2020 #NABJAwards: Hall of Fame Inductees

Fred Sweets’ career in journalism began at The St. Louis American, his father’s Black weekly, where he learned every job in the newspaper business from advertising and promotions on the business side to writing stories and making photos on the other side of the firewall.

 

From there, he went to work during college (University of Missouri-St. Louis) as a reporting intern for United Press International (UPI) before joining the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1968 as its first Black staff photographer.

 

After a decade at the Post-Dispatch, he joined The Washington Post where he was a photographer and editor for 13 years. His assignments included coverage of Presidents Carter, Reagan and George H.W. Bush, as well as the 1992 Los Angeles riots, daily news, features and sports.

 

After covering the riots sparked by the verdicts in the Rodney King trial, Sweets joined the Los Angeles Times as a senior photo editor. He served on the committee that selected Clarence Williams III for METPRO, a training program for aspiring minority journalists. While on staff at the Los Angeles Times, Williams won a Pulitzer in 1995 and was honored as NABJ’s Journalist of the Year in 1998.

 

In 1995, Sweets joined The Associated Press(AP) as chief of the Washington, DC photo department, the news cooperative’s largest photo operation. He directed coverage of the disputed 2000 presidential election, the case of Elian Gonzalez and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. In 1999, Sweets accepted the Pulitzer Prize on behalf of the AP photo staff for coverage of the Clinton impeachment.

 

Sweets’ lifelong commitment to newsroom diversity began when he walked in the door of the St Louis Post-Dispatch in 1968 as the first photojournalist of color on a staff of more than a dozen. He was the first Black on the executive committee of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild.

 

At AP, Sweets was director of “Diverse Visions,” a weeklong, multicultural training program for aspiring photojournalists. Participants competed for AP internships and were placed in bureaus around the U.S. In Washington, Sweets helped form “Shooting Back”, a program for homeless children where the participants were given cameras and mentored by professional photographers as they documented their environment.

 

Throughout his career, Sweets maintained his commitment to diversity by attending conventions for minority journalists such as the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association, Native American Journalists Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. He continues to serve as the auctioneer for the annual sale of photographs and artwork from around the world by NABJ and its Visual Task Force. The proceeds, totaling more than $300,000, continues to fund NABJ scholarships.

 

Sweets also taught for three summers at the American Indian Journalism Institute on the campus of the University of South Dakota at Vermillion, and his diversity efforts also touched NAHJ, AAJA and NLGJA. 

 

Sweets currently divides his time between Miami and St. Louis, where he is a contributing editor at the St. Louis American.

Cathy Hughes is a dynamic, media pioneer who demonstrates the power of one – one woman, one vision, one company – Urban One, formerly known as Radio One. As Founder and Chairperson of Urban One, Inc., the largest African-American-owned and operated, broadcast company in the nation, Hughes’ unprecedented career has spawned a multi-media conglomerate that generates original content across the spectrum of radio, television and digital media. Her humble beginnings in Omaha, Nebraska, were not a deterrent to her success but rather part of the catalyst that fueled her ambition to empower African Americans with information and to tell stories from their perspective.

Hughes began her radio career in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, at KOWH (AM), a station owned by a group of African-American professionals. In 1971, she moved to Washington, D.C., and became a lecturer in the newly established School of Communications at Howard University. During her tenure, she served as General Sales Manager at WHUR, Howard University Radio, increasing the station’s revenue from $250,000 to $3 million in her first year. She also became the first woman Vice President and General Manager of a station in the nation’s capital and created the format known as the “Quiet Storm,” which revolutionized urban radio and was aired on over 480 stations nationwide. In 1980, Hughes purchased her flagship station WOL-AM, in Washington D.C., and pioneered yet another innovative format – “24-Hour Talk from a Black Perspective.” With the theme, “Information is Power,” she served as the station’s morning show host for 11 years.

