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Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame’s 56th Anniversary celebration to honor 12 at 2026 ceremony at UCO
From okjournalismhalloffame.com: Journalists, a nationally known author and television news pioneers are among those who will be honored at the 56th annual 2026 induction ceremony of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.
The induction ceremony will begin at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, May 14, in the grand ballroom of the Nigh University Center at the University of Central Oklahoma. A reception toasting the honorees will occur immediately after the ceremony in the University Center’s Heritage Room.
The hall of fame will induct two Lifetime Achievement honorees and 10 journalists this year.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement honorees are the late Gene Allen, an Oklahoma television pioneer and author; and Michael Wallis, a nationally known nonfiction author and journalist who has become famous for his Route 66 work.
The 2026 induction class are Cindy Elliott Allen, a longtime news executive in Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas; Mike Brown, a longtime sportswriter for the Tulsa World; H. Willis Choate III, a third-generation publisher and longtime columnist for the Marietta Monitor; Jason Collington, former executive editor of the Tulsa World and a digital news innovator; Russell A. LaCour, a longtime journalist, copy editor and founder of the National Association of Black Journalists’ high school program; Kathryn Sherry McNutt, who just retired from The Journal Record and was a longtime editor at The Oklahoman; .Joyce Reed, the first vice president for News for Griffin Media in Oklahoma; Phil Rogers, a longtime radio and TV reporter who began his career in his native Oklahoma; Patrick Spencer, a news executive and producer with KFOR-TV; and the late Ed Turner, a founding CNN executive who pioneered many of the national cable news network’s hallmarks in news coverage.
“This year’s class and Lifetime Achievement honorees show again how Oklahoma has the greatest journalists and news pioneers in this country,” said Joe Hight, director and member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. “This year’s inductees remind me of why this hall of fame is so important and how it continues to show the depth of journalism produced here in Oklahoma and by Oklahomans.
All 12 honorees will become members of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, which now has inducted nearly 550 members since its beginning.
They were chosen from among nearly 100 nominations submitted to the hall of fame. They were first selected by a 15-member Finalist Committee and then a 12-member Selection Committee via a balloting process. All on the committees were hall of fame members and representatives of diverse types of media and journalism organizations.
Invitations to the induction luncheon will be sent by the first of March, and reservations at $50 each must be made by April 10. More information can be found by going to the hall of fame website at https://okjournalismhalloffame.com. Sponsorship tables can be purchased starting at $1,000 per table.
The Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame was founded by former UCO Journalism Chair Dr. Ray Tassin and Dennie Hall, with both serving as directors. Hight is the fourth director and succeeded Dr. Terry Clark. All members are featured on the hall of fame website. Past honoree plaques are on display at the permanent hall of fame gallery on the third floor of UCO’s Nigh University Center.
Leslie Briggs joins the Reporters Committee as Local Legal Initiative attorney in Oklahoma
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press announced Leslie Briggs as its Oklahoma Local Legal Initiative staff attorney, adding capacity to the program that operates in five states providing dedicated pro bono legal support for local enterprise and investigative reporting.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Leslie Briggs to the Reporters Committee and to the Local Legal Initiative,” said Reporters Committee Vice President of Legal Lisa Zycherman. “Her depth of experience as a litigator in Oklahoma will help us meet the growing need in the state for legal support for local journalists and newsrooms, especially those who are members of and covering the dozens of federally recognized tribes in the state.”
A Tulsa native, Briggs joins the Reporters Committee from the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, a nonprofit that fights for justice and opportunity for all Oklahomans, where she served as its legal director. In that role, Briggs developed legal strategies challenging the deprivation of constitutional rights for LGBTQ+ public school students, curbing breaches to the separation of church and state by the executive branch, freeing unfairly incarcerated survivors of domestic violence, and reshaping the criminal competency restoration system in the state of Oklahoma. She also worked on legislation reforming the criminal justice system, including the successful passage of SB1835, the Oklahoma Survivors’ Act, and co-hosted the Anthem award-winning podcast, Panic Button.
“I’m excited to join the team at the Reporters Committee, and work with the journalists and newsrooms who are telling the important stories that Oklahomans care most about,” Briggs said.
Now in its seventh year, the Local Legal Initiative currently operates in five states — Colorado, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee — to help local journalists and news organizations defend their rights to gather and report the news, gain access to public records and court proceedings, and hold state and local government agencies and officials accountable.
Since the launch of the Oklahoma Local Legal Initiative in 2020, Reporters Committee attorneys have represented local journalists and newsrooms in a variety of litigation matters, including cases involving access to 911 call recordings, COVID-19 data, tribal government records, and more.
Reporters Committee attorneys helped the McCurtain Gazette access police body-worn camera footage related to the death of a Choctaw Nation citizen after a confrontation with police. The New Yorker later highlighted the Reporters Committee’s support in a story documenting the Gazette’s efforts to hold the local sheriff’s department accountable — and the threats its reporters faced for doing so.
And through a successful lawsuit on behalf of The Frontier, Reporters Committee attorneys obtained access to jail surveillance footage, incident reports, and other records that revealed new information about the 2019 death of a Kiowa Tribe member following a violent struggle with jailers.
Outside of litigation, Reporters Committee attorneys have provided pre-publication review assistance to local journalists and news organizations, including the filmmakers of “Bad Press,” a documentary film chronicling the long fight for a free press on the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation in Oklahoma. They have also compiled a guide that helps journalists navigate press freedom and information access in Oklahoma’s federally recognized tribes.
For more information on the Local Legal Initiative, go to rcfp.org/local.
Contact Leslie Briggs at lbriggs@rcfp.org or use the RCFP tip hotline.