Jesse Wright

Jesse Wright joined West Virginia University in February 2020 as a Mellon Foundation funded practitioner in residence.

He is working with Professor Joel Beeson to develop a trans-disciplinary minor in community documentary storytelling, and with Professor Dana Coester to better integrate 100 Days in Appalachia, a digital publication housed at the WVU Media Innovation Center, into the Reed College of Media’s curriculum.

Wright also teaches beat reporting at the Reed College of Media and serves as a contributing editor with 100 Days in Appalachia, focusing on visual and audio content.

Wright was born in Swaziland and grew up in South Africa. During his high school years, he witnessed the end of Apartheid and South Africa's transition to democracy. He moved to West Virginia in 1996 to attend West Virginia University, where he earned a bachelor's in journalism and met his wife, a West Virginia native, in the process.

Wright began his journalism career at the Dominion Post newspaper in Morgantown, where he served as copy desk chief and worked on almost every aspect of the newspaper's editorial production.

Wright comes to WVU from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where he led the newsroom as news director, and executive producer of Inside Appalachia and the Legislature Today. He also helped start several internal and external editorial collaborations and projects, including Appalachia Health News and the Ohio Valley ReSource.