Messenger publisher honored for lifetime of service to journalism
By John Hales
4-9-08

SALT LAKE CITY—Even though she has been owner and publisher of the Sanpete Messenger for only eight years, Suzanne Dean has devoted a lifetime to journalism and communications.
And last week, she was honored for her service to the profession.
Dean received the University of Utah Department of Communications’ Service to Journalism Award at the department’s annual banquet on Wednesday, April 2.
“She does not get honored enough for all her service—professional and personal—or for her extraordinary passion and idealism,” said U of U journalism professor Jim Fisher, who presented the award.
Dean has spent 46 years in journalism. She’s 58 now.
Yes, that’s right; she started her first newspaper at only 12-years-old.
“She . . . has been working on her technique ever since,” Fisher said.
Dean received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the U, where she worked on the Daily Utah Chronicle. She went on to Columbia, which boasts the nation’s pre-eminent journalism school, to earn her master’s.
She worked at the Deseret News and the Ogden Standard Examiner before turning for a time to what journalists jokingly call the “dark side” of communications: public relations.
She purchased the Messenger in 2000 with the goal of making it the best little newspaper in America.
The newspaper, under her guidance, has made a significant step in that direction, becoming one of the best newspapers in Utah. Since Dean became publisher, the Messenger has won the Utah Press Association’s General Excellence award for five of seven years.
“Suzanne has made community journalism a working proposition by providing news and information whether it pokes sleeping giants in the eye or not,” Fisher said, noting that Dean is not afraid to tackle issues that other editors and publishers might shy away from, especially in small, conservative areas.
Fisher noted that Dean is committed to improving journalism not only in Sanpete County, but in the entire state. She spearheaded an effort of continuing education for working community journalists, called Journalism Bootcamp. The program trains writers and editors in journalism writing, practices and ethics.
“I’m very honored and, in fact, pretty much blown away to receive this award,”
Dean said. “It’s certainly the biggest honor I’ve ever received in my life, and I have a lot of people to thank.”
Dean thanked many people who she said had made her career and accomplishments possible, people who had done small things with big consequences.
“I thank everyone . . . who’s helped be along the way. I only hope that in the rest of my career . . . I myself can take actions that will have beneficial consequences in the lives of others,” Dean said.
Dean is on her way. She is a leading proponent of establishing the Sanpete Humanitarian Council to benefit the needy and underserved in rural Sanpete County.
The award is the second that Dean has received from the university. In 2005, she was named to the Utah Daily Chronicle (the university’s newspaper) Hall of Fame.