Times Editor Coffey Receives National Editor of Year Award

At a time of “endless debate about the future of newspapers and the flaws of newspapers,” journalists should uphold their mission “to be the goad and the searchlight of society, as well as a celebrator,” Los Angeles Times Editor Shelby Coffey III said Thursday as he received a national award.

Speaking to a dinner of the National Press Foundation, where he was awarded the George Beveridge Editor of the Year Award, Coffey praised the staff of The Times, saying the paper’s reporters and editors had responded to a series of challenging assignments--from the Northridge earthquake to the Orange County bankruptcy--”with vigor and ingenuity worthy of the entrepreneurial zeal that made, and is now remaking, California itself.”

The press foundation also honored two other journalists.

Nat Hentoff, 69, syndicated columnist for the Village Voice in New York and the Washington Post, received an award for distinguished contributions to journalism in recognition of his many years of advocacy for the freedoms of speech and the press guaranteed by the 1st Amendment to the Constitution.

Accepting the award, Hentoff praised journalists who challenge conventional wisdom and shun pack journalism, saying, “I am always suspicious when all of the press agrees on anything.”

Hentoff likened the conservative ideologues who now dominate the Republican Party to Robespierre in the French Revolution, saying, “They are busy throwing chunks of the Bill of Rights into the street.”

Bernard Shaw, 54, the principal Washington anchor for Cable News Network, received the Sol Taishoff Award for excellence in broadcast journalism.

Shaw said in his remarks, “We in the news media should never be popular--we in the news media should never try. That is not our job. . . . We work for the people. Our salary is the truth.”

In presenting the award to Coffey, directors of the press foundation cited The Times’ coverage of breaking news, including the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the 1994 earthquake and developments in the O.J. Simpson case. The award also cited improvements in the paper’s design since Coffey assumed the editor’s post in 1989, the launching of the paper’s World Report section and its investigative projects.

Coffey, 48, came to The Times in 1986 after briefly working as editor of the Dallas Times Herald and U.S. News & World Report. From 1968 to 1985 he held a series of editorial posts at the Washington Post.

The National Press Foundation is a nonprofit organization that, in addition to the awards, sponsors fellowships, conferences and grants for the continuing education and training of print and broadcast journalists.