ACLU of Oklahoma Announces M. Scott Carter as Director of Investigative Communications

August 11, 2015

Oklahoma City--

Scott Carter, an award-winning investigative reporter, has joined the staff of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, Executive Director Ryan Kiesel said today.

Carter will serve as the the ACLU of Oklahoma’s Director of Investigative Communications, a new position at the ACLU of Oklahoma that will support the ACLU’s work in courthouses and the state capitol by telling the often untold stories about the state of civil liberties in Oklahoma.

“Scott Carter is a gifted journalist and has a deep understanding of Oklahoma government, law and history and an insatiable determination to find the truth.  I am confident his work will make Oklahoma’s premier champion for civil liberties an even more formidable opponent to those standing in the way of the march towards liberty and equality in Oklahoma,” Kiesel said.

Carter, a native Oklahoman, served as Capitol Bureau Chief for The Journal Record newspaper, where he covered politics and the Oklahoma Legislature. In addition, he was an investigative reporter for Oklahoma Watch, a nonprofit focused on state policy.  

“The ACLU has a long history of fighting for the civil rights of all Americans,” Carter said. “They are fearless. They are courageous and I’m honored they asked me to be a part of their organization.”

In 2013, he was named one of the state's top three political reporters by The Washington Post’s blog, "The Fix." Carter is a four-time winner of the Associated Press-Oklahoma News Editors Sweepstakes Award for public affairs and investigative reporting.

Carter also has earned state and national awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, the National Press Photographers Association, the National Magazine Publishers Association and the American Library Association.

Carter holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma. In 2014, he earned a master's degree from OU's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

He is a published novelist.  In 2011, his first novel was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. His second novel earned the Oklahoma Book Award for Young Adult Fiction, the Gold Award for Young Adult Fiction from the National Independent Book Publishers Association and Foreword Magazine’s 2013 Gold Award for Young Adult Fiction.

Carter is a member of the board of directors and a past president of the Oklahoma Pro Chapter Society of Professional Journalists. He lives in Oklahoma City with his wife, Karen, an elementary school teacher, and their six children.