Nolan Finley

Nolan Finley of The Civility Project
Nolan Finley

Nolan Finley began his newspaper career as a copy boy at The Detroit News while a senior in college. After a brief stint with the Jackson Citizen Patriot, he returned to The News as a reporter, covering the administration of Mayor Coleman A. Young. He’s been the newspaper’s City Editor, Business Editor, Politics Editor and Deputy Managing Editor. In 2000, he was named Editorial Page Editor, where he directs the expression of the newspaper’s editorial position on various national and local issues and writes a column in the Sunday newspaper. His columns have appeared in the newspaper ever since. As he wrote in his introductory column, Nolan is a product of The News and the Detroit community. He graduated from both Schoolcraft College and Wayne State University and in 2012 was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame. He is co-host of One Detroit on Detroit Public Television.

Nolan and Stephen have been longtime friends, despite their different perspectives on pretty much everything. The one thing they agree on is the importance of their friendship—which includes a healthy dose of disagreement and mutual respect.

“It never occurred to us that we couldn’t be friends because we disagree,” says Nolan. “We’ve never avoided conversation, we never pulled punches, we sort of enjoyed the mix-up.”