Quietly mentioned in the sixth paragraph of the story on the buyouts at The Washington Post was this news: “In addition, a number of Post editors who are less-known to the outside world will leave, including … Michael Keegan, who runs the News Art department.”
Those of us in the Society for News Design know Keegan’s name well, though. That’s because he helped build SND.
A longtime supporter and important early advocate of the Society, Keegan has run two annual workshops (one in 1983 in Los Angeles, and another in 1992 in D.C., with the help of Richard Curtis), given generously of his staff’s time for another workshop (the 2003 event in Washington) and generally been all that a leader could be when it came to advancing the craft by standing up for visual storytelling and hiring a generation of journalists to carry the torch.
The Washington Post, under Keegan’s direction, became an ally in garnering recognition for the emerging field of news design. That’s a legacy that will never go away.
Visual journalists everywhere have Keegan to thank for the respect they get in their newsrooms, whether they know that particular fact or not.
Here’s to whatever is next for Mike Keegan.
SND wishes you all the best!
Matt Mansfield is the vice president of the Society for News Design.
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