{"id":15177,"date":"2016-05-04T07:30:15","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T11:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/?p=15177"},"modified":"2016-05-04T07:30:15","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T11:30:15","slug":"marilynthompson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/marilynthompson\/","title":{"rendered":"Working with words: Marilyn Walser Thompson \u201974"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Marilyn-Thompson\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Working with words: Marilyn Walser Thompson \u201974<\/h3>\n

Marilyn Walser Thompson is no stranger to breaking news. From being the first reporter who revealed the existence of Strom Thurmond\u2019s biracial daughter in 2003<\/a>, to editing reporters\u2019 pieces that went on to win two Pulitzer Prizes, Thompson\u2019s background<\/a> with the major news players led her to being named a Joan Shorenstein fellow at Harvard\u2019s Kennedy School.
\nAs one of eight annual recipients, she\u2019ll research where tax dollars head when taxpayers donate money to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s highly relevant because of the 2016 race. I\u2019m looking at the financing for presidents put in place after the 1970s,\u201d she said. \u201cThe pace of modern campaigning \u2014 and to be in an ultra competitive race \u2013 means this fund is no longer relevant [to candidates.] No one wants to use it because you have to agree to restrictions.\u201d
\nThompson\u2019s fellowship and reporting will look into how candidates who have used the fund spent the money and if the fund should still exist.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting challenge \u2014 and a frightening challenge \u2014 moving back into writing because I\u2019m an editor, and I work on other people\u2019s stories. Generating all the information through reporting, it\u2019s a different skillset,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great step in anyone\u2019s career to take a step back and say, \u2018Can I do that?\u2019 \u2018Will I provide anything useful people want to read?\u2019\u201d
\nThompson\u2019s reportage started in The Tiger<\/a><\/em> newsroom where she began by selling advertising before jumping to reporter and eventually becoming the managing editor.
\n\u201cIt was the \u201970s and The Tiger<\/em> was this scrappy, liberal, anti-war publication,\u201d she said. \u201cI was this meek little freshman. I was so happy to be at college because I didn\u2019t think I would get to go. I remember vividly being really dressed up \u2014 in a dress and heels \u2014 and it was like nine flights of stairs to the top of the horrible dorm to get to The Tiger<\/em> meeting. I get up there in my prissy dress and heels and it\u2019s like a hippy haven. I looked like an idiot because I thought I actually had to dress up!\u201d
\nOnce she kicked the heels and changed her major to English, Thompson settled into the newsroom atmosphere for life. Her career has taken her from local coverage at The Greenville News<\/em> to national politics with The Washington Post<\/em>, Reuters<\/em> and Politico<\/em>.
\n\u201cI do look at things differently than most people,\u201d she said about her career. \u201cThat probably goes back to my childhood and the influence of my father \u2014 the counter-intuitive Archie Bunker type. He didn\u2019t trust anything or anybody.\u201d
\nThompson\u2019s fellowship research will be out this May, as well as featured in future Politico<\/a> publishing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Working with words: Marilyn Walser Thompson \u201974 Marilyn Walser Thompson is no stranger to breaking news. From being the first reporter who revealed the existence of Strom Thurmond\u2019s biracial daughter in 2003, to editing reporters\u2019 pieces that went on to win two Pulitzer Prizes, Thompson\u2019s background with the major news players led her to being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":15178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[159,1066,2693,2696],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-15177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumniprofiles","tag-alumni","tag-election-2016","tag-spring-2016","tag-spring-2016-alumni-profiles","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/05\/Marilyn-Thompson.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15177"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}