PULLMAN, Wash.Two award-winning journalists will share their experiences as embedded war correspondents during a presentation at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, at CADD 218. Journalist James Hagengruber and photojournalist Brian Plonka have won kudos for their multi-media coverage of the lives of two young recruits from Hauser Lake, Idaho for The Spokesman Review. Twin brothers Robert and Matt Shipp were tracked from high school graduation to boot camp to deployment in the Middle East.
“Brothers in Arms”, online at www.spokesmanreview.com is a rich, extensive portrayal of two young soldiers as well as accounts of the two older men who covered their lives. The series made Hagengruber a finalist for the 2006 Livingston Award.
Hagengruber has reported from Kuwait, Iraq, Germany, Bosnia and the Ukraine and has been published by the Christian Science Monitor, The Guardian, Salon, Suddeutsche Zeitung and The Spokesman Review. Brian Plonka is staff photographer for The Spokesman Review. In 2002 he was named National Newspaper Photographer of the Year for his coverage of asbestos poisoning in Montana.
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is dedicated to the perpetuation of a free press while offering mentoring and best practices for students. Benjamin Shors, an assistant professor in the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication and WSU’s student chapter advisor, organized this presentation.
“Jim and Brian are two of the finest journalists working in the Pacific Northwest. Their remarkable project takes readers on a journey from a small town in rural Idaho to the front lines of the war in Iraq.”
