Katherine Reed's Profile
Health and public safety editor, Columbia Missourian
Associate professor, Missouri School of Journalism. I teach reporting and advanced reporting.
I blog at reedkath.wordpress.com about the craft of reporting and can be followed at reedkath on Twitter.
I’ve been at the Missourian since 2004 as an editor. I started out in charge of Adelante, our now-defunct bilingual monthly magazine, and the business beat. Then I was given the public safety beat, overseeing coverage of crime and the courts, and that’s what I focus on now along with health care journalism.
The projects that I’m most proud of are what we call “watchdog journalism” stories that raise the public’s awareness or understanding of an important issue. I’m very proud of work we did from 2005-2009 on the Boone County Fire Protection District (especially this piece: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2007/01/14/a-chief-under-fire/) because it helped shed light on the inner workings of a taxpayer-funded local agency. I’m also very proud of the reporting we did on the Regency Trailer Park at the beginning of this year (http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/01/28/world-regency-mobile-home-park/) that started the community conversation about how some of our fellow citizens were living. But I’m equally proud of the work we’ve done on school lunches, the use of force by the Columbia Police Department, rural health care access, prosecution of sexual assault in Columbia and many other issues. My favorite recent story is this one, which was produced by an advanced reporting student on my beat (health and public safety): http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/12/04/one-year-later-kelsi-poe-recovers-fall-quintons/
My work and educational background begins here, at MU, where I received a bachelor’s degree in journalism. I worked as a police reporter fresh out of school, then a copy editor, then a reporter again before I decided to take a break from journalism to work as a victim’s advocate. I was the victim/witness liaison for the S.C. Department of Corrections for several years where I created one of the first victim assistance programs in a correctional agency. I worked as a consultant for the National Victim Center at that time and trained victims’ advocates about how to work effectively with the media. A few years later, I received a master’s degree in English and creative writing from Hollins University in Virginia while I was working at the Roanoke Times. I did copy editing there for several years until I became one of the paper’s two film and theater reviewers. In 1999, my husband and I sold everything and moved to Prague with our son and our dog. I went to work for a business weekly called Prague Business Journal and became editor-in-chief in 2000 while my husband worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. We moved back to the U.S. in 2004 when I was hired by the Missouri School of Journalism to teach here at the Missourian.
Away from work, I love to cook and work out, especially on the MKT. I love to bike to Cooper’s Landing, or Rocheport and, sometimes, Boonville. When I’m feeling up to it, I like to compete in 5Ks. My husband and I also love to take float trips, and we have great memories of a trip on the Buffalo River, a favorite. We also love to sail. Travel is a very high priority in life, especially after those five years living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world — Prague — which was a great starting point for trips to places like Italy, the Croatian coast, Austria, Slovenia and Hungary.
When people ask me what I like about Columbia, I always say that this town is greater than the sum of its parts. I’m not sure what it is, but Columbia nurtures great ideas and is very supportive of new ventures. I think the True/False Film Festival, the “We Always Swing” Jazz Series and the up-and-coming Citizen Jane film festival are evidence of that spirit. I love that when we go out, my husband and I are equally likely to meet new people as we are to run into friends. Our son — though he now lives elsewhere — felt the same way about Columbia and was involved with community gardening projects here, among other things. I’m always excited to hear about what Columbia will do next.