In 1999, Cathy Hughes became the first African-American woman to chair a publicly held corporation, following the sale of more than seven million shares of common stock to the public. Along with her son and business partner Alfred Liggins, III, she grew what was then Radio One into a multi-media company that became an urban radio market leader with more than 60 stations across the country comprised of hip hop, R&B, gospel and talk radio formats. It became the first African-American company in radio history to dominate several major markets simultaneously, and Hughes became the first woman to own a radio station that was ranked number one in a major market. Radio One also diversified and launched the television network TV One in 2004 and entered the digital space with Interactive One, now iOne Digital, in 2007.

As a result of her success, Hughes has earned hundreds of prestigious awards and recognitions. They include: the naming of Cathy Hughes Boulevard in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska; the 2018 Lowry Mays Excellence in Broadcasting Award; the naming of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications at Howard University in 2016; the ADColor Lifetime Achievement Award; the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Chair’s Phoenix Award; the NAACP Chairman’s Award; the Giant of Broadcasting Award; the Uncommon Height of Excellence Award; the Essence Women Shaping the World Award; the Ida B. Wells Living Legacy Award; and induction into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame.

In May 2017, Radio One’s name was changed to Urban One, to reflect the market it serves. Urban One, Inc. is now the parent corporation of several subsidiaries: TV One, the largest African-American owned, cable television network in the country and current home of the hit shows UnSung and Uncensored; Reach Media, which presents syndicated radio programs like the Rickey Smiley Morning Show and the Tom Joyner Morning Show; iOne Digital, home of several popular websites including Hello Beautiful and Cassius; and One Solution, a marketing firm that allows advertisers to take advantage of all of the assets under the Urban One brand.

Cathy Hughes’ philanthropic work is on par with her success in the business arena as well. Her passion for education is evident in her efforts to continue her family’s work and legacy at The Piney Woods School in Piney Woods, Mississippi. She is a staunch supporter of the school, which was established by her grandfather in 1909 and is the largest of only four African-American boarding schools in the country. In addition, she is a champion for the hungry and homeless, a mentor to countless women, and an advocate dedicated to empowering minority communities.

Renowned as a trailblazer in the sports media landscape, Pam Oliver long ago established herself as one of the premier sports reporters on network television. Armed with league-wide respect and esteem, her straightforward and open interviewing style consistently produces topical and substantive reports.

Oliver has contributed to FOX Sports’ coverage of eight Super Bowls. She was the lead feature reporter on FOX NFL SUNDAY for many years. She served as co-anchor of FSN South’s “Southern Sports Report” from 2000 to 2003. Prior to joining the network, she was an ESPN reporter, gaining football experience covering the NFL Playoffs and NFC Championship Games. In addition to her duties as feature reporter on “NFL Prime Monday,” Oliver covered each Monday Night Football matchup.

In 2016, Oliver worked as a Correspondent for “60 Minutes Sports,” contributing several features to the program. In 2014, she served as moderator for President Barack Obama’s Healthy Kids and Safe Sports Concussion Summit at the White House.
Pam has received numerous awards in her career, including the Atlanta Women in Sports Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019, and in 2018, she was honored with a Gracie Award by the Alliance for Women in Media. In 2008, WISE (Women In Sports and Events) honored Oliver with one of its “Women of the Year” designations.

As an undergraduate at Florida A&M University, Pam was an Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) track and field All-American in the 400 meters and mile relay and held the distinction of participating on the first women’s team from Florida A&M to win a national championship (AIAW). She was inducted into the Florida A&M Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 for her individual accomplishments in the sport and again in 2016 when FAMU’s women’s mile relay team was recognized.

Oliver is a board member and event host with the Trey Whitfield Foundation, an organization that awards scholarships to economically disadvantaged inner-city children to help them pursue prep school educations and later attend college.

She lives in Atlanta with her husband.

Mary A. Mitchell is an Editorial Board member and Columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. She retired in 2019 after 29 years at the paper, now writing two columns a week on a part-time basis.

