Alumni of Distinction
Clarence Jones
JM 1956, Inducted in 1984.
Clarence Jones is a news media consultant and author of America’s leading book on news media relations. Before his current career, he was a reporter for 30 years – 16 years in newspapers and 14 years in television. He was one of the most honored reporters in the nation.
He began working full-time as a newspaper reporter while he was still a journalism student at the University of Florida. After graduation in 1956, he worked for the Florida Times-Union as capitol correspondent and feature writer. In 1959, he moved to the Jacksonville Journal as political writer and beat reporter. In 1964, he became one of the lead investigative reporters for the Miami Herald, ending his newspaper career as Washington correspondent for the Herald.
He moved to television in 1970, accepting one of TV’s most unusual assignments, to work under cover, investigating police and political corruption in Louisville, Ky. for WHAS-TV. After eight months under cover, his documentaries there gained immediate national attention.
In 1972 he returned to Miami as investigative reporter for WPLG-TV. His work there made him one of the most honored and respected investigative reporters in American journalism. He is the only reporter for a local TV station to ever win three duPont-Columbia Awards (broadcasting's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize).
His other honors include a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University (1963-64) and four Emmys. While he was still reporting, he also taught broadcast journalism as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami.
He is author of Winning with the News Media - A Self-Defense Manual When You’re the Story. Now in its Eighth Edition (2005) it is the nation’s leading media relations handbook. It is used as a textbook in his seminars and by many corporations, government agencies and national associations who do their own media training.
After publishing the first version of Winning with the News Media in 1984, he left news reporting to form Winning News Media, Inc. Now based in Anna Maria, Florida, he consults with clients all over the country, helping them manage media crises. The bulk of his work involves seminars in media skills and strategy for a wide range of professions, government agencies and corporations.
He also works one-on-one with clients, teaching them — on-camera — how to handle the questions of news reporters and industry analysts; how to make winning presentations; conduct news conferences, testify in court, and appear before legislative committees.
Jones is married to the former Ellen Jaffe, a former investigative reporter and anchorwoman. He has three grown daughters.
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