Local Man Wins Peabody Award

“The Journey is the Reward” hangs from the ceiling in the home of Mark James.

It’s this belief combined with passion, hard work, determination and a love for the news that has led this local man to be part of a Channel 4 News team recognized for excellence in broadcast journalism by receiving the University of Georgia’s George Foster Peabody Award.

“I feel honored to be part of this team,” James said. “I can’t take credit for all the hard work that went into this.”

Charlie, the family dog, jumps on James as he walks toward his family room. James continues on as his only son Will, 12, sits by the pool alongside his two friends Brayton Hammerli and Andric Stephens.

“I love being a part of a team,” James said. “There is something special about playing off the energies of other people.”

James was born and raised in La Cañada on Hillard Avenue until he was 15 years old.

“I finished high school in India,” hesaid. “The time that I spent in India changed my life and became a turning point for me.”

This graduate of Cal State University in Los Angeles joined NBC as a page in the summer of 1981.

The page program offers college graduates the opportunity to take that first step into broadcasting. A page is given the chance to learn about many aspects of network television from the ground up.

A page leads guided tours and perform various audience services for NBC shows. Along with these public relations responsibilities, a page may have the opportunity to work in different departments within the company on either short or long term assignments. After a period of one year, a page will be in a position to make an informed decision as to which area of the industry interests them most.

“Eba Hawkins, who has since passed away, started it all for me,” James said. “I was just about to give up when Eba called to tell me that she was hiring me to be a page.”

James is married to Christine, who has worked at Entertainment Tonight for 20 years. She also worked at one point in her career as an NBC page.

It was destiny that led James down the career path of camera man.

At the threat of a union strike in the summer of 1987 James and a few other people in management positions got training to learn how to do other people’s jobs in the company in case of a walk-out.

“I got put in the camera man pool where I worked as a news camera man,” James said. “After 4 months of doing this, I discovered that I actually enjoyed this.”

His job has taken him to the 1988 Olympic Summer Games in Korea, the O.J. Simpson trial, the floods in Malibu, the Northridge earthquake and many other interesting stories he has been able to cover.

After 20 years James still gets a thrill out of being a cameraman.

“I love helping people,” James said. “I love doing something new everyday and informing people as I do it.”

KNBC-TV Channel 4 won this Peabody Award for “Burning Questions,” a four-part investigative series confirming health and safety concerns about a multi-acre commercial-residential development built on site that includes a leaking subterranean gas reservoir.

The series special was the brainchild of producer Frank Snepp and anchor/reporter Paul Moyer. In addition to James other principal photographers on the honored series are: David Fernandez, Jose Hernandez, Hernan Vazquez, Daniel Peek, Joel Cooke and Ben Weatherly. Jim Hourani was the editor.

The winners of the Peabody Awards were chosen by a 16-member panel of television critics, broadcast and cable industry executives and experts in culture and the arts. The awards were presented on June 5 at a luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.