Mark Tatge

Mark W. Tatge
Born	(1955-06-02) June 2, 1955 Chicago
Education	Ohio University (MBA-2010) Ohio State University (MA-Journalism) Western Illinois University (BA-Sociology) University of Wisconsin - Madison (no degree)
Occupation	Journalist

Mark W. Tatge is an American journalist. He was a senior editor at Forbes magazine, a staff reporter at the Wall Street Journal, and an investigative reporter in the Statehouse Bureau of the Cleveland's The Plain Dealer.

Tatge, spent three decades as a journalist before joining E.W. Scripps School of Journalism as a visiting professor and executive-in-residence.[1]. Scripps is a top-10 journalism school with 1,000 students located in southeastern Ohio. The school is consistently ranked among the best journalism programs in the nation. Under Tatge's direction, the Scripps School offered its first classes in business and economics journalism beginning in 2007. The program has since expanded, producing graduates who are now working professionally in print, digital and broadcast media nationally. Tatge teaches teaches print and online journalism, media literacy, media law and business and economics writing. In addition, Tatge worked closely with the journalism and business schools on curriculum development, recruitment and fundraising issues.

Tatge has taught in both the journalism and business schools at OU. He is a guest commentator on national news shows, including CNBC, ABC American Broadcasting Company, MSNBC, National Public Radio, Fox Business Network, PBS station WOUB-TV, and Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW.[2] Tatge previously worked as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism where he taught graduate journalism students about business, economics and finance. in 2010, Tatge published his first book, the New York Times Reader: Business and Economics.

Tatge was previously a Senior Editor and Bureau Chief of Forbes magazine’s Midwest Bureau, where he oversaw content produced for the magazine, Forbes.com and the Forbes Video Network. He was a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal, an investigative reporter in The Plain Dealer statehouse bureau, and a staff writer for both the The Dallas Morning News and The Denver Post.

Early life

Mark Tatge was born in Chicago, the descendant of German and Irish immigrants who grew up on the north side of Chicago in the Portage Park neighborhood. His father was a talented research chemist who had developed and patented new ink and printing processes for the two Chicago companies he worked for - Uarco and Black Products. Tatge attended Catholic schools, including St. Viator High School in suburban Arlington Heights, Ill.

Tatge graduated from high school and enrolled in Western Illinois University, studying social work. He planned to get a job after graduation working in the criminal justice system with juvenile delinquents. On the side, Tatge wrote for his school newspaper the Western Courier [3] and WIU's Sports Information office. Tatge also freelanced for daily newspapers while at WIU, including the Galesburg Register Mail [4] and Peoria Journal Star. Upon graduation, Tatge went to work running a small weekly and a small daily newspaper in Wisconsin. He moved up the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison where he attended graduate school at the UW-Madison while working on the night copy desk.

Tatge is a past Kiplinger Fellow in Public Affairs Reporting [5] at Ohio State University where he completed his master's degree in journalism. The fellowship was named after W.M. Kiplinger, editor and founder of the Kiplinger Letter. Kiplinger was one of OSU's first journalism graduates and he also founded Kiplinger's Personal Finance[6]. Following in Kiplinger's footsteps, Tatge found that found that economics, not politics, was more fascinating and he embarked upon a career in business journalism upon graduation. Tatge completed his MBA at Ohio University and holds a bachelor's degree from Western Illinois University.

Tatge is chief executive of an editorial consulting/content management company, DeadlineReporter LLC.

Work as an investigative reporter

Tatge has written extensively about corporate misdeeds, starting with his coverage of the savings and loan scandal in Colorado during the 1980s where he chronicled the funny money accounting of a high flying thrift, Silverado Banking that collapsed in 1988, costing taxpayers $1.3 billion.[7]

At The Plain Dealer, Tatge exposed how teachers, police officers and fire fighters facing felony charges and dismissal would file disability claims with Ohio pension funds, including the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund.[8] The officers would then retire with tax-supported disability pensions. In one case, a high school teacher filed for disability after being caught having sex with one of his students. The stories led to an investigation and major changes in Ohio retirement law.

The Ohio Society of Professional Journalists' Honored Tatge with the First Amendment Award. The Associated Press Managing Editors named Tatge the Best Business Writer in Texas.

At Forbes, Tatge wrote profiles and interviewed chief executives at many top 100 U.S. corporations, including Boeing, Motorola, United Airlines, 3M, AT&T, US Airways, Delta Air Lines, Best Buy and FedEx. He was the lead writer on the magazine's Best Places for Business and contributed to Forbes 400 Richest Americans.

Tatge's work has appeared in the New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post.

