When Jane Mayer, winner of the 2011 Robin Toner Prize, was rising in the field of journalism, she wore a red dress to a press conference by President Ronald Reagan.
“There’s the little girl in red!” Mayer recalled the shout from Reagan, who was known for noticing female reporters wearing in red. Being a woman was both an advantage and a disadvantage, Mayer said, when she became the first women to White House correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in 1984.
“I tried not to take offense. I just tried to take over the front page,” Mayer told the audience for the 2012 Toner Symposium at the S. I. Newhouse School on March 26.
Four pioneering women journalists will highlight the challenges and opportunities of reporting the news in the digital age at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in late March.
The women will share their experiences and insights in a panel discussion titled "Keeping a Place in the News: Journalism & Women 2012" for the Toner Symposium on March 26. The symposium is part of The Robin Toner Program in Political Reporting. It celebrates the legacy of alumna Robin Toner, the first woman to be national political correspondent for The New York Times. The event also includes awarding the $5,000 Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting to Jane Mayer of The New Yorker.
“Like Robin Toner, these women journalists are inspiring for their accomplishments,” said Charlotte Grimes, the Knight Chair in Political Reporting and administrator of the Toner Program. The panel is especially meaningful for March, which is Women’s History Month, said Grimes.
The symposium is free and open to the public. It begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Hergenhan Auditorium of the Newhouse School.
The four panelists are:
Jane Mayer of The New Yorker is this year’s winner of the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting.
Mayer won for an indepth look at the effects on North Carolina of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down limits on campaign spending by corporations in the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission. The story, called “State for Sale,” is what one of the Toner Prize judges called “spellbinding – and chilling.”
“This is the kind of journalism that strengthens democracy and shows the value of a free press,” said Lorraine Branham, dean of the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, which sponsors the prize. “With this kind of reporting, citizens are empowered to hold politicians and powerful interests accountable. It illustrates the depth, richness and insight that characterized the work of Robin Toner.”
The Toner Prize is part of The Robin Toner Program in Political Reporting by the Newhouse School. The prize carries a $5,000 award. The program honors the late Robin Toner, a summa cum laude graduate of Syracuse University with dual degrees in journalism and political science. She was the first woman to be national political correspondent of The New York Times.
The Stories : With a combination of computer mapping and shoe-leather reporting, the ProPublica team of reporters draw a clear and alarming picture of how powerful forces shape voting districts in states across the county.
The Reporters:
Olga Pierce: writes about foreclosure, redistricting and unemployment insurance issues for ProPublica.
Jeff Larson: is a news application developer. He was the online director at The Nation where he coordinated the magazine's editorial and business activities on the web during the 2009 political season.
Lois Beckett: has reported on changes in the news industry for the Nieman Journalism Lab.
The Stories : In a five-month investigation , a team of Bloomberg News reporters tracked the millions of dollars for political attack ads from outside groups that helped the Republican Party gain control of the U.S. House and enlarge its presence in the Senate in the 2010 elections. The Reporters:
Jonathan D. Salant:Covers campaign finance and lobbying for Bloomberg News. He joined Bloomberg in 2004 and has been a Washington-based reporter for 25 years, including the first seven with Newhouse News Service as the correspondent for the Syracuse Herald-Journal and The Post-Standard.
John Crewdson: recently retired from Bloomberg News. Crewdson worked on Bloomberg projects ranging from campaign finance to the gun lobby in America.
Charles R. Babcock: Is an editor on the projects and investigations team at Bloomberg News. He came to Bloomberg in 2006, after 30 years at The Washington Post, mostly as an investigative reporter and editor.
Alison Fitzgerald: Is a former investigative reporter at Bloomberg News. Fitzgerald had been with Bloomberg since 2000, covering the U.S auto industry, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury, economics and tax policy.
Jane Mayer joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in March, 1995. Based in Washington, D.C., she writes about politics, law and national security for the magazine. Recent subjects include the impact of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision on the 2012 presidential campaign, the Koch Brothers’ funding of the Tea Party Movement, the Obama Administration’s prosecution of national security leaks, and the administration’s expanded use of drones in the war on terror.
