Welcome to the professional Web site of Ryan Olson, a journalist
located in Chico, Calif. As a reporter for five years, I've
written hundreds of stories covering politicians, schools,
cities, deaths, the census, fires and more.
To your left, you will see links to different areas of my
expertise, including photography, pagination as well as reporting.
Thanks for visiting. Please take a look around and let me
know what you think. ryan -at- rtomedia.com.
-PRINT:
Defining a downtown
What does a community do if it doesn't have
a downtown? Paradise leaders have been working to carve a
downtown out of a fading business district. Officials hope
a revitalized downtown can spur development throughout the
community and staunch the flow of dollars to the nearby city
of Chico.
Since Februrary 2005, I have been a staff
writer for the Enterprise-Record in Chico, Calif. My duties
include covering events in the town of Paradise and the foothills
above Chico.
I have also been working on new initiatives
for the newspaper's Web site -- ChicoER.com.
These include news blogs covering Labor
Day and Halloween
to provide more immediate coverage of these formerly large
party holidays for college students before a police crackdown.
To read the Enterprise-Record online,
please click on the banner: For more updates,
please visit my pro
blog.
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The award winners
During my professional career, my writing has
been honored with a number of awards for spot news, sustained
coverage, sports enterprise and news column. A listing of
the award-winning stories can be found here.
In October 2004, the Michigan Press Association
announced first place
and third place awards
for my work in spot news stories. More
on my specific awards. General award info is on my pro
blog.
-PHOTOS:
The Gundlach fire
On the morning of April 26, 2004, the century-old
Herman Gundlach building burned on the Houghton waterfront.
I took the photos.
Over the years, I've written stories that have
been featured numerous times on the Michigan wire of The Associated
Press. Stories with my byline have run in many Michigan and
Wisconsin newspapers such as the Detroit News, The Flint Journal
and the Menominee EagleHerald, among others. More
-DESIGN:
Pica passion
I've paginated dozens of pages for the newspaper, including
wire pages and section fronts.
I have a number of weblogs to provide
quick and easily updatable information about my career, journalism
and life in general. In August, I wrote a
blog from UNITY, the nation's largest gathering of journalists
of color.
For updates on my professional career
and commentary on journalism, please visit my pro
blog.
