UF telecom graduate wins national championship in TV news

June 17, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Recent University of Florida telecommunication graduate Miles Doran won the Hearst National Television Broadcast News Championship Monday in New York City.

Doran, a CBS News digital journalist in New York City, beat out other finalists who made the cut at the end of the yearlong William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards Program. Students from Arizona State University and the University of Miami won second- and third-place in the TV news championship, respectively.

“Anyone who knows Miles is not surprised,” Dean John Wright said. “He exemplifies the type of student we value at the College of Journalism and Communications: Determined, confident and yet always eager to grow and develop.”

Doran, who received $5,000, participated in two previous Hearst competitions, the first as a sophomore.

“This year, I felt more comfortable because I knew how it all worked,” he said. “I think you always learn something new when you’re working on deadline.”

The TV news competition participants produced stories about security in NYC.

“I interviewed one of the street vendors who spotted the smoking Nissan Pathfinder last month,” Doran said, “and also the head of the city’s Public Safety commission who said the city needs to get more cops on the streets in order to be more prepared for a future attack.”

This year, Hearst marked the 50th anniversary of the championships, which also include competitions in writing, photography and radio news.

The college is a national leader in the professional education of future journalists and other communication practitioners. It offers undergraduate programs in advertising, journalism, public relations, and telecommunication production and operations; and graduate programs in science/health communication, media law, political communication and international communication.