Oplinger still busy

Former BJ managing editor Doug Oplinger is project manager for Your Voice Ohio.

He said it involves “a lot of travel” and discussions with groups around Ohio for a better understanding between Ohioans and its media.

Doug Oplinger

Doug has assembled quite an advisory board.

The advisory board includes:

Ashley Alvarado, Manager for Public Engagement at Southern California Public Radio/KPCC, based in Los Angeles, California.

Jake Batsell, associate Journalism professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Carrie Brown, director of the social journalism MA program at City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.

Elizabeth Dunbar, a reporter for Minnesota Public Radio News in St. Paul.

Sam Ford, a media consultant and an instructor at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Joanne Griffith, senior producer for Marketplace Weekend in Los Angeles.

Fiona Morgan, Journalism Program Director at Free Press in Durham, North Carolina.

The stated goal of Your Voice Ohio is “a collaborative effort by news organizations across Ohio to better respond to the needs and aspirations of all Ohioans.” 

There’s an increased focus on helping “communities of color, rural communities and low-income communities.”

Your Voice Ohio’s funding is provided by the Knight Foundation and the Democracy Fund.

Actually, Doug said, "I have two jobs." The other is contributing to the Kettering Foundation's Connections articles.

Dayton-based KF's focus is on how citizens can improve their democracy. It was founded in 1927 by Charles F. Kettering. 

Doug became BJ managing editor in 2007. 

He climbed a long way from the days when he was the baby-faced kid in a John Deere cap who showed up at the State Desk when Pat Englehart, Harry Liggett and John Olesky were running the show (well, mostly Pat; Harry and I were in charge of following Pat’s edicts and cleaning up the debris from his tornadic personality).

Doug was a free-lance stringer. He is a graduate of the University of Akron with a master’s from Northwestern University. Coincidentally, that was where Englehart got his degree before whirlwinding into the BJ.

Oplinger lives in Green with his wife, Diane. They have three children: Jaclyn, Danielle and Justin.

I chatted with Doug at calling hours for the late BJ photographer Paul Tople at Ciriello & Carr funeral home where I also met Lakewood native Patrick McManamon, who succeeded legendary Terry Pluto as the BJ’s sports columnist. 

And more than a dozen other former co-workers at Ol’ Blue Walls, including cartoonist Chuck Ayers.