About
Owen McCarthy is an East Lansing, Michigan-based journalist currently in his last year attending Michigan State University.
He is a former Dow Jones News Fund Reporting Intern at Michigan’s paper of record, The Detroit News. Over the 12-week internship, he had 13 front page bylines, and published 49 articles in total, across several coverage areas.
McCarthy has also interned at Compass in Knoxville, Tennessee, covering city and county government. There, he and two colleagues earned the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Government and Politics Reporting award for same-night coverage of a tide-shifting local election.
During semesters at MSU, he works as an investigative reporter and news desk editor for the school’s student paper, The State News.
He and two colleagues won the Education Writers Association’s 2024 student journalism award for an in-depth series based on a 6,000 page document dump that illuminated how the university responded to the Larry Nassar scandal. They also won the Society of Professional Journalists’ Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment award for that project. The reporting team separately won the Student Press Law Center’s 2025 Freedom of Information Award for their use of public records in reporting, as well as efforts to expand FOIA access at the university.
The State News’ board of directors awarded McCarthy the Distinguished Achievement scholarship award last year for his multi-year command of the administration and board of trustees beat.
Clips
In-depth/news
MSU president’s childhood friend serving in $300K ‘Senior Advisor’ role
The State News – Oct. 14, 2025
Nassar supervisor’s history of ‘inappropriate’ conduct was an open secret, documents reveal
The State News – Sept. 23, 2024
The Detroit News – Aug. 19, 2025
MSU investigating ex-vice president over records snooping
The State News – March 13, 2025
The Detroit News – July 11, 2025
Recordings, texts show how student lost trust in embattled MSU trustees
The State News – April 16, 2024
MSU board members wanted separation from administration during Nassar scandal
The State News – Sept. 26, 2024
Scholar allegedly plagiarized by MSU dean says he wasn’t consulted during exonerating review
The State News – Jan. 31, 2025
Features
The Detroit News – July 4, 2025
The Detroit News – Aug. 28, 2025
MSU investigated Larry Nassar in 1999 over gymnast blood testing
The State News – Dec. 9, 2024
Compass – July 5, 2024
The State News – Oct. 18, 2024
The Detroit News – June 20, 2025
Compass – July 30, 2024
Dailies/breaking news
Faculty senators protest Trustee Denno over meeting absences
The State News – April 11, 2025
Michigan health insurers request double-digit premium hikes for 2026
The Detroit News – July 15, 2025
Sources: MSU self-reported Tucker recruiting violations to NCAA
The State News – May 1, 2025
MSU doubles down on DEI defense amid Trump administration hostility
The State News – Feb. 7, 2025