as you start your career.”

The program also insures that the new producers are ready to step in where they are needed most, Maushard said. There is so much emphasis in schools on multiplatform production these days, she said, that students sometimes arrive without adequate training in producing conventional newscasts.

Young has been the recipient of many other honors. In April 2009, the Radio Television Digital News Association presented him with the Paul White Award, its highest honor. Young was one of only two of the Award’s 53 recipients to have spent his career entirely in local news.

Young’s other honors include a First Amendment Service award from the RTDNA, awards from the Pennsylvania Association of  Broadcasters and the Associated Press Broadcasters, and a distinguished alumnus award from Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University.

To learn more about the fellowship, click here.