Press Club honors Post's veteran reporter Culver
By Leah Franklin

Virginia Culver

Reporters hired by new editors are always the stars of the newsroom, said Virginia Culver ('63), who has been reporting for The Denver Post for more than 35 years. But in the eyes of Rocky Mountain News reporter Peggy Lowe, Culver is a luminary in the journalism universe.

"Virginia Culver is the kind of reporter people should aspire to be like," Lowe said.

"Culver feels a great sense of duty to readers to give them both sides of a story and let them decide for themselves. It's extremely admirable."

Culver is a Colorado native and, as a result, brings a lot of history to the newsroom, Lowe said. A lot of journalists at Colorado newspapers are young reporters from out-of-state, she said, and this makes Culver even more valuable.

"She knows the players. She knows what's new and fresh," Lowe said.

Culver was inducted into the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame is September. She began her career shortly after graduating from the School in 1963, when she took the job of city editor at the Lamar Daily News. After four years, she left to report for the Post and has been there ever since, covering religion for more than 30 years and recently shifting to obituaries.

Women were not hired to work at the city desk in the 1960s, she said. Instead, Culver and the other women at the Post were assigned to the women's section, covering women's clubs and teen-agers. The newsroom is more equal for men and women now, she said, but not totally.

Writing for the women's section was boring, Culver said. Then a position opened up in a different department.

"I bellyached so much they finally gave me the religion beat," Culver said.

She said she took it over and loved it. As a religion reporter, she said she covered every possible issue because religious people are involved in everything. Her stories ranged from political discussions to debates about abortion to religious leaders who committed crimes, she said.

"There is not a thing that religious people don't have an opinion about," Culver said.

Lowe worked at the Post from 1997 to 2000, before going to the News. She said she's watched what Culver has done over the years.

"She comes in everyday and works her tail off. She's very competitive, thorough and fair. She kicks ass," Lowe said. "She covered the religion beat for 35 years with no opinions attached."

New Post editor Greg Moore moved Culver from religion to obits this year, Culver said.

"It was a huge blow to be thrown off the religion beat," she said,

Though Culver was disappointed, she said she enjoys her new role at the Post.

"I like (writing obituaries) because I learn lots of history about people," she said.

Whether covering religion or writing obits, Culver has rules she abides by as a journalist. Reporters, she said, should try to be as fair as possible by covering all sides of an issue. Even though they all have bias, she said they need to try to set it aside. She also said reporters need to be accurate in their reporting.

"If reporters don't report accurately, they lose all reason to be in the business," she said.

She said she does not like personal journalism. People who go to the Moon can return to Earth and write an account of their experience, she said. However, reporters should not write about things like an exercise program they experienced.

"We're here to write about other people, not ourselves," she said.

Culver said she plans to keep on reporting because that's what she loves to do.

"I don't want to be an editor," Culver said. "I have no respect for editors."