Monday, March 14, 2011 7:13 PM
Lesley Stahl, veteran correspondent for America ’s number-one news program, 60 MINUTES, will be honored by the Los Angeles Press Club with the 2011 President’s Award for Impact on the Media. She will accept the award at the 53rd Annual Southern California Journalism Awards in the legendary Crystal Ballroom at the Millennium Biltmore on Sunday, June 26.
“She is a pioneering woman in television news whose career spans the era of Watergate to the digital age,” said LA Press Club President Will Lewis.
Stahl’s career at CBS News began in the Washington Bureau. She was a White House correspondent and for eight years moderated FACE THE NATION. She has reported from political conventions and elections since 1974.
“Lesley Stahl has served as an inspiration for decades and paved the way for women in newsrooms across America . During a time when women only covered ‘soft news,’ Stahl delivered hard newsundefinedfrom science and politics to international affairsundefinedwith consistent award-winning quality. We are proud to bestow Ms. Stahl with this award,” said Will Lewis.
Lesley Stahl joined 60 MINUTES in 1991 and is in her 20th season as a 60 MINUTES correspondent. Some of her best work has come out of California , including Emmy Awards for a Google profile and a breaking news interview upon the firing and indictment of Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Pattie Dunn. In the same broadcast, she also interviewed Dunn’s predecessor, Carly Fiorina, also fired from HP in the same corporate scandal. Stahl also reported on the California drought in late 2009.
Other Golden State stories include the first look at the “Bloom Box,” a potentially revolutionary alternative energy device, a story that made news and waves on the Internet for weeks. Also within the past year, she had a timely, two-part interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, subject of the Oscar-nominated movie “The Social Network.”
Other scoops for 60 MINUTES include interviews with the families of the Duke Lacrosse players exonerated in a racial rape case and with Nancy Pelosi before she became the first woman to become Speaker of the House. Stahl broke the story that Al Gore would not run for president in 2002.
Stahl is a native of Swampscott , Mass., and graduated cum laude from Wheaton College, where she later served on the board of trustees. She currently serves on the board of the New York City Ballet.
Last year, the Los Angeles Press Club, whose membership includes journalists across all news platforms, honored Anderson Cooper; the year before, Arianna Huffington. In the past, the club has feted Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Larry King.
