In 1988, when Chuck Lewis left 60 Minutes, then considered the “Mount Olympus of Journalism,” his colleagues doubted his sanity. But Lewis proved them wrong,
It was only when he left The Baltimore Sun for what he terms “the fleshpots of Hollywood” that David Simon got to write about the city of Baltimore and its problems in a deep and comprehensive way.
Blonde and elegant, Viveca Novak was for nearly 20 years the consummate “inside the beltway” Washington reporter, comfortable both with government scandals and agency regulations, and adept at working “sources,” those lawyers and lobbyists who make the wheels turn in the nation’s capital.
Paul Taylor was the Washington Post reporter whose question to Gary Hart about extramarital affairs caused a tectonic shift in the way political reporters covered the private lives of candidates. But Taylor grew uncomfortable with trends in political reporting that exalted punditry over fact.
When drapes suddenly hid the naked breasts of the statues in the Great Hall at the Department of Justice under Attorney General John Ashcroft, it was ABC News reporter Beverley Lumpkin who broke the story.
A former technical writer who discovered journalism in his mid-20s, Paul von Zielbauer knew he’d have to take unconventional steps to get himself hired at The New York Times.
Joan Connell got her big break in journalism when she discovered a mysterious package in a dumpster in Iowa City, Iowa. That chance discovery helped foster her career, and ultimately Connell was able to travel the world, going beyond breaking news to explore deeper themes, particularly the influence of religion on culture and politics.
Ted Iliff has done it all, having worked for wire services, newspapers, and broadcast news outlets, capping his mainstream media career as executive editor for CNN, holding the cable news network’s staff to high standards.
Solange DeSantis could have been an editor at a major wire service, working in some of the glitziest world capitals, and earning a six-figure income. But she turned that opportunity down because her heart was drawn to a different style of reporting, one that focused on people and their stories.
Bill Walker left The Sacramento Bee in April 1990, long before media profits plummeted and layoffs were common. He didn’t go quietly.
Wayne Dawkins had done everything right. He’d gone to the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, mastered prose writing, and paid his dues at smaller papers. In 1993, his book, The NABJ Story, A History of the National Association of Black Journalists, was published.
Out of the News 