Hall of Fame

Angelo’s 30 years with Time magazine included 12 at the White House and assignments as Time’s first female bureau chief in London and New York.

While covering the White House, she was also a weekly co-host on Channel 5’s “Panorama.” Angelo earned acclaim as the author of “First Families,” examining the impact of the White House on their lives.

She  covered newsmakers throughout America and the world in a career beginning with the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal & Sentinel. Newsday brought her to Washington in 1956.

She is a member of the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame and received other major awards.

Angelo died September 17, 2017 in Bethesda, MD.

Bernie Boston was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in McLean, Virginia, and worked as a photographer for his high school newspaper and yearbook. After graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1955, Boston began his professional career with the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News. He did some free-lance photography after moving back to Washington before working as a staff photographer with the Washington Star from 1967 until its demise in 1981 and then for the Los Angeles Times until he retired in 1993. He is best known for an iconic image titled “Flower Power” that showed an anti-war protester in 1967 inserting flowers into the barrel of a National Guardsman’s rifle. Boston was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news photography in 1987 for an image of Coretta Scott King unveiling a bust of her slain husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., at the U.S. Capitol. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996. – Ken Jost

David Broder was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and graduated from the University of Chicago, where he was editor of the undergraduate newspaper and later earned a master’s degree in political science. He moved to Washington in 1955 to work as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly; he moved from CQ to The Washington Star in 1960 and from there to The New York Times in 1965. Disenchanted, he left the Times for The Washington Post. Over the next 40 years became a regular panelist on TV programs, including a record 400 appearances on NBC’s Meet the Press, and the recognized dean of Washington’s political press corps. He won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1972 for his political columns, but was also greatly admired for political reporting focused on campaigns and voter attitudes. He was the author or co-author of seven books, including Behind the Front Page (1987). He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986. – Ken Jost

Candy Crowley began her broadcast journalism career in Washington, D.C., as a newsroom assistant for radio station WASH.

After jobs at The Associated Press and NBC’s Washington bureau, she joined CNN as a congressional correspondent in 1987.

At the time of her induction in the Hall of Fame she was the network’s senior political correspondent, covering a wide range of stories including presidential races and major legislative events on Capitol Hill.

Crowley covered the presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Jesse Jackson, Edward Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Paul Tsongas, and all but one national political convention since Jimmy Carter’s nomination in 1976.

She covered Ronald Reagan’s trip to China, the terrorist bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and the ceremonies marking the 40th anniversary of D-Day at Normandy.

A Missouri native and graduate of Randolph-Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, Va., Crowley has won many awards, including an Emmy in 2003.

Her other awards include the DuPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Award for her coverage of the impeachment and trial of President Bill Clinton and the 1998 Dirksen Award for distinguished reporting on Congress.

Crowley left CNN after 27 years to become a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics.

She is retired but still does occasional public speaking engagements.

Lyle Denniston’s career, spanning more than half a century, made him the nation’s longest-serving Supreme Court reporters at the time of his induction.

Because of his long-standing coverage of the Court, he was to as the “Dean Emeritus of the Supreme Court Press Corps.” He enjoys the singular distinction of being the only person to have earned a plaque in the Supreme Court press room.

The Nebraska native began his journalism career at the Nebraska City News-Press right out of high school in 1948. His first assignment was covering the local courthouse. He earned enough in three years of courthouse reporting to pay for his first year at the University of Nebraska. He worked his way through the university with a part-time reporting job for the Lincoln Journal. Graduating as a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1955, he received a scholarship to attend Georgetown University, where he earned a master’s degree in political science.

After working as a copy editor in the Wall Street Journal’s D.C. bureau, he became the Journal’s Supreme Court reporter in 1958. He continued to report on the Court during a two-year period as a legal newsletter writer and editor for Prentice-Hall Publishing Co.

He returned to daily newspapers in 1960, joining the Washington Star. He covered legal news for the Star’s business pages, then became its Supreme Court correspondent in 1963. It was at the Star that Denniston wrote his book, The Reporter and the Law: Techniques of Covering the Courts. Published in 1980 and republished in 1992, the book remains in active use in newsrooms and academic courses across the country. When the Star folded in 1981, Denniston moved to the Baltimore Sun’s Washington bureau, where he served as Supreme Court reporter for 19 years. In recent years, he covered such events as the Iran-Contra trial, the Clinton impeachment trial and the 2000 presidential election dispute at the Court. In 2001, he took a part-time job at the Boston Globe, where he covered the Supreme Court until last year.

