Times executive editor named to Hall of Fame

Times Executive Editor William Nangle has been named to the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame for his conspicuous contribution to the field of journalism during his more than 47-year career.

"Bill has been a watchdog that people could trust to shed light on improprieties and illegal activities," Times Publisher Bill Masterson Jr. said. "And Northwest Indiana is a better place because of Bill Nangle."

Nangle will be the first Times journalist to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, which is housed at Indiana University's School of Journalism in Bloomington.

The Hall inducted its first class in 1966 and now includes more than 200 journalists. Those range from figures known worldwide such as World War II reporter Ernie Pyle to journalists who worked their entire careers at small-town newspapers.

Nangle started at The Times in 1970 as assistant city editor, when the newspaper's main offices still were located in Hammond.

"It certainly is an honor that I believe is the result of the help and support I have received from countless fine journalists through the years," Nangle said upon getting word of the honor.

Masterson nominated Nangle earlier this year with letters of support from more than 40 people, including Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, Gary Diocese Bishop Dale Melczek and mayors across the region.

Nangle will be formally inducted along with other honorees at a banquet in the spring at Indiana University.

Nangle is best known for his persuading Indiana's seven largest newspapers to cooperate on The State of Secrecy investigative project, which tested compliance with state open records laws in all 92 counties in the late 1990s.

"The project dramatically showed the law was not followed by many officials and ignored by others," Hoosier State Press Association President Jack Pate said two years ago when Nangle received the association's Distinguished Service Award.

The State of Secrecy project became a national model and was duplicated by press associations in more than 30 other states.

A decade before, Nangle had pushed state legislators and then-Gov. Evan Bayh to enact a state law overturning a court decision that closed county coroner records to the public.

Nangle began his journalism career in 1963 when he graduated from high school in his hometown of Wabash and landed a summer job for the newspaper that is now the Chronicle-Tribune, of Marion, Ind.

Nangle and his wife, Rita, are Crown Point residents. They have seven children, 15 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.