Professional Bio
Erica Peterson is an independent journalist currently working with newsrooms around the country to hone their strategy, offer more robust civic information to their communities and tackle ambitious investigative reporting projects.
Most recently, Erica was the managing editor at Mountain State Spotlight, a digital accountability-focused newsroom in West Virginia. Before that, she spent more than a decade in public radio at member stations in West Virginia and Louisville, Kentucky. As a reporter, editor and newsroom leader, she has developed beat coverage, coached reporters of all experience levels and created everything from sound-rich newscast spots to longer audio documentaries and podcasts.
Her work as an individual has been honored with the Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists and several regional Edward R. Murrow awards. She was a member of a team that won a Peabody Award in 2017 and a national Murrow in 2020. Recently, she was awarded a data fellowship from the University of Southern California and used it to learn the programming language R to perform more robust data analyses.
Erica can help with everything from breaking news coverage to newscast spots to digital stories to feature edits. She’s also excited to help newsrooms tackle complicated datasets and larger investigative projects.
She lives outside Louisville with her husband, two sons, a dog and way too many houseplants.
Most recently, Erica was the managing editor at Mountain State Spotlight, a digital accountability-focused newsroom in West Virginia. Before that, she spent more than a decade in public radio at member stations in West Virginia and Louisville, Kentucky. As a reporter, editor and newsroom leader, she has developed beat coverage, coached reporters of all experience levels and created everything from sound-rich newscast spots to longer audio documentaries and podcasts.
Her work as an individual has been honored with the Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists and several regional Edward R. Murrow awards. She was a member of a team that won a Peabody Award in 2017 and a national Murrow in 2020. Recently, she was awarded a data fellowship from the University of Southern California and used it to learn the programming language R to perform more robust data analyses.
Erica can help with everything from breaking news coverage to newscast spots to digital stories to feature edits. She’s also excited to help newsrooms tackle complicated datasets and larger investigative projects.
She lives outside Louisville with her husband, two sons, a dog and way too many houseplants.
Education:
Carleton College 2006
Bachelor of Science — Psychology
Northwestern University 2008
Master of Science — Journalism
Job Role
Editor
Beats
Energy, Environment & Science, Government & Politics
Current Editor Corps
Yes