WHRO Public Media is pleased to welcome Maurice Jones as the Vice President of News. Maurice brings a wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors as well as in the news industry. He is the former president and publisher of Pilot Media, the parent company of The Virginian-Pilot. He has also served as deputy secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Obama administration and Secretary of Commerce and Trade under the McAuliffe administration.

Maurice grew up on a tobacco farm in Kenbridge, Virginia, a small rural town where he was raised by his grandparents. He credits this upbringing as the genesis of his strong work ethic and his desire to help people.

“I think a lot of the work that I have attempted to do has been focused on helping people and places achieve economic mobility,” Maurice said. “It's impacted everything that I've tried to do, both personally and professionally, but really focusing on trying to help folks realize the American dream.”

It’s this same desire to help people and their communities that attracted him to the new position at WHRO. He has seen how journalism can help individuals as well as society as a whole. He recounted one story from his days at The Virginian-Pilot. The newspaper ran a series of articles about suicides among Navy personnel. He received an email from a reader who shared what the series meant to her.

“She said, ‘I want to thank you for the series that you wrote; it saved my life,’” he recalled. “She said, ‘I was contemplating taking my life. I felt pretty hopeless. Your series is what gave me the strength to seek help.’”

He also feels high-quality journalism is essential to maintain the nation’s status as a high-functioning democracy.

“The prerequisite of us having a successful democracy is having an enlightened citizenry, and holding our leaders, both in the public and private sector, accountable for their decisions and behaviors,” he explained. “Journalism and a free press do that, and have been doing that, better than almost anything else I know.“

Though many of his previous positions took place on a national stage, he said he is very excited to once again be working at the local level. The decline of local journalism throughout Virginia has left an important gap to fill.

“The most impactful decisions on people's opportunities are those that happen locally,” he explained. Healthy journalism not only holds local leaders accountable, he said, but also helps leaders make good decisions about issues that citizens deal with daily, such as schools, transportation, childcare, jobs and healthcare.

Public media, in particular, is unique in that it offers journalists opportunities to go deeper in their reporting and do the investigative work required. Public media’s mission, he said, places the public at the forefront and seeks to inform by reporting truth. “The objective is always to follow the facts to where they take you."

In a culture where some perceive bias in media — accusing media outlets of leaning either too far left or too far right politically in their coverage — Maurice said he understands the responsibility that falls on news leaders to maintain objectivity and accuracy in their organization’s reporting. “I know that the most important currency for an enterprise that is aspiring to deliver journalism is trust,” he said. “We have to get up every day and earn and re-earn trust.”

It is a mission that he takes seriously and is looking forward to.

“I think some folks will look at my professional journey and say, well, he must be biased in favor of some cause that Democrats pursue or what have you, so I need to be sensitive to that. I need to make sure that I am doing everything I can to follow the truth, to hold us to that standard, and that's what I'll do,” he said. “Fortunately, I've had experience doing it. I'm not a rookie at this.“

WHRO President & CEO Bert Schmidt cited Maurice’s extensive background, and his passion for both the community and journalism, as a powerful combination for the organization. “I am thrilled to have Maurice join WHRO,” Bert said. “As we continue to uphold our commitment to delivering high-quality and impactful local journalism, we are confident that he will play a pivotal role in leading our newsroom to new heights.”

Maurice said topics he looks forward to the newsroom covering more include the impact of climate change on the region, education — especially the role of community colleges in developing a strong workforce, the role that arts play in the economy, and new advances in technology and artificial intelligence along with the implications of these for the future.

His most immediate goal though is working on ways to grow and sustain the award-winning journalism that WHRO is already known for. The newsroom has grown to 10 full-time journalists producing a number of audio and web stories as well as a daily newsletter.

“We want a journalistic endeavor that can cover southeast Virginia, and do so comprehensively, and do so in a way that's financially sustainable,” he said. “In the next six months, I want to build on the incredible progress already made with a particular focus on scaling and growing. I've got to grow revenues and grow capabilities to deliver great journalism.”

The decline in local journalism, he said, has been due in part to a faulty business model.

“I think we've got an incredible opportunity,” he explained. “The local journalism model is being disrupted. We're trying to be a disruptor that actually establishes itself and grows. That's a unique opportunity. We want to be the preeminent local journalistic enterprise in this region. When people think of where they should go for great journalism in this area, we want to be at the top of that list.“

It’s a challenging undertaking, and one that he is eager to begin.

“I'm excited to have that chance, and I'm going to be all in.“

---

 Catch up on local news from the WHRO newsroom.

Sign up for the daily newsletter from WHRO News.

• 
•