Ray Marcano
{{short description|American journalist}}
Ray Marcano is an American journalist, music critic, and musician known for his work as a medical reporter, and later a music critic, for the Dayton Daily News in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2000, he became president of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the largest journalism organization in the United States, only the second black president of the organization in its history. He was one of the directors of the Cox Media Group, which owns the Dayton Daily News.
Early life and work
Marcano grew up in The Bronx's Monroe housing project.{{cite web|title=Newspaper Veteran Ray Marcano Teaching Digital Media to Wright State Students|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-3503230711.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924204353/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-3503230711.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 September 2015|publisher=Highbeam|accessdate=19 August 2015|date=21 November 2014}} He attended The High School of Music & Art, studying voice, percussion and piano, with the hope to become a R&B star.{{cite book|author1=Sally Lehrman|author2=John S. and James L. Knight Foundation|title=News in a New America|url=https://archive.org/details/newsinnewamerica00lehr|url-access=registration|year=2005|publisher=Knight Foundation|isbn=978-0-9749702-1-9}} At school, he was in a band jazz band with jazz bass guitarist Marcus Miller, who later worked with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, but felt that he did not have the talent to make it as a professional jazz musician.{{cite web|last=Hannah|first= Jim|url=http://webapp2.wright.edu/web1/newsroom/2014/11/20/a-bronx-tale/|title=A Bronx tale|publisher=Wright State University|date=20 November 2014|accessdate=18 August 2015}}
Marcano began his career as a journalist in the early 1980s. Around 1981, he began working for a newspaper in Vinita, Oklahoma, and after a two-year stint he joined Tulsa World. A year later, in 1984, Marcano began a long term working for the Dayton Daily News, specializing in medicine.{{cite book|title=Presstime|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cLEgAQAAMAAJ|date=July 1987|publisher=American Newspaper Publishers Association|page=49}} His first news story was a report on the state analysis of hospital charges and how some hospitals overcharge patients.{{cite book|title=The American Editor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k70gAQAAMAAJ|year=1991|publisher=American Society of Newspaper Editors|page=11}} In 1993, the US government reported that when the Ohio Department of Health "turned over floppy disks with hospital admission information", Marcano "easily turned [them] into revealing stories on discrepancies in health care costs and procedures".{{cite book|title=The Electronic Freedom of Information Improvement Act: hearing before the Subcommittee on Technology and the Law of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, second session, on S. 1940, a bill to amend Title 5, United States Code, to provide for public access ... April 30, 1992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xI2MV_QrKioC|year=1993|publisher=United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Technology |isbn=978-0-16-041099-4|page=169}} He has worked for newspapers as a reporter and editor in New York, Ohio and Oklahoma and is also an editor of the book Back in Orbit.{{cite book|last1=Gaffney|first1=Timothy R.|last2=Montgomery|first2=Scott|title=Back in Orbit: John Glenn's Return to Space|url=https://archive.org/details/backinorbitjohng0000mont|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=Longstreet|isbn=978-1-56352-525-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/backinorbitjohng0000mont/page/167 167]}} Writing for Dayton Daily News, as its news manager for sports, he observed: "I think it's important for newsrooms to be diverse....newspapers have to be able to reflect things that go on in the whole community."{{Cite web|last= Rhodes|first= Lolita M. |url=http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/media/unfetter/press09.htm|title= Minorities in Journalism|accessdate=|publisher = usa.usembassy.de }}
Later work
In 2000, he became president of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the largest journalism organization in the United States with 300 chapters and 10,000 members. He was only the second black president in the history of the organization, which was founded in 1909.{{cite book|title=Jet|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_SsQDAAAAMBAJ|date=27 November 2000|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_SsQDAAAAMBAJ/page/n39 40]|issn=0021-5996}}{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B5OfAAAAMAAJ| title=The Sigma Delta Chi Story (1909–1949)| author=Glenn, William Meharry| year=1949| accessdate=August 21, 2010}} He became the director of digital audience growth for Cox Media Group, a company which owns the Dayton Daily News.{{cite news|url=http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/local/centerville-man-lectures-in-iceland/ndzqP/|title=Centerville man lectures in Iceland|newspaper=Dayton Daily News|accessdate=18 August 2015}} He is currently a lecturer at Wright State University.{{cite web|url=http://people.wright.edu/ray.marcano|title=Ray Marcano|publisher=Wright State University|accessdate=18 August 2015}} Marcano received a Fulbright Special Grant at the University of Iceland in 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.fulbright.is/en/about_fulbright/recent_grantees/fulbright_grantees/|title=Recent Grantees|publisher=Fulbright.is|accessdate=18 August 2015}}
In 2014, he became editor of the sports website [https://fanbuzz.com/voices/ray-marcano/ FanBuzz.com] where he served for three years. Starting in 2017, he began freelancing for some of the country's largest brands as an editor, including CNN and the Southern Poverty Law Center. As a writer, his editorial work has appeared in [https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/09/14/covid-vaccines-just-tell-the-truth-about-why-you-arent-vaccinated-nicki-minaj/8333968002/ USA Today], the [https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2021/11/05/ray-marcano-voters-punish-dewine-come-election-moderates-rule/6237019001/ Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch] and [https://news.yahoo.com/agent-helping-level-playing-field-110000119.html Yahoo News]. He has written [https://www.daytondailynews.com/ideas-voices/marcano-enforce-the-law-whether-you-like-it-or-not/2YW2COMKXZBGXALN44MPSH2KRA/ a weekly Sunday opinion column] in the Dayton Daily News since 2021 and continues to write freelance news articles for a number of publications.
References
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Category:American music critics
Category:Journalists from the Bronx
Category:Writers from Dayton, Ohio
Category:Wright State University faculty
Category:Journalists from Ohio
Category:The High School of Music & Art alumni
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Presidents of the Society of Professional Journalists