Supposedly retired in 2005, Denniston continued to report on the Supreme Court, for the Web site SCOTUSblog and for WBUR, Boston’s NPR affiliate. He also has taught journalism and constitutional history at colleges around the country and at the Georgetown Law School. He continued as an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts School of Law in Andover and associate producer of its television series “A Question of Law.” He has written for two CQ Press books on Supreme Court history.

Denniston finally set aside his notepad in 2016.

The Chicago-born Hersh, one of the nation’s premier investigative reporters, earned worldwide acclaim and the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his exposure in 1969 of the My Lai massacre and its cover-up in the Vietnam War.

He covered the Watergate scandal for the New York Times.

He has won many other awards for his work on such topics as the CIA’s bombing of Cambodia and its efforts against Chile President Salvador Allende. In 2004 he revealed the mistreatment by the US military of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

He won two National Magazine Awards, five George Polk Awards and the George Orwell Award.

[From WUSA9] Bruce Johnson, a beloved longtime WUSA9 anchor, died of heart failure Sunday morning in Delaware. He was 71.

He is survived by his wife, Lori, three children — Brandon, Kurshanna and Carolyn — and three grandsons.

The legendary Johnson devoted 44 years of his professional life to telling remarkable stories for WUSA9 from March 16, 1976 through his retirement on Dec. 31, 2020. He was the author of three books: “Heart to Heart,” “All or Nothing” and “Surviving Deep Waters.”

Over the course of his career, Johnson won 22 Emmys, was a member of the Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame, the Washington, DC Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame at the University of Kentucky. He was honored with nearly every journalism award of distinction, including the Ted Yates Award and the NATAS Board of Governors Award and is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Press Club.

He filed special reports from Rome, Bangkok, Moscow, Budapest and Cuba. He has received hundreds of civic awards from DC organizations, from the city’s mayors and a Resolution in his honor from the DC City Council.

But what set Johnson apart from the legions of television reporters and anchors, what defined his time at WUSA9, was his dedication to the people he reported on, and the humanity with which he told their stories. From Freddie Gray to the Flower family, Rashema Melson, Marion Barry and even a youth football team trying to get to the championship in Orlando, Johnson poured his heart into every assignment. 

Lehrer is widely known not only for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on PBS (now the PBS NewsHour) , but also for moderating 10 presidential candidate debates. In addition, he wrote 15 novels.

The Wichita, Kan. native came to Washington with PBS in 1972. He teamed the next year with Robert MacNeil to cover the Senate Watergate hearings. The two began in 1975 what became “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” and in 1983, “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.” MacNeil retired in 1995.

Lehrer’s many awards include a presidential National Humanities Medal in 1999 and an honorary Doctor of Journalism from McDaniel College in 2004.

He stepped as anchor of the NewsHour in 2011 but continued to be involved in the show’s production company, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions.

Lehrer died January 23, 2020 in Washington, DC.

A Bozeman, Mont., native, Lewis headed Hearst Newspapers’ Washington bureau 1989-2009. Prior to that he was the AP Washington bureau chief for four years. He is current senior editor for Hearst.

He won the National Headliner Award and Edgar Allan Poe Prize in 1991 with Hearst colleague Stewart M. Powell for exposing the extent of “friendly fire” casualties in the Persian Gulf War. He is past chairman of the National Press Foundation and SPJ Foundation of Washington and former president of the Gridiron Club.

Clark Mollenhoff was born in Burnside, Iowa, and began in journalism as a reporter with the Des Moines Register in 1941 and then again in 1946 after two years in the U.S. Navy. He was an investigative correspondent in Washington for Cowles Publications from 1950 to 1978, covering the government and national affairs for Des Moines Register and Tribune, The Minneapolis Star and Tribune, and Look Magazine. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1958 for national reporting for stories on corrupt labor practices, including those that sent James R. Hoffa, the president of the teamsters’ union, to jail. He also exposed influence-peddling by Robert Baker, an aide to then Sen. Lyndon Johnson, and improper acceptance of gifts by Sherman Adams, an aide to President Eisenhower. He worked as an aide to President Richard Nixon in 1969 and returned to journalism in 1970 until his retirement in 1978. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979.  – Ken Jost

