John Schwada (journalist)

John Schwada is an American political-government and investigative reporter. After he won the Los Angeles Press Club's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, the Los Angeles City Council declared August 12, 2011 as John Schwada Day in the City of Los Angeles, although in July 2011, Schwada's contract with KTTV expired and was not renewed.

For other persons of the same name, see John Schwada (disambiguation).

Early life and education

Schwada was born in Columbia, Missouri. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1970 and a master's degree in history in 1975 from the University of California, Berkeley.[1]

Career

He began his career in journalism covering the Imperial Valley for the San Diego Union. After completing his master's degree he worked as a freelancer in the San Francisco Bay Area, then after moving to Los Angeles, worked at the Riverside Press-Enterprise for a year before being hired by the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner,[1] where he was a political and City Hall reporter until the paper folded in November 1989. He was then hired by The Los Angeles Times, where he helped develop a weekly political column for the Valley Edition and covered politics and City Hall.[2] He joined KTTV in 1996.

Honors

While a freelancer, Schwada won the San Francisco Press Club award for best investigative story of the year for a San Francisco Bay Guardian piece on a CIA listening post in the Bay Area.[1]

He was awarded a Los Angeles-area Emmy award in 2002 and 2003 and Golden Mikes in 2003 and 2010 for investigative reports. The LA Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists named Schwada as its 1989 newspaper journalist of the year.[3]

In the spring of 2009, Schwada and producer Pete Noyes were honored by The Sidney Hillman Foundation for their investigative reporting that led to the arrest of a con-man who was preying on victims of the 2008 Mortgage Crisis.[4] Schwada was awarded the Associated Press TV and Radio Artists award for the best "light" blog of the year on a TV station website.[5]

In the 1980s, Schwada won LA Press Club awards for his series investigating Councilman Richard Alatorre's illegal use of campaign money in his 1985 council race and for his investigation of Mayor Tom Bradley's questionable ties to Far East National Bank.[2]

In 2011, he was honored with the LA Press Club's Lifetime Achievement award,[1] and the Los Angeles City Council declared August 12, 2011 John Schwada Day.[6] However, just days before he received his Lifetime Achievement Award, KTTV Fox 11 news director Jose Rios told Schwada his contract would not be renewed. Station General manager Kevin Hale declined to comment, but a source familiar with management's position said it wanted someone more "versatile", capable of anchoring and adept at the innumerable "live shots" that fill the news, particularly with the addition of a 5 p.m. show.[6][7][8]

References
  1. Stewart, Jill (September 2017) [2011]. "The Baddest Boy of Broadcast News: John Schwada of KTTV Gets the Joseph M. Quinn Award for Lifetime Achievement" (PDF). Los Angeles Press Club.
  2. "John Schwada to receive the Quinn Award for excellence". Los Angeles Press Club. January 11, 2011. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  3. "SPJ/LA Past Awardees". SPJ/tvLA. 1 January 2008.
  4. "The Hillman Prize Previous Honorees". Hillman Foundation. 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  5. "The 2009 Mark Twain Awards". The Associated Press, Television and Radio Association of California, Nevada Hawaii, Washington & Idaho. 2012. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  6. Knox, Merrill (August 15, 2011). "Political Reporter John Schwada Cut Loose at KTTV After 15 Years". Adweek. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  7. Wilson, Simone (July 15, 2011). "John Schwada, FOX11 Investigative Reporter, Pushed Out Just Weeks After Winning Lifetime Achievement Award". LA Weekly. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  8. Rainey, James (August 13, 2011). "On the Media: A Scrappy Newsman Is Shown the Door". Los Angeles Times.
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