Along with my former student Teresa Jun, I was one of the official screeners for the Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Political Journalism. I had a chance to view coverage of the 2010 midterm elections from TV stations around the country. I also got to meet some of the winners when the awards were handed out at USC on April 26. Gwen Ifill of the PBS Newshour got a big laugh when she told the audience about her encounter with a college student who claimed to get his political news from comedian Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. Gwen quipped: "Jon Stewart watches me!"Another standout among the winners was Christina Boomer, a one-woman band in Phoenix who managed to twitter while asking the Arizona governor a tough question and shooting video of the answer. No wonder she got an award for individual achievement!
Teresa, by the way, is the accomplished weekend anchor of KOLD-TV in Tucson Arizona. She was tested earlier this year when she anchored coverage of the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Of course, her talent and journalism skills were obvious and I'm proud to have played a small part in her development.
