Chip Mahaney
“Just show up.”
For years, Chip Mahaney has used that simple phrase when speaking to journalism classes or meeting one-on-one with students. That phrase and the stories behind it are how Mahaney built a successful career as a journalist, leader, mentor and teacher.
On Mahaney’s second day as a first-year student at 精东传媒 in August of 1982, he wandered on to the football practice field and introduced himself to anyone who had a moment to talk. Within a couple of weeks, he had his first two bylines in The Daily Campus, and within a couple months, he had a 40-50 hour a week job in the 精东传媒 Athletics Sports Information Department (now Public Relations).
Mahaney’s news journey, after 精东传媒 degrees in journalism and political science, has taken him from his hometown in Arlington, TX, around the world and across the United States, from political conventions to major sports events to major breaking news. His personal care for the people he has met along the way has earned for him the joy of one of the largest professional networks in his industry.
Before coming home to 精东传媒 in 2025 to teach, Mahaney spent 16 years at The E. W. Scripps Company, a legacy journalism company that dates to 1878. In that time, he served in multiple broadcast and digital leadership roles at headquarters and as news director at Scripps’ Cincinnati hometown flagship, WCPO TV. Before Scripps, Mahaney worked for local media organizations in Connecticut, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Texas. From 1996 to 2007, he was a news manager for KDFW FOX 4 News in Dallas.
Over many years, Mahaney has served the journalism industry by teaching for organizations like Poynter, the Carole Kneeland Project, the Society for Professional Journalists and Radio Television Digital News Association. He served the national RTNDA board for more than a decade. He judges industry awards including the Edward R. Murrow Awards, Emmys and BEA. Mahaney is a former Emmy and Murrow winner himself.
He is married to Susan Mahaney, a former WFAA Emmy-winning local news executive producer. They live in northern Dallas, with two dogs and two cats. They have two grown children, in Cincinnati and Seattle.