 

Mitchell is a past president of the National Association of Black Journalists-Chicago Chapter, serving six years with the organization in the mid-1990’s — first as a Committee Chair, then as a member of its Board of Directors, followed by President. She is the recipient of numerous journalism awards, including some dozen Salute to Excellence Awards from the National Association of Black Journalists over the course of her nearly three-decade career.

 

She is also recipient of the Studs Terkel Award from the Community Media Workshop; and numerous Peter Lisagor Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists/Chicago Headline Club. And in 2011, Mitchell was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame by the Chicago Journalists Association.

 

Mitchell’s family was part of the Great Migration, moving from Clarksdale, Mississippi to Chicago before Mitchell entered elementary school. The eldest of 10 children, and an identical twin, she grew up in public housing on the South Side. She graduated from Dunbar High School in 1967 and was hired as a mailroom clerk at People’s Gas, then attended community college before being hired as the first African American legal secretary at a major Chicago law firm, Seyfarth Shaw, LLP.

 

After 20 years at the firm, Mitchell was passed over for a promotion, and she quit. Returning to college in her 40s, she enrolled in writing courses at Columbia College Chicago. This led to her interning at the Chicago Sun-Times in 1990 and being hired after earning a B.A. in Journalism at Columbia College in 1991.

 

She joined the Chicago Sun-Times as an education writer that year, her five-part series on the Chicago Public Schools struggling Chicago Vocational High School earned her the first of what was to be numerous NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards. From 1993 to 1995, Mitchell covered City Hall, reporting on the historic Operation Silver Shovel federal investigation that sent myriad city officials to prison. She then covered the U.S. Federal Courts, before becoming a full-time Columnist and Editorial Board member in 1996.

 

From the start of her column, Mitchell, like her trailblazing African-American predecessors, Chicago Sun-Times Columnists Carl Rowan (1966-1998) and Vernon Jarrett (1983-1994) before her, focused on race relations, at the same time attracting a large and diverse readership, and cultivating a substantial national following online — she received an average of 900 e-mails per week from readers.

 

Through her columns, which appeared on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, Mitchell has worked tirelessly to fight discrimination, combat domestic violence, and hold politicians accountable. Her prose continually raised community awareness about important advocacy issues and race relations, among her most inspiring and highly read work, her chronicling of her battle with breast cancer.

 

Mitchell’s reporting often rallied African American readers to empower their communities by giving the voiceless a platform to address social ills — from  failing schools to abusive police, disparities in the criminal justice system to corrupt government officials. In several instances, her reporting led state legislators to strengthen laws protecting the rights of women and children.

 

She has written for several national publications including Essence Magazine. She co-hosted “Zebra Sisters,” a podcast that explores race, and has been a frequent panelist on WTTW’s Week In Review and FOX-TV, as well as appearing on national TV and radio news programs, from NPR and CNN to MSNBC and FOX Network, including such high profile programs as Meet The Press.

John McCaa (born in Rantoul, Illinois) is a news anchor who is known for working for WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas. He worked for WFAA from 1984 until his retirement on March 1, 2019.

McCaa was raised in an Air Force family that moved frequently. McCaa attended high school in Madrid, Spain. He then moved back to Nebraska, where he had lived before Spain, for a Jesuit education, and a degree in journalism and mass communication from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He later earned a master’s degree in politics from the University of Dallas and a PhD in Humanities-History of Ideas from The University of Texas at Dallas.

After graduating, McCaa worked in Omaha for more than seven years in anchoring and reporting, with WOWT-TV, an NBC affiliate. In 1984, he came to WFAA to work in the Fort Worth newsroom as a reporter. He was later promoted to chief of the newsroom. He then transferred to the Dallas newsroom. He became the weekend news anchor, then news manager. At one time, he also served as co-anchor for the 5 p.m. newscast. During the 2000 presidential primaries, McCaa hosted a series of webcasts from the Republican convention.

