Andrea Mitchell Named Recipient Of 2013 National Press Club Fourth Estate Award

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Jul 19, 2013, 09:00 ET

-- NPC's Honor one of the Most Prestigious Awards in American Journalism --

WASHINGTON, July 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Andrea Mitchell, veteran NBC Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent and host of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports, has been selected as the 2013 recipient of the Fourth Estate Award, the National Press Club's most-honored prize.

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Mitchell will receive the award at a gala dinner Friday, October 4. She is the 41st recipient of the Fourth Estate Award, which recognizes a journalist who has made significant contributions to the field through a lifetime of excellence.

"This award honors Andrea Mitchell's more than 45 years in journalism covering everything from the energy crisis and Three Mile Island to presidential campaigns and national security issues," said NPC President Angela Greiling Keane. "Her career already is incredibly distinguished, and she continues to break major stories that set the agenda for many others reporting from Washington and around the world."

Mitchell currently covers foreign policy, intelligence and national security issues, including the diplomacy of Secretary of State John Kerry, for all NBC News properties. She is one of the first women to cover five presidents, Congress and foreign policy.

"I am thrilled to have been chosen by my peers to receive the Fourth Estate Award for my work at NBC News and MSNBC," said Mitchell. "It is an incredible honor, made even more meaningful because this award began with the late Walter Cronkite and has subsequently been conferred upon my friend and colleague Tom Brokaw. I am humbled to have been selected to join such giants of our profession."

Mitchell's extensive and varied reports include a series of exclusive interviews with Cuban President Fidel Castro. Throughout 2002 and 2003, Mitchell covered the United Nations debate leading up to the Iraq war and provided detailed reports on the questions surrounding pre-war intelligence and weapons of mass destruction. As a longtime analyst of the intelligence community, Mitchell's past assignments for NBC have included exclusive reports from North Korea, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Bosnia, Kosovo, Pakistan and Haiti.

As Chief Congressional Correspondent for NBC News from 1988-1992, Mitchell played a major role in reporting on the budget, the savings and loan bailout, the Clarence Thomas hearings and other legislative issues. She also served as a regular political analyst on TODAY and was a panelist in the second Bush-Dukakis presidential debate.

Mitchell first covered the White House for NBC News during both of Ronald Reagan's terms as President. She reported on a variety of noteworthy stories, including arms control, the budget, tax reform and the Iran-contra scandal, and traveled extensively with President Reagan to summits with Mikhail Gorbachev and other world leaders.

Over the years, Mitchell has appeared on Meet the Press as a panelist and substitute host. An acclaimed political reporter, during the 1988 Republican National Convention, she beat both the competition and presidential candidate George Bush with the announcement that Bush had chosen Dan Quayle to be his running mate. She was also a panelist in the final Bush-Dukakis presidential debate.

Mitchell joined NBC News in 1978 as a general correspondent based in Washington, D.C. In 1979, she was named NBC's Energy correspondent. In that capacity, she reported on the energy crisis and the Three Mile Island nuclear incident. Before joining NBC, she was a correspondent for WDVM-TV (then WTOP), the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. From 1967-1976, she was a broadcast journalist for KYW Radio and KYW-TV in Philadelphia.

A native of New York, Mitchell received a B.A. degree in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania where she currently serves as a Trustee, a member of the Executive Committee and Chairman of the Annenberg School Advisory Board. She also serves on the board of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and is a member of the Gridiron Club.

Mitchell is married to former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan and resides in Washington, D.C.

The Fourth Estate Award is the highest honor bestowed on a journalist by the National Press Club. Previous winners include Bob Woodward, Jim Lehrer, Walter Cronkite, Christiane Amanpour and David Broder. Greiling Keane said the selection of Mitchell is in keeping with that tradition of honoring excellence.

The dinner is a fundraiser for the NPC's National Journalism Institute, the Club's non-profit arm, which provides professional development and training services to the journalism community, and scholarships to aspiring journalists.

Tickets are $150 for NPC members or $200 for non-members and can be reserved at http://www.press.org/fourth-estate-award.

CONTACT: Julie Schoo, National Press Club Journalism Institute, 202-662-7507

SOURCE National Press Club