Society of Professional Journalists – Washington, D.C., Pro Chapter
For immediate release.
Washington Post “Miss Manners” columnist Judith Martin, WTOP-FM traffic reporter Bob Marbourg, NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski and Mother Jones Washington bureau chief David Corn will be inducted to the Hall of Fame of the D.C. Pro chapter, Society of Professional Journalists, June 9, 2015.
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. Cocktails begin at 6:00 p.m., with dinner at 7:00 p.m.
On the same evening, the D.C. chapter’s 2015 Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Julie Asher, national editor of the Catholic News Service in Washington.
Long before she became Miss Manners dispensing advice on “excruciatingly correct behavior” in The Washington Post and best-selling books, Judith Martin was a pioneering reporter for the pre-Style section “For and About Women.” Always producing solid journalism – including coverage of the 1963 March on Washington and the 1968 Washington riots after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated – Martin excelled at a time when the few females permitted to write for newspapers often were scorned and resented.
Bob Marbourg has been guiding Washington-area drivers around traffic snarls for 35 years, most of them over WTOP-FM. His particular kind of journalism [“Always say where before you give any details of what,” he once told an interviewer] yields clear and direct benefits to his listeners, dozens of whom return the favor by calling him regularly to report road problems.
Jim Miklaszewski was one of the original CNN Washington staffers and White House correspondents during the Ronald Reagan presidency. He moved to NBC’s White House booth in 1985, covering the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He reported on the Persian Gulf War from the White House and, since becoming Pentagon correspondent during the George W. Bush administration, he has covered every subsequent American military action.
David Corn and Mother Jones magazine roiled the 2012 presidential election when they broke the story about the Mitt Romney “47 percent” video. Corn has also written about the CIA, the NRA, corruption in Iraq, the Pentagon and a host of presidential candidates. He’s an analyst for MSNBC and NBC News and a best-selling author. He was the Washington editor of The Nation for 20 years.
Julie Asher, recipient of the Distinguished Service Award of the Society of Professional Journalists D.C. Pro chapter, has been chapter president for three extended periods over the last 23 years. She also served national SPJ as Region 2 director, linking chapters in Delaware, Maryland, D.C., Virginia and North Carolina, and was co-chair of SPJ’s 1996 National Convention in Washington. At Catholic News Service (an international wire service for diocesan newspapers and websites plus other media outlets), she supervises 6 to 8 interns per year, sending many of them to jobs in journalism.
Also at the June 9 dinner, SPJ’s D.C. Pro chapter will present its annual Dateline Awards for excellence in local journalism.
Tickets for the dinner are now available for $80 for SPJ members and $110 for nonmembers. SPJ members also may buy a second ticket at the $80 rate.
Contact dinner chair Dan Kubiske at dan@kubiske.org or 703-678-6833 if you have questions or to make reservations.
News contact: Steve Taylor at juxta747@gmail.com or 571-355-2536.
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