In 1992, McCaa became the co-anchor of the 5:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., and 10:00 p.m. weekday newscasts, mostly anchoring alongside Gloria Campos until her retirement in 2014. Cynthia Izaguirre replaced Campos and co-anchored with McCaa until his retirement. During the 10 p.m. newscast on August 6, 2018, McCaa announced his retirement. His last day in the WFAA newsroom was March 1, 2019, where he did his final broadcast, ending his 35 year career at WFAA. Chris Lawrence has replaced McCaa in the co-anchor’s chair.

McCaa is married to his wife Nora McCaa and has one grown son Collin McCaa. He enjoys playing the drums in his spare time.

John McCaa has two Emmys.

Pam Johnson, Ph.D., was director of the award-winning School of Journalism & Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University for seven years, from 2003 to 2010. Western Kentucky offers specializations in advertising, broadcasting, film, mass communication, photojournalism, print journalism and public relations.

Johnson teaches media management, gender issues and reporting and directs the Dow Jones News Fund Multimedia Workshop for university students and a DJNF Multimedia Workshop for faculty from historically black colleges and universities.

She also spent a sabbatical at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, studying digital media. As a Cronkite Visiting Scholar, Johnson immersed herself in the world of multimedia journalism, working with Arizona State University’s New Media Innovation Lab and the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship.

Before her career in journalism education, Johnson was president and publisher of the Ithaca Journal newspaper in New York – the first African-American woman to serve as publisher of a general circulation newspaper.

Johnson served on the Nieman Fellows Selection Committee at Harvard University in 1993 and has served three times as a Pulitzer Prize juror.

Millions of viewers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area have turned to FOX 4’s Clarice Tinsley for the latest headlines and the most in-depth news stories affecting Texas and the world.

With major investigative reporting awards to her credit, including the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award, Clarice is uncompromising in her commitment to inform the community thoroughly and credibly.

Recognized as one of Texas’ most knowledgeable reporters, Clarice is on the air and has been on the scene as important news stories unfold.

On July 6, 2017, on the eve of the one year anniversary of the Dallas Police Ambush, the Dallas Police Department held their “Night of Honor” award ceremony.  Clarice was the Keynote Speaker.  The evening posthumously awarded the Police Cross to the families of Dallas Police Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens, Officer Michael Krol, Officer Patrick Zamarripa and Sgt. Michael Smith.  DART Police Officer Brent Thompson was also killed that night.  More than one hundred Dallas Police Officers received awards for their valor that tragic night.

In June, 2017, Clarice marked her 9th year as the Reading Ambassador for the Mayor’s Summer Reading Challenge.  She takes StoryTime to Dallas branch libraries, reads to children and talks about the fun and prizes they get by reading every day and enrolling in the Mayor’s Summer Reading Challenge, sponsored by FOX4.

In April 2017, the State Fair of Texas announced the creation of the Clarice Tinsley Journalism Scholarship. This educational opportunity will be given to a Pete Schenkel State Fair of Texas Scholarship college recipient who is studying to become a broadcast or print journalist.

In May 2016, Clarice received an honor from Austin College in Sherman, Texas. During Commencement, the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters was bestowed upon her as she was hooded in the crimson and gold colors of Austin College. Clarice Tinsley, H.D.L.

In January 2016, Clarice was given the Ann Williams Award from the Dallas Black Dance Theatre.  It was presented to Clarice by Country Music Legend and Grammy winner, Charley Pride.

On New Year’s Eve 2015, Clarice was in Dubai celebrating her birthday with her husband.  At 9:30 that night there were at a party preparing to watch the midnight fireworks in front of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, when Clarice saw smoke. It got darker.  She went on social media and learned it was at The Address condo and hotel. Clarice shot video of the smoke from the roof of her hotel and sent it to FOX4.  Then she took off her high heels, put on her athletic shoes and walked 2 miles with her husband to cover the fire and send the video back to FOX4.

