KENT: Betty Lin-Fisher, consumer writer on the business news desk at the Beacon Journal, has been named recipient of the 2013 Diversity in Media Distinguished Leadership Award by Kent State University.
She will be honored at ceremonies at Kent State on April 2.
The award is part of a journalism program honoring the late Robert McGruder.
The awards recognize the accomplishments of media professionals who encourage diversity in the field of journalism.
McGruder was a former executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, managing editor of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland and a graduate of Kent State University. McGruder died of cancer in 2002.
The 2013 McGruder Lecture and Award winner is Russ Mitchell, newscaster on WKYC (Channel 3) in Cleveland.
Lin-Fisher, 39, is an 18-year veteran of the Beacon Journal and has worked as a copy editor, metro reporter and assistant metro editor. For the last 12 years, she has been the consumer reporter and columnist and a general business reporter.
She covers consumer issues as well as several business beats, including retail, grocery stores, utilities and banks.
Her work has earned state awards for human interest writing, business writing, consumer reporting, breaking news and column writing. She was part of the team in the Beacon’s American Dream/Reclaim the Dream Series in 2009, which looked at the challenges of the middle class and in which Lin-Fisher’s columns offered practical ways readers could work on their finances. The series’ national honors include the 2009 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism, and placements in the National Headliner Awards for Journalistic Innovation and Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards Public Service Reporting.
Lin-Fisher also won the 2009 Society of Business Editors and Writers Best in Business Projects for her Reclaim the Dream series.
She lives in the Akron area with her husband and two children.
