Los Angeles’ own Beverly White of NBC4 (KNBC) Southern California, has been selected by The National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ) to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. White, a seasoned journalist, has worked with NBC for over two decades with 40 years of experience in journalism.
“I’m floored, flummoxed, flabbergasted and deeply honored, for real,” said White about being a recipient of the 2018 Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award.
The three-time past president of NABJ Los Angeles Chapter (NABJ-LA) expressed her feelings on receiving the award named after Tuskegee airmen, journalist and former NABJ president, Chuck Stone.
“He worked closely with our civil rights lions and I consider him one of them,” White said. “I’m honored, truly honored, to be mentioned in the same sentence with him.”
White was born in West Germany but raised in Killeen, Texas, and is one of four children of a retired Vietnam War-era Army officer and a public school, cafeteria worker. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism. White started her career at KCEN-TV, an NBC affiliate in Temple/Waco, and KENS-TV in San Antonio. She worked as a reporter at WTVJ, an NBC affiliate in Miami. It was here where she worked on the 1992 Peabody Award-winning team that covered Hurricane Andrew. White also anchored the morning weekday newscast for WKRC-TV in Cincinnati. It was also in 1992, when she joined NBC4 Southern California as a general assignment reporter.
Breaking the important news would become a trademark for White as she explored the controversy on why the Black Cabbage Patch dolls didn’t sell in the ‘80s. She also garnered attention on the documentary about the legendary owner of the defunct LGBTQ club in Los Angeles, Jewel’s Catch One. White also hit the ground running on one of the more infamous days in U.S. history, the Boston Marathon bombing.
Her coverage of events throughout the southland has been unparalleled, breaking local and national stories for NBC4 which include the Northridge earthquake, the salon mass murders in Seal Beach, CA, the theater killings in Aurora, CO, the death of music icon Prince in Minneapolis, MN. White has also covered many floods, wildfires and mudslides in Southern California, including the Montecito disaster.
“Beverly White is simply a legend, a broadcasting mainstay,” said NABJ president, Sarah Glover who is social media editor for NBC-owned television stations. “For more than a quarter of a century, Beverly has been delivering strong news stories in the country’s second-largest market. To say she has a powerful presence that resonates with her viewers would be an understatement.”
Tre’vell Anderson, president of NABJ Los Angeles and film reporter at the Los Angeles Times, shared a few words about his fellow NABJ-LA member.
“I think Beverly is the ultimate example of what a Black journalist is,” said Anderson, “what a Black journalist can be, and a really great person who has a great heart.”
“This organization truly changed my life,” White said of the NABJ.
Some of her other awards and accolades include the 2017 Leadership Award from Kappa Tau Alpha, the Journalism Honor Society at Cal State University, Northridge; the 2012 Distinguished Journalist Award from the Society of Professional Journalists; the 2008 California Legislative Black Caucus Leadership Award and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Killeen Independent School District in Killeen, Texas.
White lives in Los Angeles with her husband, past NABJ president and multimedia journalist, Xavier Higgs.
She will be honored at the NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards during the NABJ Convention and Career Fair on Saturday, Aug. 4 at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. Convention registration and awards tickets can be purchased at www.nabj-la.org.
Congratulations to Beverly White on being an icon within the field of journalism and informing the community.
