WHEELING – Perry A. Nardo, general manager of the Wheeling News-Register and The Intelligencer, was elected president of the West Virginia Press Association during its annual convention, held Aug. 8-10 at Oglebay Park. He will serve in the position for the coming year.
Nardo, a 32-year veteran of the newspaper industry, heads a slate of WVPA officers that will work to strengthen the community newspaper presence in West Virginia.
“Newspapers remain key contributors to their communities and guardians of fundamental freedoms,” Nardo told members of the West Virginia Press Association during the convention’s Better Newspaper Banquet.
Daily and weekly newspaper members of the WVPA provide unique services to their readers, Nardo said in an interview afterward. In-depth coverage of their communities, unmatched by any other medium, is available from newspapers, he pointed out.
Joining Nardo as officers on the WVPA board of directors are Ed Dawson, The Herald-Dispatch, Huntington, vice president of Dailies; Matt Yeager, Nicholas Chronicle, Summersville, vice president of Weeklies; and Jim Spanner, Parkersburg News and Sentinel, treasurer. Dave Corcoran, Glenville Democrat and Pathfinder, will serve as immediate past president for the 2013-14 board.
The remaining board members include David Hedges, Spencer Newspapers, Spencer; Alan Waters, The Daily Athenaeum, Morgantown; Sandy Buzzerd, The Morgan Messenger, Berkeley Springs; James Heishman, The Moorefield Examiner, Moorefield; James McGoldrick, St. Marys Oracle, St. Marys; Trip Shumate, Charleston Newspapers, Charleston, Craig See, The Spirit of Jefferson, Charles Town; Brian Jarvis, The Exponent Telegram, Clarksburg andChuck Jessup, Times West Virginian, Fairmont
Talking about the industry, Nardo said a variety of news – reliable and unbiased – also separates newspapers from television, radio and the Internet, he added. Too much content available through primarily electronic media is opinion “cloaked as news,” Nardo explained. “For communities to grow, they have to be able to turn to newspapers and their websites to find an unbiased source of news, then turn to the opinion pages for a variety of viewpoints, and then make an educated decision on how they stand on issues,” he added.
Other media often “disguise their opinions as news and cover what drives ratings, not what is best for the communities they serve,” Nardo said in his speech at the WVPA convention.
But newspapers and their websites continue to be “the most-read medium in any community,” he added.
Nardo is an Ohio Valley native who grew up in Key, Ohio, and lives in Shadyside. He and his wife, Jayme, have three sons: Matthew, Bryan and Luke. “They’ve been very supportive of my career no matter where it has taken them,” Nardo stressed.
A member of the board of directors of the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce, Nardo also serves on the board of the Regional Economic Development Partnership. He is a member of the Ohio University Eastern Advisory Board. He also has been involved in coaching athletics at three different local high schools.
Nardo said his career in newspapers has been rewarding in part because of the industry’s importance. “But what I love about it is that we’re the only industry that every day produces a different product. No one else does that.”
