WASHINGTON, D.C. – Saying he offers a “different set of eyes” at the Oklahoma State Capitol, veteran journalist Patrick McGuigan spoke with Oklahoma Watchdog this past week while this online newspaper and McGuigan both happened to be working on stories in the Nation’s Capital.

Recently, McGuigan debuted a new website, www.CapitolBeatOK.com,  devoted to covering legislative affairs and more at the State Capitol. Not one to rest on his laurels after three decades of reporting experience, he intends to help fill a gap in an era when cutbacks and layoffs are common in newsrooms.

What will Capitol Beat OK contribute to the political reporting atmosphere in the Sooner State? Quite a bit, according to McGuigan.

“I wanted to cover state government again because I’ve been watching the decline in the number of people who are covering these important issues,” McGuigan said, just minutes after filing a story from a desk here in Washington.

“There was a growing gap,” he added, noting downsizing across the board in journalism.

Knowing that there were important issues and critical stories, McGuigan sought a way to incorporate his journalistic skills into the new – and largely online – media world.

And thus, Capitol Beat OK.

He said the snazzy new site will help bring Oklahoma State Capitol reporting into the “modern era” by strictly being online. McGuigan is focusing on “in-depth reporting” combined with “old-fashioned Capitol beat reporting” that doesn’t exist in the same way it did even five years ago.

McGuigan is well-known and respected in Oklahoma City and Washington. While known as a conservative, McGuigan covers both left and right equally and fairly and that has not gone unnoticed by folks on both sides of the aisle.

“In terms of the (politicians) I’ve interviewed regularly, they know I won’t distort what they say, misquote them,” he said.

McGuigan has been reporting since at least the early 1970’s, largely covering news and sports, including time spent writing for The Daily O’Collegian at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

Initially interested history, McGuigan said he switched to journalism and took right to it.

It didn’t take long for him to make a name for himself. Spending time in Washington in the 1980s, McGuigan’s work was featured in major newspapers around the U.S., from the Christian Science Monitor to the Wall Street Journal. McGuigan, who was both a straight news reporter and a commentator, gained the respect of many within the Beltway and beyond.

With that kind of reputation, McGuigan tells Oklahoma Watchdog that he got the attention of the Gaylord family, owners of The Oklahoman. In 1990, he came on board working on the editorial page, eventually moving to the position of editorial page editor before leaving the paper in 2002 to teach at Oklahoma City’s Seeworth Academy.

“That time was very rewarding and draining,” recalls McGuigan.

Then there was a stint at the state Department of Labor, working for Brenda Reneau as her press relations person.

In time, McGuigan was again writing and commenting on the issues facing Oklahoma, primarily in Oklahoma City, where he lives and works. Contributing both to The City Sentinel and Tulsa Today, McGuigan eventually became the Sentinel’s senior editor.

And more recently, McGuigan has teamed up with the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in Oklahoma City.

“I’ve written commentaries, policy pieces for OCPA,” McGuigan said.

And now, he is writing and reporting on the important issues in Oklahoma state government.

By Andrew W. Griffin

Oklahoma Watchdog, editor

Posted: January 16, 2010

andrew@oklahomawatchdog.org

Copyright 2010 Oklahoma Watchdog