The Media Scrum

Jun 07 2022 5

The Media Scrum Podcast artwork

Mark Saal and Don Porter, co-hosts of The Media Scrum, have a combined 59 years worth of experience in Utah newspaper (and broadcast) journalism. Even though both have moved on to other lines of work — Don is a retired public relations manager and Mark as a high school English teacher — they remain intensely interested in the condition of journalism in the Beehive State and elsewhere. This biweekly podcast features interviews with people who also share an interest in, and have experience with, Utah news media and beyond. Send your comments and suggested guests and topics to [email protected].

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Season 2 & 3 Update

Jun 07 2022 2 mins

We haven't published an episode since April. Here's why, and the plans for Season 3.Support the show

Rep. Steve Handy

Apr 19 2022 59 mins

This time on The Media Scrum we speak with Rep. Steve Handy, who represents House District 16 in the Utah Legislature. Steve’s a six-term incumbent who just got tossed by delegates to the GOP Davis County Convention. He talks about that, and other things – including his 17 years at the Standard-Examiner and Deseret News, his dealings with reporters, his work on various legislat

Amy Joi O'Donoghue

Apr 05 2022 51 mins

This time on The Media Scrum we speak with Amy Joi O’Donoghue, a reporter for the Deseret News’ Utah In-Depth team with decades of expertise and award-winning writing in police, government, land and environmental issues. Mark and I have known Amy since 1985, when we all worked together at the Standard-Examiner in Ogden. Amy’s family lives in Weber County with their horses, ch

Jim Burton

Mar 22 2022 81 mins

This time on The Media Scrum we speak with Jim Burton, longtime sports writer and columnist for the Standard-Examiner. Since leaving the Standard, Jim has dabbled in PR and marketing, and even did some editing at the Deseret News. But now he's enjoying work at El Monte golf course in Ogden. We sure enjoyed talking to our old friend, Jim, who definitely has some feelings and ob

Chris Carlson -- "9/11 with POTUS"

Mar 08 2022 67 mins

This time on The Media Scrum we venture outside the Utah media bubble and speak with Chris Carlson, who worked in network-TV news for 42 years. As an ABC News cameraman in Washington, D.C., Carlson had a front-row seat to history. In covering Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Carlson logged scores of unique expe

Lori Buttars

Feb 22 2022 72 mins

This time on The Media Scrum we speak with Lori Buttars, longtime reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune. Lori covered the Olympics, arts and music, and all sorts of beats at the Trib. She’s also been a “visiting professional” at Utah State University where, like yours truly, she edited the student newspaper when she was a student there. Back in 2007, Lori fled journalism for pub

Jay Evensen

Feb 08 2022 60 mins

This time out things are a little different, since Mark had a conflict the evening of the interview, and I ended up speaking with our guest, the Deseret News’s Jay Evensen, one-on-one. Jay is the DNews’s editorial columnist and an editorial writer. He got his start in journalism at BYU, interned at United Press International in New York City, wrote sports in Oklahoma, and was a

Mary Nickles

Jan 25 2022 70 mins

This time out we’re revisiting a conversation we had last summer with Mary Nickles, whose career at KUTV in Salt Lake City just passed the 30-year mark – and 30 years is forever in TV news. Mary has been the morning, noon and/or evening anchor on KUTV’s various news programs for about 25 of those years. Not only is she a pro on the news set, but she’s done health stories ov

Cathy Free

Jan 11 2022 75 mins

This time we’re repeating an episode from March 2021 which has us talking to Cathy Free, who’s been a journalist for 40-plus years for the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Spokane Spokesman-Review, People magazine, Reader’s Digest and, currently, The Washington Post. While Mark and I worked in Utah newspapering for decades ourselves, we never crossed paths with Cathy, but we

Holly Mullen

Dec 28 2021 60 mins

We sincerely hope you’ve been having a terrific holiday season. We have, and that’s the reason we’re revisiting one of the earliest episodes of the podcast, from August 2020, with our friend Holly Mullen, because all the holiday stuff has taken up our time and that of our coming group of guests. Holly, bless her heart, was one of the first people we asked to be a guest on the