Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism has presented Los Angeles Times journalist Henry Weinstein with its 2006 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism for a body of work that is a “monument to the importance of journalism in a free society, and the need for journalists who have the persistence and skill to dig into public issues and lay them bare for the public.”
Weinstein, 62, has served as a legal affairs writer, a labor writer and an investigative reporter at the Times since 1968, sharing in two Pulitzer Prizes.
Journalism school dean Nicholas Lemann said in a news release that Weinstein’s work is a “study in journalistic commitment and genuine love of reporting.”
Recently, Weinstein distinguished himself as one of the first reporters to point out the legal implications of U.S. detentions at Guantánamo Bay, but his reputation for aggressive, investigative journalism dates back more than 25 years. The Chancellor Award invitation cited his 1979 article series on a housing loan fraud in Los Angeles and his 1982 series exposing the city’s worst slum landlord as among his most memorable work at the Times.
Also memorable was Weinstein’s legal analysis of the courtroom dramas that dominated the L.A. front pages during the 1990s—the trials of O.J. Simpson and of the police officers who beat Rodney King.
More recently, he wrote about two Texas murder trials in which the defendants’ lawyers slept through parts of the proceedings.
And, in recent weeks, Weinstein has been outspoken in criticizing his paper’s owners for the controversial decision to oust publisher Jeffrey Johnson and editor Dean Baquet for their refusal to make further cuts in staffing.
Accepting the award at a black tie gala in Low Library held on Nov. 14, Weinstein said: “The joy in being honored with the John Chancellor Award regrettably is tempered by the storm clouds hovering over my newspaper and the broader world of journalism. At the moment, there is a bidding war over the LA Times. In between reporting stories, people in the newsroom chat about whether they would prefer to be owned by a venerable Chicago-based newspaper company or one of three Los Angeles billionaires who have said they want to buy the company, all of whom have occasionally been the subject of critical coverage in our paper.”
The John Chancellor Award is awarded annually and accompanied by a $25,000 check. Administered by the Graduate School of Journalism, it was established in 1995 to honor the late John Chancellor, a pioneering broadcast journalist and longtime NBC News anchor.
Weinstein, who grew up watching Chancellor on television, said he has always been inspired by this courageous journalist.
Related Links
“Times writer wins honor,” by Jim Newton (Los Angeles Times, 13 Nov. ’06).
“Henry Weinstein on What Great Journalism Can and Cannot Do,” by Edward B. Colby (CJRDaily, 13 Nov. ’06).
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