Business journalism at Ohio University

Tatge was awarded a visiting professorship at Ohio University endowed by the foundation established by the E.W. Scripps Co.. E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Director Thomas Hodson asked Tatge to join OU's faculty with the goal of developing a business writing program. Over the course of the next three quarters, Tatge wrote and received approval for a curriculum, put together a plan to raise money for an endowed chair in business journalism and he solicited donations on the school's behalf. Additionally, he worked closely with faculty members to help re-write the school's curriculum, giving it a more digital focus as OU moves from quarters to semesters.

The program Tatge initiated enrolled its first students in the winter of 2008-09. Students were given specialized training in areas of accounting, finance, markets, the economy and trained how to use a Bloomberg terminal. As part of plan Tatge devised to help promote the program, he began appearing on the nationally televised Fox Business Network founded by OU alumnus Roger Ailes. Graduates of OU's business journalism program are now working as business journalists in New York and Chicago.

Tatge initiated a partnership with OU College of Business where he taught courses jointly to students from both the College of Business [9] and the College of Communication [10]. business and communication. Tatge developed and taught courses in media management, magazine writing, business writing,[11] online reporting, media literacy, media economics and media law.[12]

Books and media

Tatge is the author of The New York Times Reader: Business and Economics, [13][14] published by CQ Press, a unit of Sage Publications. The book offers a new approach in teaching students how to write about economics and business subjects. Stories are broken down into their essential elements with paragraph by paragraph diagrams. Students are essentially given a road map on how to write a New York Times story. The volume also offers interviews with New York Times writers who share insights into how the report and write great stories.

Tatge is a contributing editor to: "The Big Chill: Investigative Reporting in the Current Media Environment," Iowa State University Press, 2000. The book examines the causes behind the demise of investigative reporting.[15]

Tatge has been interviewed or his reporting has been quoted in a number of books:

"Going Up the River, Travels in a Prison Nation," by Joseph T. Hallinan, Random House, New York, NY, (2003).[16]

"Silverado: Neil Bush and the Savings and Loan Scandal," by Steven K. Wilmsen, National Press Books, (1991). [17]

"The Heroic Media Attorney is in Decline," by Willie Stern, (2003).

"Storming the Statehouse, Running For Governor with Ann Richards and Dianne Feinstein," by Celia Morris, Scribner,(1992). [18]

“As a Grocer, Wal-Mart is No Category Killer,” Forbes, June 30, 2003," this story appears in "Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit," By Philip Kotler, Wiley, 2010.[19]

Awards

• Chicago Headline Club, Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism, "Dirty Laundry," an investigation of laundry giant Cintas' business practices, (2007). • Society of Professional Journalists, Best Business Coverage in Ohio, "Secrets of a Deal: The Failed Attempt to Sell Blue Cross and Blue Shield," corruption at the state's largest health insurer, (1997). • First Amendment Award, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, (1997). • Associated Press, Best Ohio Business Stories of Year, (1997). • Society of Professional Journalists, Best Project/Series, (1996). • Washington Monthly Journalism Award, "Pension Blues," series detailing how taxpayers foot the bill for corrupt police officers, (May 1995). • Society of Professional Journalists, Investigative Reporting, "The Supreme Pain," a story looking at the ethical lapses of an Ohio Supreme Court justice, (1993). • Associated Press Managing Editors, Best Business Writer in Texas, "Thompsons Profited as Business Empire Crumbled," how the 7-Eleven chain founders squandered a fortune, (1991). • Texas Headliners Foundation Charles E. Green Newspaper Achievement Award, Governmental Affairs, analysis of gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams' business empire, (1990). • Morton Margolin Prize for Distinguished Business Reporting, "Silverado Banking stock deals hook builders," the rise and fall of a high-flying savings and loan, (1988). • Associated Press Managing Editors, Best Business Writer in Colorado, "Con artist worms way into bank vaults," (1988).

Public Records Initiatives

Cleveland Plain Dealer, Plain Dealer v. Ohio Department of Insurance, 80 Ohio St. 3d 513, 96-2247, Won a mandamus action compelling state regulators to disclose documents sought as a matter of public interest.

Forbes Magazine, Michael Williamson, et al., Plaintiffs v. Recovery Limited Partnership, 2:06-cv-0292, 2006 U.S. Dist. Lexis 86902. Won an effort to unseal a case seeking a financial accounting of gold recovered from sunken ship.

External links

• E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
• BizReporting blog
• Media Law blog
• The Harder Side of Sears, Forbes
• A Leaky Affair, Masco a dubious proposition, Forbes
• Firestorm, Exploding Microwave Ovens and Combustible Dishwashers at Whirlpool, Forbes
• How Wendy's Founder Dave Thomas and others lost $91 million, Forbes
• Frank Wobst Once Ran Huntington like a Military Machine, now it looks like his piggy ATM, Forbes
• Are Airlines Really Safe Enough, Forbes