COOPER, Brian E.

COOPER, Brian E. (Alton, IL 1954- ). Executive editor and Editorial Board chairman of TH Media, whose products include the Telegraph Herald and THonline.com, since May 1986. TH Media is a division of Dubuque-based Woodward Communications, Inc.

Cooper came to Dubuque after four years as editor of The Ottumwa (Iowa) Courier (1982-86). He also held newsroom management positions at the Winona (Minn.) Daily News (1981-82) and The Quincy (Ill.) Herald-Whig (1976-80). Raised in the Chicago suburbs, he attended Western Illinois University for two years and then earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia (1976).

Cooper has received the Iowa Newspaper Association’s two highest honors, the Distinguished Service Award (1994) and Master Editor-Publisher Award (2009). He was named the recipient of the Stephen Berry Free Press Champion Award by the Iowa Center of Public Affairs Journalism-IowaWatch for promoting and showing by example the benefits of transparent government in Iowa. The honor was given to a working journalist who ensured that the public's right to know was met. Cooper served on several committees and boards that exist to protect the First Amendment including the Iowa Newspaper Association's Government Relations Committee, Iowa Freedom of Information Council board of directors and as expanded news media coordinator for use of cameras in the courtrooms of Allamakee, Clayton, Delaware, and Dubuque counties. (1)

During his editorship of the Telegraph Herald, the newspaper launched the website THonline.com (January 1996), incorporated social media such as Twitter and Facebook as a means of disseminating news, launched magazines, resumed Saturday publication after an absence of six decades (August 1988), and converted from weekday afternoon to every-morning publication (September 1996).

One of his outside pursuits is writing non-fiction books. Cooper wrote two sports biographies of Dubuque County natives. First Heisman: The Life of Jay Berwanger was published in 2013 by Crestwood Publishing. Red Faber: A Biography of the Hall of Fame Spitball Pitcher published in 2007 by McFarland & Co. was a finalist for the Society for American Baseball Research’s Larry Ritter Award. He also wrote Ray Schalk: A Baseball Biography about the famed Chicago White Sox catcher which was published in 2009 by McFarland& Co. McCoy Group: A History of Commitment to the Customer published in 2012 by McCoy was a commissioned work on the Dubuque-based truck-sales and transportation firm. Cooper continued his book publishing career in 2017 with the release of Biggest Gamble on the Mississippi: The Story of the Robert and Ruth Kehl Family, a commissioned corporate and family history of Dubuque riverboat and restaurant entrepreneurs Robert KEHL and his wife, Ruth. He has also written book chapters and magazine articles for the Society for American Baseball Research publications.

Cooper’s TH columns and editorials have received state and regional recognition. He has served as president of the Iowa Newspaper Foundation, Iowa Freedom of Information Council and Iowa Associated Press Managing Editors. For more than 25 years, he has been an Expanded News Media Coverage regional coordinator, serving as a liaison among Iowa District Court officials and media outlets for electronic coverage of criminal trials.

The announcement was made on December 2, 2016 that Cooper would step down as the executive editor of the Telegraph Herald. After thirty years, he would begin January 1, 2017 as the TH Editorial Board chairman, editorial page editor and a special projects resource. Cooper requested the opportunity as a transitional step toward retirement.

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Source:

Contributed material, Brian Cooper, e-mail, September 20, 2014

1. "Cooper Receives Free Press Award," Telegraph Herald, October 3, 2014, p. 3

2. "TH Executive Editor to Take on New Role," Telegraph Herald, December 2, 2016, p. 3A