Corey Friedman

About

I'm a journalist, editor, First Amendment advocate and political commentator currently working as editor of The Wilson (N.C.) Times and executive editor of Restoration NewsMedia, a family-owned company working to restore and preserve community journalism in the digital age. I write a weekly column for Creators Syndicate that features solutions-based commentary on politics, open government and First Amendment issues. Read my recent work at www.creators.com/author/corey-friedman-talent. In my role overseeing The Wilson Times' opinion page, I've led successful editorial campaigns to save an artist's mural from municipal erasure on free speech grounds, modify two county school boards' public comment policies to promote participation and accountability and build a new animal shelter after the previous shelter failed state inspections. In the latter case, I published the first front-page editorial in the Times' 125-year history calling on county commissioners to fully fund a new shelter in its 2019-20 budget. Honors include an SPJ Green Eyeshade Award (2021), National Headliner Award (2021), the News Leaders Association’s Burl Osborne Award for Editorial Leadership (2019), inclusion in Editor & Publisher magazine's “25 Under 35” list of up-and-coming newsroom leaders (2019), first place in the Inland Press Association's Editorial Excellence Contest (2018, 2016), the North Carolina Associated Press' Senator Sam Open Government Award (2018, 2017, 2016) and more than two dozen individual awards in the North Carolina Press Association's annual News, Editorial and Photojournalism Contest (2006-21). I served on the North Carolina Press Association board of directors from 2015-18 and maintain a Society of Professional Journalists membership. As a reporter, I've flown in a Russian fighter jet, fired sniper rifles under the watchful eye of police weapons instructors, covered an NFL game and felt the heat of a 1,000-degree inferno in full turnout gear alongside local firefighters. My remaining human guinea pig goals include being shocked with a stun gun and sampling the world's hottest chili pepper. For consulting inquiries, email me at corey.s.friedman@gmail.com.