Gazette-Mail reporter Mike Tony selected for National Press Foundation fellowship

The National Press Foundation selected Tony and 29 other local news reporters from across the nation to attend the journalism conference in Washington next month to expand their reporting on how these far-reaching changes will affect their communities.

"Mike exemplifies the Gazette-Mail's legacy of dogged investigative journalism," HD Media Executive Editor Jeff Rider said. "His tireless work ethic and unwavering commitment to journalism is an inspiration to all of us at HD Media."

Tony’s reporting has highlighted extensively how the Trump administration’s destabilization of federal programs threatens West Virginians’ health and safety via deep resource cuts throughout the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mine Safety and Health Administration, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and other agencies.

The National Press Foundation fellowship is designed to help expand journalism with that focus.

A 2025 Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy Energy Journalism Fellow, 2024 recipient of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications and 2023 MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative Journalism Fellow, Tony produces deeply reported journalism that holds the powerful accountable.

The University of Pennsylvania alumnus has produced in-depth, award-winning reporting on environmental health, legal as well as state and federal government affairs, and the opioid epidemic.

Tony previously was an enterprise and investigative reporter for the Uniontown (Pa.) Herald-Standard, his hometown newspaper.

The National Press Foundation is a nonprofit that has provided professional development opportunities to thousands of reporters, editors and producers since it was incorporated in 1975, helping them better relate the impacts of public policy to readers and viewers.