SNR Staff Profile: Charlie Litton

Charlie Litton
Charlie Litton

Charlie Litton joined the SNR communications team in August 2012 shortly after completing his graduate studies at the College of Journalism and Mass Communication (COJMC) at UNL.

He got his start in journalism as a sports editor at Iowa newspapers, most recently in Atlantic, a friendly town of 7,000 about midway between Omaha and Des Moines. While there he met his wife, Jenny, and they now have a little girl, “the most adorable toddler in the known universe.” Their second child, a boy, is expected in October.

While in graduate school, Litton was selected to the prestigious News21 program as one of nine fellows that investigated the national transportation system. The data-driven journalism project culminated with his story about the dangers of fatigue appearing in The Washington Post and MSNBC.com, among others. He also served as chief of the Nebraska ABC On Campus bureau where his work was prominently featured on the ABC news website and broadcast nationally. The Omaha native also worked for the Nebraska News Service (NNS), covering the state legislature during the special Keystone XL pipeline session. NNS serves a client-base that reaches more than 300,000 readers.

For his graduate work, Litton created an interactive map application for NEmosaic.org, a COJMC-based project aimed at providing news and information to the refugee and immigrant population of Lincoln. The interactive map utilizes data and GIS (geographic information systems) software to help people find the services and places that are most important to them, such as employment offices or public parks with playground equipment. That map can be viewed at http://www.nemosaic.org or on Litton’s personal website http://www.charlielitton.com.

Prior to completing his master degree, Litton also sampled a variety of life experiences—working in a Las Vegas casino; bouncing through the Sonoran desert as an off-road Jeep tour guide in Arizona; and toiling underground as a miner in Atlanta where he operated a tunnel boring machine.

Litton briefly attended Hastings College before picking up his undergraduate degree in 1995 from TCU in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Litton's appointment at SNR is currently part-time, so he may be available to offer editing services on a freelance basis.

Contact him at clitton2@unl.edu