Lance Frazier
JCOM Alumnus Reminds Us That Good Writing Always Matters
Janeal Rydalch, writer
If JCOM alumnus Lance Frazier had one concept for students to take away from his experiences, he would remind them “to appreciate good writing wherever you find it” and that “good writing matters.”
Frazier graduated from Utah State University’s Journalism and Communication program in 1993 with a print emphasis, hoping to pursue a lifetime career in newspaper and magazine writing. The robust program led him to write for both the Utah Statesman and the Cache Citizen.
“Utah State helped me a ton to be prepared for a newspaper career,” Frazier said. He felt USU has one of the top journalism programs in the state and gave him a “leg up” in the field.
While Frazier doesn’t remember every class he took during his time at Utah State, the experiences he gained in writing stories about university leadership and other current events began to shape him as a writer and a feel for professional writing.
Frazier said that the best way to be prepared to graduate and move into the workforce is to get as many experiences as possible NOW.
His first internship was with the Herald Journal, but it wasn’t a typical interviewing and hiring process. As he was sitting in a journalism class one day, he said, “We heard a commotion out in the hallway and all of a sudden two young men spilled into the room, arguing back and forth until one of them pulled out a gun and shot the other.” As the students sat there traumatized, an editor from the Herald Journal came in and reassured them that the whole incident was a setup, and instructed them to write about everything they had just witnessed.
Frazier supposed that whatever he wrote that day was what they were looking for because he landed the internship and ended up working there for 20 years as a writer after graduating.
Starting on the “lowest rung of the ladder,” Frazier wrote about sports and news, and continued as an outdoors editor for about 12 years – which he absolutely loved.
While he planned on having positions that focused on writing, his experience led him to another job in 2015 where he continued to have wonderful experiences writing, but in different ways.
“Newspapers have been having a hard time for the last 15 years since 2008,” Frazier said. “It was a gradual decline with new cutbacks every three to four months, and that wasn’t just at the Herald Journal. This was nationwide. Newspapers were suffering.”
In 2015, Frazier was hired at Intermountain Health’s Logan Regional Hospital as a marketing and communications specialist. There, he developed advertising plans, hosted events, wrote internal communications and external press releases, and worked with newspaper, TV and radio outlets.
“You had to be good at everything from running a social media platform to shooting videos to creating an advertising campaign, but it all involved writing at some level,” Frazier said.
Now, as an internal communications manager at Logan Regional, his days continue to include writing and editing. He has deadlines for newsletters and stories to write or edit.
In addition to his job at Intermountain Health, Frazier also “gives back” to future JCOM graduates by teaching writing classes at USU. He’s teaching newswriting to new JCOM students this semester. He also occasionally instructs students in public relations writing.
“The great thing about teaching at USU is the energy of the students,” Frazier said. “It’s just a great environment to work in and spend time in.”
Frazier didn’t anticipate that his journalism degree would eventually lead to a career in marketing and communications. But his writing skill did just that. Even in our visual age, his experience reminds us that “GOOD WRITING MATTERS.”