Biography
Lane Williams was born in Utah County, Utah. He has four children. He is married to Laurie. He is an award-winning former reporter whose work has appeared in numerous publications including the Washington Post, the Federalist and the Deseret News. His mentors and teachers include multiple Pulitzer Prize winners. He is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He teaches journalism, communication research, writing and the Book of Mormon at BYU-Idaho. His research interests include media history and the relationship between media and the news. He also has experience in content marketing as a magazine editor in the nutrition industry. He has served in many church positions, including nursery leader and Scoutmaster, twice. He served a mission in the Japan Okayama Mission.
He graduated from BYU in Provo, as the school’s top journalism graduate and editor of the campus paper, The Daily Universe. He was a Kiplinger Fellow in Journalism at The Ohio State University from where he received his Master’s Degree. He was Merrill Fellow in Journalism at the University of Maryland. He earned a Ph.D. there, studying the relationship between news media and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Brother Williams has published widely in journalism and presented at a number of academic conferences. For a few years, he was the “Mormon Media Observer,” a columnist for the Deseret News. He is the author of the writing text “Writing to Serve.” He has presented at and developed the Latter-day Saints and Media group of scholars, which has pushed the study of media and religion.
His interests are spending time with his family, hiking in Yellowstone with his wife, e-biking and listening to classical symphonies. He enjoys travel, political podcasts and science fiction.
"A Book of Steadfast Love" (BYU-Idaho Devotional, May 31, 2022)