Fallon Journalist to be Inducted into the NPA Hall of Fame

Eight journalists who had a lasting impact in the Silver State will be inducted into theNevada Newspaper Hall of Fame in September, the Nevada Press Foundation has announced. 

Fallon’s Steve Ranson will be inducted along with Mary Hausch, Jake Highton, Bill Hughes, Frank McCulloch, Guy Luis Rocha, Laura Tennant, and Charles Zobell. They will be honored at a lunch ceremony during the organization’s annual Convention and Awards Banquet in Reno on September 14.

According to the NPA, Ranson is an accomplished journalist, editor, and general manager with more than three decades of experience, primarily with the Lahontan Valley News in Fallon. Although Ranson retired in 2017, he continues to write for the LVN and other newspapers throughout northern Nevada. While editor from 2008 to 2017, the LVN won over 150 newspaper awards, including national recognition for his editorial and sports writing. 

Ranson developed his love for writing as a magazine writer for Wyoming Wildlife, a sports and general news features reporter, and the Wells (Nev.) Progress. He first covered high school sports in Fallon as sports editor, and as editor, he ensured the newspaper had an invigorating sports section that focused on high school and community sports. 

The Fallon journalist began the weekly Greenwave Athlete of the Week in 1992, and it endured as a weekly feature during the sports seasons for 25 years. In addition to reporting sports, Ranson has written extensively on water and geothermal issues, agriculture, and Naval Air Station Fallon.

During the heavy snowfall and flooding of 2017, Ranson wrote more than 35 articles on the mitigation efforts and flooding. He also wrote over 20 articles in 2023 when a similar scenario to 2017 developed.

Ranson's contributions extend beyond local journalism; he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Nevada Army National Guard, which included assignments in both a public and community affairs office. As a civilian journalist with the Lahontan Valley News and Nevada Appeal, Ranson traveled to the Arabian Sea in November 2011 to document the training done at Naval Air Station Fallon and how it relates to the operations with a carrier air wing aboard an aircraft carrier. He embedded with Nevada Army National Guard units in Afghanistan twice — in November 2011 and November 2012. 

In 2011, he stayed with Nevada Army National Guard soldiers at Kandahar and then used Bagram Airfield as a central location.

The following year, he travelled to Forward Operating Base Shank and then to Camp Phoenix near Kabul. He received two national Military Reporters and Editors awards in 2011 and 2012 for his reporting from Afghanistan in addition to numerous awards from the National Newspaper Association and Nevada Press Association.

After each Afghanistan embed, Ranson wrote a series of articles that appeared in newspapers across Nevada including the LVN.

 He played pivotal roles in community projects, such as co-founding the Greenwave Hall of Fame. His work advocating for veterans and student journalists has left a lasting impact at both state and national levels. 

Among Ranson’s major achievements are being named as one of Nevada’s two Journalists of the Year by the Nevada Press Association in 2012, and in 2014, his editorial on the Churchill County School Board’s kicking the can down the road earned him first place overall in the state from the Nevada Press Association.

He was inducted into the Nevada Army Guard Hall of Fame in 2012 and both the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association and Greenwave Halls of Fame in 2018.