Page 2 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, April 14, 2023 Editor spent a quarter of his career covering Saugus news Saugus Advocate Editor Mark E. Vogler has reported and written stories about Saugus for 12 ½ years – roughly a quarter of his journalism career I n addition to working as editor of the Saugus paper for The Advocate Newspapers for seven years, Vogler covered the town for five and a half years while a reporter for North Shore Sunday back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Vogler, 70, recently learned from the New England Newspaper & Press Association that he will be among five journalists inducted next month into the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame. The nomination package submitted by New Hampshire journalist Keith Gentili detailed Vogler’s award-winning work, which included stories he worked on while in Saugus. At North Shore Sunday, Vogler and another reporter shared the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Audubon Award in 1990 for the best environmental reporting of all news media in the state. Vogler devoted an entire year to researching and writing in-depth stories about the threat of toxic chemicals. His was the first newspaper in New England to publish a chemical survey of major polluters, making use of an EPA database. Many of those stories focused on an ammonia leak and pollution problems involving a chemical company based in Saugus. Reporting on the environment has been of great interest to Vogler throughout his newspaper career, the nomination package noted. While a reporter at the Midland Reporter-Telegram, Vogler won a 1979 commendation from the Journalism faculty at Southern Methodist University for best environmental reporting in Texas for an investigative report on oilfield pollution and a week-long series on the West Texas Water Crisis. The Associated Press Managing Editors Association of Texas also cited the stories for best investigative reporting and feature series. While editor at The Nantucket Beacon, one of two island weeklies back in the mid-1990s, Vogler directed a 32part series called “Island at Risk,” which explored the impact of the growth and development issues on the island and challenges that threatened its future. The eight- month project won a first-place award for community service from the New England Press Association and helped to elevate the discussion of growth challenges facing Nantucket. While a reporter for the Leesburg Commercial (Fla.), Vogler won a first-place award from the Florida Press Club for stories about a pesticide manufacturer whose owner was on the local Pollution Control Board. The company later wound up on the EPA’s hazardous waste site list. Some of Vogler’s other award-winning work, accordhome abuse and the indictment of the nursing home administrator. · A citation from InA dozen years as a Saugus scribe – Saugus Advocate Editor Mark E. Vogler covered the town for the first time more than three decades ago. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Joanie Allbee) ing to his Hall of Fame nomination package: · A special commendation in 1988 from the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Massachusetts “for courageous exposure of conditions at Danvers State Hospital.” Vogler’s stories in North Shore Sunday also won awards for investigative reporting from the New England Press Association. · An investigative reporting award from the Associated Press Managing Editors Association of Texas for stories that led to a grand jury investigation of nursing CAREER HONORS | FROM PAGE 1 of Professional Journalists, an American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award, and an Investigative Reporters & Editors Award for Distinguished Investigative Reporting. “His investigative reports have uncovered nursing home abuse, exposed conditions at a state hospital for mentally ill patients, and disclosed flawed education systems that enabled convicted felons to become teachers prompting new legislation to protect the public.” Keith Gentili, an award-winning New Hampshire journalist and newspaper columnist, nominated Vogler for the award. Gentili is the Editor & vestigative Reporters and Editors, the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award and the Florida Bar Grand Prize Award for best reporting in the state for a national investigation of shortcomings in how states screen teacher applicants and how they discipline and remove problem teachers from the classroom. The special report, “Bad Apples of Education: The National Problem,” was published in its entirety in the Congressional Record at the request of a U.S. senator from Florida. The stories also prompted the filing of legislation for tougher screening of teacher applicants in a dozen states. · Best Special Issue Award from the New England Press Association for “Centennial,” a collection of essays by Nantucket historians honoring the island’s heritage. Vogler recruited 14 writers – many of them authors of books about Nantucket history – to participate in a salute to the Nantucket Historical Association’s 100 years. The issue included old photos from island historical archives. Publisher of The New Boston Beacon in New Boston, N.H. He worked as Vogler’s assistant editor and sports editor nearly three decades ago. “Please see the attached look at the remarkable 50year journalism career of Mark Vogler. His reporter’s story began and continues to this day in Massachusetts as he is the current editor of the Saugus Advocate,” Gentili said. “I worked for Mark fresh out of college at The Nantucket Beacon and his impact on my career and life is immeasurable. I named my paper The New Boston Beacon to honor this. The Nantucket Beacon had a group of young upstart reporters and designers and we all referred to ourselves as CAREER HONORS | SEE PAGE МС
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