JOE JOHNS '75
national news correspondent
Joe Johns is a CNN correspondent based in the network's Washington,
D.C., bureau. Johns joined CNN as a congressional correspondent in
January 2004 after covering Capitol Hill for NBC News for more than
10 years. He reports on government accountability, waste and fraud
for Anderson Cooper 360 and other programs throughout the network.
As part of the Peabody Award-winning "Best Political Team on Television,"
Johns also played a key role in CNN's America Votes 2008 coverage.
At the Capitol, Johns has covered numerous debates about legislation,
the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton, the anthrax mailings
following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and recent developments on
the U.S. Supreme Court, including the death of Chief Justice Warren
Rehnquist and retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He also broke
the story of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's first indictment on
conspiracy charges.
Johns provided in-depth reporting on the Sago Mine disaster in January
2006. He covered the entire "Beltway Sniper" saga from the first shootings
to the arrests of two suspects and was among the NBC Nightly News
team to receive an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television
News Directors Association for the reports. Johns reporting has also
included the White House and the Pentagon.
In 1996, he covered Clinton's historic tour of Africa and followed
first lady Hillary Clinton on a seven-nation visit to central Europe.
In 1994, he traveled to Haiti with Marines ordered by Clinton to assist
in that country's transition from a dictatorship to a democracy. More
recently, Johns attended the first boot camp for war correspondents
at Quantico and Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia.
Johns first came to Washington, D.C., in 1983 when he joined WRC-TV,
an NBC affiliate. There, he won an Emmy for a spot news piece on the
violent tactics of the Nation of Islam to rid a district neighborhood
of drugs.
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Before joining WRC-TV, Johns was a reporter at WSOC-TV, Charlotte, N.C.
He began his TV career as a reporter and anchor in 1980 at WSAZ-TV in
Huntington, W.Va.
Johns is the recipient of two National Association of Black Journalists
Salute to Excellence awards. He was honored first in 2005 for a profile
on lynching survivor James Cameron and then again in 2007 for a series
of pieces on environmental injustice. He also contributed to CNN's Emmy
award-winning Election Night coverage in 2006.
Johns is a former chairman of the executive committee of Correspondents
of the Congressional Radio and Television Galleries and president of
the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association. He is also a member
of the board of Marshall University's Yeager Scholars, of the Howard
University School of Communications Board of Visitors and D.C. Law Students
in Court. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science from
Marshall University in Huntington and a law degree from American University.
Johns spent much of his childhood engaged in recreational and educational
activities at the J. Ashburn Jr. Youth Center, which honored him in
2008 with its Speaker's Award.
At West High, he was president of Student Council and a member of the
varsity football team. As a senior he won the discus throw at the State
Track and Field Meet. The honor of which he is most proud from his high
school days was being elected governor of Boys State in 1974.
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