The inductees are:
• Charles H. Dow, a former Providence Journal reporter who was the co-founder and first editor of the Wall Street Journal and is considered by journalism historians to be the father of business reporting in the United States. A native of Connecticut, Dow joined The Providence Journal in 1875 and was notable for his concise, well-crafted news stories in an era when verbosity was the hallmark of newspaper writing. Later he moved to New York, where he and another Providence man, Edward D. Jones, produced a two-page business newsletter and eventually turned it into the daily Wall Street Journal. Charles Dow, Edward Jones, with Charles Bergstresser also conceived Dow Jones Newswires and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
• The late Ray Clayton, a longtime photographer in South County for Wilson Newspapers and its successor, Southern Rhode Island Newspapers. Clayton, who was born in Oberlin, Ohio, joined Wilson Newspapers as a photographer after serving in the Navy. He was voted the Rhode Island News Photographer of the Year several times, and New England News Photographer of the Year in 1998. He was highly regarded for his mentoring of young reporters and photographers. He died in 2011.
• Manuel C. “Manny” Correira, was a sportswriter and photographer for 50 years, most of that time with the East Bay Newspapers. He began working for the Bristol Phoenix part time while a high school student in Bristol. He joined East Bay Newspapers full time as sports editor and a staff photographer after graduating from Bryant College. From 1985 to 2000 he wrote for The Providence Journal in its East Bay office, then returned to East Bay Newspapers. After another short stint at the Journal, he retired in 2006.
The May 4 awards dinner is open to the public. The Hall of Fame inductees will be presented plaques that will be added to the Journalism Hall of Fame wall in the Chafee Social Science Center on the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston campus. In addition to the Hall of Fame inductions, awards will be presented to reporters, photographers and editors for outstanding work. The evening will begin with cocktails at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7. The Quonset “O” Club is at 200 Lt. James Brown Road on the former Quonset Point Navy base. For information, contact the Press Association treasurer, Nancy Kirsch, at NKirsch@shalomri.org.