NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell, Washington Post sports columnist Thomas Boswell, author and political journalist Haynes Johnson and New York Times/CBS News/PBS correspondent Terence Smith will be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the D.C. Pro Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists, on June 11, 2013.
The criterion for membership in the Hall of Fame is simply this: strong journalism over at least 25 years in Washington.
The four inductees will speak at the chapter’s annual Dateline Awards dinner in the ballroom of the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.
On the same evening, the D.C. Chapter’s 2013 Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Steve Geimann, Deputy Team Leader at the Bloomberg News Washington bureau.
Andrea Mitchell, NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, is also the host of Andrea Mitchell Reports, a daily hour of political news and newsmaker interviews on MSNBC. One of the nation’s most familiar broadcast reporters, Mitchell also has covered the White House, Capitol Hill and multiple election campaigns. As a longtime analyst of the intelligence community, Mitchell's assignments for NBC have included exclusive reports from North Korea, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Bosnia, Kosovo, Pakistan and Haiti. She has made regular appearances on NBC News and MSNBC programs, including “Today,” “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Hardball,” “Morning Joe” and “Meet the Press.” Mitchell joined NBC News in 1978 as a general correspondent based in Washington.
Thomas Boswell began his career at The Washington Post in 1969 as a copy aide. Later he became a general assignment reporter for twelve years, covering such sports as baseball, golf, college basketball, tennis, boxing and local high school sports. In 1984, the Post gave Boswell a regular column. Boswell has written many books including “Game Day,” “The Heart of the Order,” “Strokes of Genius,” “Why Time Begins on Opening Day” and “How Life Imitates the World Series.” He has written for Inside Sports, Esquire, GQ and Playboy. He also makes frequent television appearances and does live chats on washingtonpost.com.
Haynes Johnson is an author, commentator, journalist and professor at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, where he also is a contributing editor for American Journalism Review. Johnson came to Washington as a reporter for the Washington Star in 1957 and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1966 for his reporting on the civil rights crisis in Selma, Alabama. Joining the Washington Post in 1969, Johnson served as a national reporter, assistant managing editor and national affairs columnist. He has made many appearances on the PBS-TV programs “Washington Week in Review” and “The NewsHour.” Johnson is the author of the bestsellers "Sleepwalking Through History", "The Bay of Pigs," and "The Landing," a spy thriller. Other nonfiction works include "Divided We Fall," "Dusk at the Mountain" and “The System.”
Terence Smith spent 20 years at The New York Times including eight years in the Middle East and Far East, covering four wars, peace negotiations and events in more than 40 countries. Smith also served as Assistant Foreign Editor and Deputy Metropolitan Editor in New York. In the Times’ Washington bureau, he served as diplomatic correspondent and chief White House correspondent. In 1985, Smith joined CBS News in Washington, covering the Reagan White House and, for nine years, reporting the cover stories for CBS Sunday Morning. In 1998, Smith turned to public television and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. As senior producer and media correspondent, Smith broadcast hundreds of reports and studio discussions on media, national and international issues. Smith is now a special correspondent for The NewsHour.
As Steve Geimann’s career has shifted among radio, newspapers, trade publications and wire services, he also has given extraordinary service to the craft of journalism over more than three decades. Geimann was national president of the Society of Professional Journalists and for two years chaired SPJ's Ethics Committee. Since 1997, Geimann has represented SPJ on the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, which reviews and evaluates curriculum at more than 100 universities. Geimann led a three-year task force of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications to consider changes in technology and the effect on journalism. He also served on the American Bar Association's Conference of Lawyers and Representatives of the News Media, and the Commission on Public Understanding About the Law — a group that considered methods to raise public knowledge of the legal process. In 2001, Geimann was awarded the Wells Memorial Key, SPJ’s highest honor.
Also at the Awards Dinner on June 11, SPJ’s DC Pro Chapter will present its annual Dateline Awards for excellence in local journalism. Tickets for the June 11 dinner are now available for $80 for SPJ members (plus one guest per member) and $110 for nonmembers. Contact dinner chair Andy Schotz LawnGyland@aol.com for questions or to make reservations.