2 veteran journalists are honored

Two veteran Utah journalists were honored Monday night for their lifelong commitments to their profession.

Former Salt Lake newsman Ernie Ford and Suzanne Dean, editor and publisher of the Sanpete Messenger, were inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Daily Utah Chronicle, the University of Utah's student newspaper.

Their induction occurred during the Chronicle's annual scholarship dinner on campus.

Ford, of Greencastle, Ind., was the Chronicle editor-in-chief as a student and later was a mentor for scores of budding journalists as the Chronicle's faculty adviser. He went on to become assistant city editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, managing editor of KSL-TV, assistant news director and managing editor of KDFW-TV in Dallas, and director of the national Society of Professional Journalists.

As president of the local SPJ chapter, Ford led the early fight for Utah's Open Meetings Law and later testified before Congress in support of the national Freedom of Information Act.

Ford and his wife, Linda, own a bookstore in Greencastle, and Ford teaches journalism at DePauw University.

Dean, who is also the central Utah correspondent for the Deseret Morning News, was an urban affairs and business writer for the newspaper in the 1970s. She also worked as a Chronicle editor as a student and later as a writer in the University of Utah's public relations office.

Also, in a speech at the ceremony for aspiring journalists and benefactors, Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson berated journalists across the country for not holding the Bush administration accountable for fabricated intelligence about the war in Iraq.

Anderson also criticized the Deseret Morning News for its coverage in 2005 of his expense reports for entertaining musicians and other city mayors at local restaurants.