Young Alum Named Editor in Chief of UCLA Newspaper
Moving from heading up a twice-a-semester high school news magazine (with an estimated readership of 500) to leading a 500-employee, five-day-a-week newspaper (estimated readership: 10,000+) is a huge step by any measure. And in the case of Tanner Walters (US’14), former Upper School editor of The Voice, it’s even more impressive because he’s made that transition in only two years—he’s a college sophomore!
In early April, after a rigorous application and review process, Walters was named editor in chief of The Daily Bruin, the University of California-Los Angeles’s flagship student-run and -managed newspaper. In the April 4 Bruin article about the announcement, Communications Board member (and former Bruin editor in chief) Alene Tchekmedyian said, “I don’t remember the last time an editor in chief was appointed as a sophomore.” The Bruin noted that “the board was impressed with Walters’s qualifications as well as his plans for the newspaper’s website and content.”
Walters brings to the post a lifelong enjoyment of reading and writing as well as a familiarity with journalism—both of his parents, Laurel (US’84) and David (US’83) Walters, were formerly on the staff of The Christian Science Monitor. These interests blossomed into a passion for reporting and editing as soon as Walters enrolled in the Upper School journalism course as a freshman. “Journalism was my focus throughout high school,” says Walters, who was on The Voice staff all four years and was editor from sophomore year onward. In that time, The Voice tripled its staff complement, changed from a newspaper to a magazine, and made its first foray into online publishing.
When he began at UCLA in the fall of 2014, Walters interned as a sports reporter—covering water polo, men’s volleyball, and men’s soccer—and then became an assistant editor at the end of his freshman year. Back in St. Louis with his family the following summer, Walters juggled jobs while continuing to report and edit for the Bruin’s weekly edition, which is published during the summer break. He was so committed, even while away from Los Angeles, that he received the award for “Most Valuable Staff for Summer/Fall 2015.”
Even with that load, Walters found time to visit with Upper School journalism students before heading back to school. “One of the things I appreciate about Tanner is how he has given back to the journalism program here,” says English and journalism teacher Katie MacDonald (C’05). “For the past two years, he has come to visit the journalism class early in the fall to talk about interviewing and writing articles. He's a wonderful teacher. I am so glad to hear that his hard work is being recognized!"
Walters acknowledges that, while working on the sports page, he was pretty much living at the Bruin offices—and the coming year is likely to be even more intense. Priorities include improved training for staff and navigating the financial complexities in which all print newspapers find themselves these days. “We're currently in the middle of our staff hiring process for 2016–2017 . . . . Everybody should be in place by mid-May,” Walters says. “It should be a fun and busy year ahead—the Summer Olympics, a presidential election, and plenty going on around campus, too.”
In his application for the post, Walters outlined plans for online and multimedia content and expansion—a reinvention process in which print media the world over are engaged. One of Walters’s favorite news sources is Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, which, he says, “is leading the way with data visualization in both sports and politics. [Such experimentation] can only help the industry move forward.”
Even as Walters considers new directions in his new position, he promises one thing will remain unchanged—his staunch support of St. Louis sports teams! “The Rams followed me across the country,” Walters jokes. As for the Blues and Cardinals, “I proudly wear my gear around campus—often.”