E-mail: randy.covington@sc.com

Office:
Phone: 803.447.6886
Fax: 208.728.9066
Room: Newsplex, SCETV
Hours:
By Appointment

Spring 2008 Syllabus:
Jour 501 - Freedom, Responsibility and Ethics

Randy Covington
Director of Ifra Newsplex South Carolina
Assistant Professor

B.A., Journalism and Government, Indiana University
M.S., Journalism, Columbia University

Randy Covington is on the faculty of the School of Journalism and director of the Ifra Newsplex, a newsroom of the future located in Columbia that is jointly operated by the University and Ifra, an international press consortium.

For USC, Covington, teaches classes in new media as well as ethics. He also does professional training in strategic communication for the U.S. Army, the U.S. Department of Justice and the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, among others.

For Ifra, Covington serves as a professional trainer and consultant, working with news organizations such as the Financial Times in London, Impresa in Portugal, Casa Editorial El Tiempo in Bogota and Radio Free Europe in Prague. He also serves on the faculty for Ifra's summer university (L'Universite d'Ete) in St. Paul de Vence, France.

From 1991 until 2001, Covington served as news director of WIS TV in Columbia. Under his leadership, WIS significantly expanded its news programming, established one of the most successful local television websites in the U.S. and maintained its news leadership in the Columbia market.

Covington previously worked in news management positions for TV stations in Houston, Louisville, Boston and Philadelphia. His honors include a du-Pont Columbia Citation, four Emmys and an Ohio State Award. In 1997, the Radio Television News Directors of the Carolinas recognized him as its news director of the year. Covington started his career in print with newspapers in his home state of Indiana. He also has worked as a newswriter for the Associated Press as well as in radio.