Roger Mudd was born in Washington, D.C., got his college degree from Washington and Lee University, and started his career in journalism in Richmond, Virginia, as a reporter with The Richmond News Leader and radio station WRNL. He moved to Washington in the late 1950s to become a reporter with WTOP News, which shared a building in northwest Washington with CBS News’ Washington bureau. Mudd moved to CBS in May 1961 and went on to a storied career as on-air anchor, political reporter, and congressional correspondent. He left CBS for NBC News in 1981 after losing out to Dan Rather in the competition to succeed CBS’s legendary anchorman Walter Cronkite. At NBC, he briefly co-anchored the NBC Nightly News and served as co-moderator of Meet the Press. He was an essayist and political correspondent for the MacNeill-Lehrer Newshour from 1987 to 1992. His memoir, The Place to Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News, was published in 2008. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986 – Ken Jost

Obit from CNN

Former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw died Wednesday of pneumonia unrelated to Covid-19, Shaw’s family announced in a statement Thursday. Shaw was 82.

Shaw was CNN’s first chief anchor and was with the network when it launched on June 1, 1980. He retired from CNN after more than 20 years on February 28, 2001.

During his storied career, Shaw reported on some of the biggest stories of that time – including the student revolt in Tiananmen Square in May 1989, the First Gulf war live from Baghdad in 1991, and the 2000 presidential election.

“CNN’s beloved anchor and colleague, Bernard Shaw, passed away yesterday at the age of 82. Bernie was a CNN original and was our Washington Anchor when we launched on June 1st, 1980,” Chris Licht, CNN Chairman and CEO, said in a statement Thursday. “He was our lead anchor for the next twenty years from anchoring coverage of presidential elections to his iconic coverage of the First Gulf War live from Baghdad in 1991. Even after he left CNN, Bernie remained a close member of our CNN family providing our viewers with context about historic events as recently as last year. The condolences of all of us at CNN go out to his wife Linda and his children.”

Obit from Associated Press.

Political commentator and columnist Mark Shields, who shared his insight into American politics and wit on “PBS NewsHour” for decades, died Saturday, June 18, 2022. He was 85.

Shields died at his Chevy Chase, Maryland, home, from kidney failure, “PBS NewsHour” spokesman Nick Massella said.

Shields was a regular on the show starting in 1987, the year the show began, and stepped down from his regular Friday night discussion segment in December 2020. He had collaborated with David Brooks since 2001 to provide analysis and commentary in their weekly Shields & Brooks segment and during election specials and conventions and before that with David Gergen and Paul Gigot, according to “PBS NewsHour.” His tenure there spanned six presidencies.

Brooks tweeted his 2020 tribute to Shields in The New York Times, calling it “an attempt to capture one of the finest and beloved men” he had ever known.

“We’ve had thousands of disagreements over the years, but never a second of acrimony,” Brooks wrote in the piece. “Mark radiates a generosity of spirit that improves all who come within his light.”

Judy Woodruff, “PBS NewsHour” anchor and managing editor, tweeted that she was ”heartbroken” to share the news and noted Sheilds’ wife Anne was at his side at his death.

“Mark Shields had a magical combination of talents: an unsurpassed knowledge of politics and a passion, joy, and irrepressible humor that shone through in all his work,” Woodruff said in a statement. “He loved most politicians, but could spot a phony and was always bold to call out injustice. Along with Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeil, he personified all that’s special in the PBS NewsHour.“

For decades, she said, Shields “wowed us with his encyclopedic knowledge of American politics, his sense of humor and mainly his big heart.”

The Weymouth, Massachusetts, native graduated from the University of Notre Dame and served in the U.S. Marine Corps, according to “PBS NewsHour.” He began his career in Washington as a legislative assistant and speechwriter for Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire in 1965, according to “PBS NewsHour.” Three years later, Shields joined New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign and later worked on numerous campaigns. In 1979, he began writing a column at The Washington Post that was later distributed by Creators Syndicate.

Shields was a moderator and panelist on CNN’s “Capital Gang” from 1988 to 2005 and a regular panelist on “Inside Washington,” which aired on PBS and ABC, from 2005 until 2013. He also wrote “On the Campaign Trail,” an account of the 1984 presidential campaign.

