Friday, May 16, 2003 3:07 PM
Los Angeles anchorwoman Laura Diaz was unanimously selected by the Los Angeles Press Club’s Board of Directors to receive the club’s highest honor, the Joseph M. Quinn Memorial Award for achievement in journalism.
Diaz, co-anchor at CBS 2 News at 5 and 11 p.m., will be presented the award on June 21 by her friend and former col- league, NBC 4 Iraq war correspondent and Sunday discussion host Conan Nolan, at the club’s 45th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards.
“Through her tireless coverage of major crises and events in the city of Los Angeles over the past decade, Laura Diaz has forged a bond with the community that is all but unique among local broadcast jour- nalists,” says Press Club President Ted Johnson. “We honor her not only for her ability to establish trust with the audience, and for her continued tenacity and fairness in chasing a story, but also because her career is an inspiration to millions of resi- dents in a diverse, ever-changing city.”
The Quinn Award was established in 1979 in the name of a former Press Club president and World War II veteran who built City News Service and founded the club’s awards program in 1957. Quinn was a famed hard newsman with a nose for stories, but also a natural leader who brought to journalism a belief in exacting standards and a desire to improve the pro- fession.
Diaz said she was delighted to accept the award. “I’m absolutely thrilled that my peers have chosen to honor me with this wonderful award,” she said. “It’s a great way to celebrate my 20th anniversary in Los Angeles television.”
Diaz added, “I’m very grateful for all the wisdom and support I’ve received from my friends and colleagues over the years. They deserve a great deal of credit for helping me to achieve my goals. I would like to sin- cerely thank the Board of Directors of the
Los Angeles Press Club for selecting me as this year’s Joseph M. Quinn Award recipi- ent and I look forward to joining all the members of the Press Club on June 21 to celebrate the achievements of Southern California’s top journalists.”
The award has been presented to local and national journalists including Walter Cronkite, Otis Chandler, Ted Koppel, Paul Conrad, Jack Smith, Army Archerd and Dan Rather. Although the award was for years dominated by men, the Quinn two years ago went to Patt Morrison, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and commentator for KCET public TV and KPCC public radio.
“This year’s selection — from a host of great journalists in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York and else- where — was easy,” said Press Club exec- utive director Diana Ljungeaus.
Diaz made Los Angeles television histo- ry in 1997 at KABC when she became the first Hispanic named as lead anchor at a top news station. Many say her gutsiest piece of journalism is her report looking back at the farm workers union. In it, Diaz told the story of one workers’ camp and a man who had toiled there, working two jobs to build a home.
That man, she ultimately revealed, was her father.
The family finally got its new home near Newhall when Diaz was four, and she ultimately earned her bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Though she planned to teach, she was urged by a boss during an internship at IBM communications to go into jour- nalism instead.
Diaz went on to become one of the most trusted anchors in California. Winner of several Emmys, she has more than 20 years of reporting and anchoring experience. She was a reporter in San Luis Obispo and Fresno before becoming a reporter at KABC in 1983. As Diaz told the Los Angeles Times in 1998, in San Luis Obispo, reporters had to produce, shoot and edit their own stories: “We did everything but take out the garbage.”
Widely liked as a media star who doesn’t stand on ceremony, Diaz made news in 1994 as one of the original hosts of “Vista LA,” the first public affairs show in Southern California aimed at English- speaking Latinos. Her national honors include the Mexican Consulate’s Estrella de Nuestra Cultura award.
Diaz co-anchored at KABC with Harold Greene, who later departed for KCBS. Last year, KCBS enticed Diaz away from KABC, and she rejoined her longtime colleague Greene at CBS 2.
The Quinn Award will be presented to Diaz at the Sheraton Universal Hotel on June 21. For dinner tickets or to advertise in the program, please call Diana or Becky at (323) 469-8180.