In December 2015, Clarice was delighted to be the Narrator of “Twas the Night before Christmas” with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Brass Section at The Meyerson Symphony Center.

On March 19, 2014, Clarice Interviewed President Barack Obama in the White House, making national and international news.  She was the first reporter to ask the president about the search for Malaysian flight MH-370.  A North Texan was one of the 239 passengers on board the Triple 7.

In June 2013, Clarice was the only reporter at the unveiling of “The Winning Play”.  The sculpture was created by Bob Hogan and presented to Mrs. Tom Landry and Hall of Fame Quarterback, Roger Staubach.  The 60 pound sculpture shows Coach Landry minutes before a noon game ends…on the sidelines giving the game winning play to Staubach.

In April 2013, Clarice was part of the crew that brought live coverage of the five presidents in Dallas for the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center and Library.

In April 2013, Clarice was one of nine Dallas women honored with the inaugural “High Tea with High Heels” Award.

November 2012 marked the start of Clarice’s 35th year as the evening news anchor and a special assignments reporter at KDFW FOX4.  She was honored to be inducted into the Lone Star Emmy Chapter’s Silver Circle for her 25+ years of excellence and contributions to the television broadcast community.  Clarice also had the thrill of riding in the Triple A Pace Car at Texas Motor Speedway for the Triple A Texas 500.

In May 2012, Clarice canoed down the Trinity River for a story on the waterway North Texas takes for granted. The Trinity starts near Gainesville and flows for 710 miles to Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a habitat for animals in the middle of Dallas and Fort Worth, and the source of water for 11 million Texans.  Clarice and FOX4 Photographer Raul Cantu showed the natural beauty of the Trinity, something North Texans never see.

In May 2012, Clarice was featured in the publication, “Who’s Who in Black Dallas”.  In December 2011, Clarice received the Asante Award from the Dallas Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists.

In April 2012, Clarice sat down for a one on one interview with GOP Presidential candidate Ron Paul. Dr. Paul discussed his financial policies, his reasons for staying in the race for the nomination despite overwhelming odds…and his response to Gov. Rick Perry’s “Ooops” moment during a GOP debate.

In November 2011, she got her second Emmy for her participation in “Social Media”.

Clarice was named “Outstanding Female of 2010” at the Cooper Fitness Center for her commitment to fitness, health and weight loss.

Clarice received the 2009 Dallas Historical Society Award of Excellence for Outstanding Contributions in the Creative Arts.  The same month she was awarded the Mary McLeod Bethune Award from the National Council of Negro Women.

In addition to the George Foster Peabody Award, Clarice has earned a DuPont-Columbia Citation, an Emmy, three Dallas Press Club Katie Awards, two Awards of Excellence from American Women in Radio and Television, Best Investigative Reporting from Texas Associated Press, the Texas Headliner Award for Investigative Reporting, the Journalistic Award for Excellence from the American College of Emergency Physicians and First Place from the Texas Public Health Association.

Clarice was a member of the Board of Directors of Girls Scouts of Northeast Texas. She’s an Advisory Board Member of St. Philip’s School in South Dallas . She’s a past Advisory Board member for the School of Journalism at SMU.  She was a member of the YET Board of Directors and Chaired the YET Communications and Public Relations Committee.  Clarice is also a member of the Board of Directors of SLANT.  She was a member of the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s Board of Directors and she was Chair of the Super Bowl XLV Communications Action Team.

On November 13, 2017 Clarice will celebrate 39 years as a KDFW FOX4 Reporter and Anchor of the 10pm news.

Clarice shares her life with the love of her life, her husband, Stephen Giles who is Executive Producer of America Close Up on the cable network American Life Network. Clarice enjoys working out, reading, collecting art, traveling, dancing and singing with the Sanctuary Choir.  She loved being a pet parent to their cat, a stray named Serenity that became a cherished family member who died of feline renal kidney disease.  Clarice paints works of art in the medium of acrylic on canvas.  Spending time with family and friends is a joy.