New editor for CalCoastNews

August 30, 2011

Bill Loving, media attorney, journalist and college professor, has joined CalCoastNews as the new editor.

Loving replaces George Ramos, his Cal Poly journalism colleague, who died unexpectedly last June of a heart attack.

Loving, former chair of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Journalism Department, continues to teach reporting and media law classes as a tenured professor at the university.

As the new editor of CalCoastNews, Loving will help edit stories, oversee investigative projects and provide legal guidance with government records requests.

“It is fabulous to have Loving as part of the team,” said Karen Velie, co-founder and investigative reporter with CalCoastNews. “His experience with investigative reporting, editing, and information requests bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to CalCoastNews.”

While teaching at the University of Oklahoma, Loving took on the university president over access to documents about a scandal in the administration. Loving, then an untenured assistant professor, sued president Richard Van Horn in state court alleging that Van Horn’s refusal to turn over records in response to an open records request violated the state’s open records law.

“It was not the most comfortable situation to be in, but if I hadn’t fought for access and the rule of law, I would have been a hypocrite,” Loving said. “I preach the need to fight for access to my students, so I had to take the university president to court.”

Loving litigated the case and a state district judge ruled that he was entitled to the university documents. In the course of the lawsuit, state officials said that the university had not turned in many of the documents at issue for their investigations.

After the case ended, the local district attorney prosecuted and got guilty pleas from a former vice president and two other OU administrators over the scandal.