Niece Carolyn Ryan, managing editor of The New York Times, tweeted: “So sad to tell you that my uncle, Mark Shields, died this morning. He was a special guy: full of heart and wisdom and love. Love of politics, sports, and so many people.”

Knowing and working with Shields was a privilege, “PBS NewsHour” Chief Correspondent Amna Nawaz tweeted.

“Truly one of a kind. Mark’s intellect, wit, and heart were unmatched,” she wrote. “I left every single conversation I ever had with him smarter and smiling.”

Hugh Sidey was born in Greenfield, Iowa, and started in newspapers as a young boy sweeping the floor at the family’s Adair County Free Press. He earned a journalism degree at Iowa State University and then worked for newspapers in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska. After having sent freelance articles to Time and Life magazines, he was hired by Life in 1955 to cover science in New York and was then transferred in 1958 to cover politics in Washington for Time. He wrote or contributed to seven books about U.S. presidents, including his own title John F. Kennedy, President: A Reporter’s Inside Story (1963). He appeared for 25 years as a regular panelist on Inside Washington and its successor program, Agronsky and Company. He retired in 1996 but continued to write occasional columns on the White House for several years after. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.

Esther Van Wagoner Tufty was inducted into the Washington DC professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame in 1976. (At the time the SPJ was known as the Sigma Delta Chi.)

According to her biography at the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, Tufty received the nickname of “the Duchess” after a European innkeeper mistook her for another guest arriving the same day. She enjoyed a 50-year career in Washington DC covering presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan.

She started in journalism as the society editor for the Pontiac Press in her native city Pontiac, Mich, right after high school. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a BA in journalism in 1921 she and her husband moved to Chicago where she eventually became the managing editor for the Evanston News-index.

When her husband got a job with the fledgling Federal Radio Commission (precursor to the Federal Communications Commission) in Washington DC in 1935, she started a Washington bureau for 26 Michigan newspapers. Eventually the Tufty News Bureau would provide news and commentary to more than 300 newspapers across America.

Tufty worked as a radio journalist during World War II. In 1952, she worked for NBC radio and television. Tufty eventually had her own radio program, Tufty Topics, which became a Washington staple.

She covered World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. During the Berlin Airlift, she flew into the city on top of 10 tons of coal. During Vietnam, she was traveling in a helicopter that was struck by enemy fire. When she returned from Vietnam, the 70-year old Tufty quipped “It’s my third war, not counting marriage.”

Tufty served as president of the American Women in Radio and Television, the American Newspaper Women’s Club, and the Women’s National Press Club, and was the only woman to serve as president of all three organizations. She was the first woman to join the National Press Club in 1971 when it finally opened to women.

She maintained an office in the National Press Building well into her 80s where everyone estimated she had to be the oldest working reporter in Washington at the time.

Tufty died in 1986 after suffering a stroke.

In journalism, few names are held in such high esteem as Bob Woodward, the legendary reporter who, with his colleague Carl Bernstein, carried a 1972 assignment to cover a burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate into a scries of stories that forced President Nixon to resign and won The Washington Post the Pulitzer Prize.

Woodward came to Washington in 1970 after graduating from Yale University in 1965 and then spending five years as a communications officer in the U.S. Navy. He applied for a job at The Washington Post, but was turned down, so he spent a year working for the Montgomery County Sentinel before joining the Post in 1971. He had the police beat when the Watergate burglary changed his life.

Woodward and his partner Bernstein doggedly kept after the story when other media outlets and even senior colleagues at The Washington Post pulled away. Supported by then-Executive Editor Ben Bradlee, an SPJ Hall of Famer, the Woodward and Bernstein stories illuminated an abuse of power and obstruction of justice that reached into the Oval Office. In 1974, facing impeachment, Richard Nixon resigned, the only U.S. president to do so.

Woodward and Bernstein then wrote the best-selling book, All the President’s Men, which was made into a motion picture with Robert Redford portraying Woodward. The movie helped enhance Woodward’s image as a resourceful reporter with the emphasis on his until recently top-secret source dubbed “Deep Throat.”

Woodward remains at the Post as an assistant managing editor and has worked on a number of dramatic stories. He was the main reporter for the Post’s articles on the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. He has written a number of  best-selling nonfiction books, including: The Final Days, The Brethren, Wired, Veil, The Commanders, The Agenda, Shadow, Bush at War and Plan of Attack.