A tip of the hat is owed to Terry Michael, for setting up and maintaining, over the last 25 years, the Washington Center for Politics & Journalism. Terry, a native of Downstate Illinois, worked as a press secretary for Senator Paul Simon on Capitol Hill and in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988. Afterwards, he set up WCPJ as a semester-long program for college students interested in journalism, with internships in Washington bureaus, classes with guest speakers of multiple political persuasions from journalism, political consulting and public office. Despite (or perhaps because of?) his own partisan background, Terry always emphasized objectivity, fairness and openness to multiple points of view — things that have not always characterized Washington journalism.
With media outlets facing reduced budgets, Terry has reluctantly concluded that the program cannot continue any longer. I’ve been honored to serve as a member of the WCP&J board of directors, succeeding the late Tony Blankley, and thus to have played a minor part in sustaining an institution which has, without much public notice, played a significant part in elevating journalism and public commentary in Washington and around the nation.
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Here’s a list of some of the journalists that have been among the 519 participants in the Washington Center for Politics and Journalism. Pretty impressive.
Timothy Alberta, political correspondent, National Review
Holly Bailey, Yahoo News
Peter Boylan, former communications director, late Sen. Daniel Inouye
Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times
Scott Cendrowski, Fortune
Matthew Chayes, Newsday
Dante Chinni, Wall Street Journal columnist, author “Patchwork Nation”
Karoun Demirjian, The Washington Post foreign correspondent
Jordan Dey, former director, UN World Food program
Steve Eder, political reporter, The New York Times
Daniel Goldstein, WSJ Market Watch
Glenn Hall, editor, U.S. news, The Wall Street Journal
Dan Harrison, Sydney Morning Herald
Matt Hutchison, v.p. communications, Tribune Newspapers
Colby Itkowitz, feature writer, The Washington Post
Michelle Jaconi, former producer, “Meet the Press” and CNN
Lewis Kamb, investigative reporter, Seattle Times
Gregory Korte, White House correspondent, USA Today
Bernard Mallee, press secretary, Ireland Minister for Enterprise
Dave Mastio, deputy editorial page editor, USA Today
Marichka Melnyk, Canadian Broadcasting Corp
Mike Memoli, White House correspondent, L.A. Times
Daniel Newhauser, National Journal writer
Yuki Noguchi, business reporter, NPR
Stephen Ohlemacher, editor, election night coverage, AP Washington
Helaine Olen, columnist at Slate.com and author of “Pound Foolish”
Leslie Picker, business writer, The New York Times
Robert Pierre, former reporter, columnist and editor, Washington Post
Chris Poore, director student publications, University of Kentucky
Deborah Privitera-Kilroe, communications director, Congressional Budget Office
Karen Quinones Miller, successful novelist in Philadelphia
Jesse Rodriguez, producer, “Morning Joe,” MSNBC
Teri Schultz, National Public Radio, Brussels
Josh Smith, correspondent, Stars and Stripes
Nahal Toosi, editor, Politico
Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, journalism professor, Cardiff University
Jonathan Weil, broke the Enron story at the Wall Street Journal
Danny Yadron, Wall Street Journal
