Veteran PBS journalist awarded Chancellor prize

In celebration of his integrity, modesty and civility in the field of journalism, PBS commentator Paul Duke was awarded the 1999 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism by the Annenberg Public Policy Center on Monday night. The award and its $25,000 prize were presented at a black-tie dinner held in the University Museum. The John Chancellor Award is presented annually to a journalist whose work exemplifies the excellence and honesty that characterized John Chancellor's career in journalism. During his 45 years of reporting and commentary, all but two years spent with NBC, Chancellor gained a reputation for fairness and integrity as a correspondent and later as a news anchor. Considered to have set standards for journalists to come, Chancellor covered most of the great events of his time, including school desegregation, the Cuban missile crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Persian Gulf war. Ira Lipman, the president of Guardsmark Inc. and a member of the Board of Overseers of the Wharton School, endowed the award in 1995 at a dinner honoring Chancellor in Philadelphia. Lipman, Annenberg School for Communication Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson and other committee members chose Duke to be the 1999 recipient of the award. During his 40 years of reporting on American politics, Duke's voice has been heard anchoring many award-winning PBS documentaries on subjects ranging from Harry Truman's presidency to the Supreme Court. Under his 20-year leadership, Washington Week -- a show on which he interviewed a record nine presidents -- became the largest public affairs program on PBS. In 1987, Duke was inducted into the Washington Journalism Hall of Fame. Monday night's award ceremony, which followed the dinner, began with opening remarks from Jamieson. "With the standard of journalism in dismay, we must exemplify those who uphold what journalism once was, and the art we hope it will once be again," Jamieson said. "Paul Duke's work in both broadcast and print exemplifies the standards that John Chancellor brought to each of us." The ceremony brought together journalists from around the country to speak about Duke. The speakers included two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists -- Haynes Johnson, a former Washington Post reporter and editor, and Hedrick Smith, a longtime New York Times correspondent and now a director of PBS documentaries. "Paul has integrity and decency," Johnson said. "There are still people who seek serious information and will forever thank Paul for setting the right tone." And Smith echoed Johnson's sentiments. "Paul represents all the journalistic qualities John embodied," he said. "His formula of fairness and integrity worked for reporters and viewers and he gained the trust of the nation." Upon receiving the award, Duke thanked Lipman and the committee members and announced that with the prize money, he will establish a college scholarship fund, helping students who wish to study journalism. "I take this award with pride," Duke said. "This award commemorates John Chancellor, one of the few good guys in our business. John believed that as reporters, we are all soldiers of democracy, and therefore, it is our duty to enlighten the world. I am honored to be recognized in his name."