Women in the news
"Susan Robinson King" by Karen Rugg
AWC-DC is proud to be recognizing Susan's accomplishments with this year's Matrix Award for Professional Achievement. On May 19, 1999, she'll join us in the National Press Club's ballroom to accept her award and to share the lessons she's learned from her story thus far.
You may recognize Susan. She is currently the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Labor—a right-hand woman to Secretary Alexis Herman. She oversees the management of the media relations and public education efforts for the department's 16 agencies, and is its front-line strategist on methods to inform the American public about policies affecting the changing workplace, including the Family and Medical Leave Act.
But the U.S. government is only the latest phase in her extraordinarily deep and multifaceted career. Susan started in the '70s as a broadcaster in Buffalo, New York, where she was the first woman to anchor regular newscasts. After moving to Washington, DC in 1975, she worked for WTOP-TV (now WUSA TV9) alongside some of today's local anchor institutions including Maureen Bunyan, Gordon Peterson, Max Robinson and Andrea Mitchell. From WTOP she moved on to cover the 1980 Bush for President Campaign for ABC News, and was later ABC's White House correspondent during Reagan's first term. She sums up that work experience in one phrase that says a lot: "I was Number 2 to Sam Donaldson."
In 1983 Susan joined WRC-TV in Washington to anchor the 6:00 p.m. news and produce "Cover Story" for the 11:00 p.m. news, a three-minute daily analysis of major news stories. She took "Cover Story" to WJLA in 1987, where she anchored the 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. newscasts until 1993.
That year, after almost 20 years building her broadcast career in Washington, Susan was made an "offer" by WJLA that was, in her words, "tantamount to being fired." According to Susan, the station, as a cost-saving measure, planned to demote its top talent in order to force their departure instead of firing them and being responsible for compensation packages. Susan brought arbitration against the station to make it live up to its collective bargaining agreement. "Taking this action was a way to show that stations couldn't just dump their top people," she recalls.
Susan won her case and, in so doing, re-established the rules for all journalists. "I stood up for a principle and I set a national precedent," she explains. "It is actually ironic how things turned out because the men in our industry too now thank me for what I accomplished. It's meant more protection for all of us, including for Maureen when her time came," she said. (Colleague Maureen Bunyan returned to DC's anchor roster last month at WJLA after leaving WUSA several years ago following a similar "demotion" offer.)
WJLA and arbitration behind her, Susan became an independent journalist for CNN, ABC Radio, the Diane Rehm Show, NPR's Talk of the Nation, and CNBC's Mary Matalin Show. During her two decades of broadcast journalism, she earned numerous awards including Emmies, the National Women's Political Caucus Broadcasting Award for three consecutive years, and recognition by American Women in Radio and TV (AWRT) and Washingtonian magazine.
Susan has always felt that good journalism and good government go hand-in-hand. "I always felt government was important, that's why I covered it," she said. In 1995, she received an invitation that enabled her to bring them together. Appointed by the President that year as executive director of the Department of Labor's Commission on Family and Medical Leave, she managed the commission's bipartisan work and produced a comprehensive study of the act and a report to Congress.
Thus began a government career leading to service as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs to former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, and now to current Secretary Alexis Herman. Under Secretary Reich in 1995 she spearheaded the "No Sweat" media initiative - a comprehensive and innovative public service, education and consumer awareness campaign calling attention to labor abuses in the garment industry. "I have to say I'm probably most proud of this campaign. It effected change, more than journalism alone could have done," she said. Her first day on the job in 1997 under Secretary Herman was to lead the communications team responding to the UPS strike.
In addition to making an impact on the job, Susan strives to make a difference in the community. She is active in journalistic organizations and is a founder and board member of the International Women's Media Foundation, a global organization supporting a free press. She is a member of the Women's Forum, the Women's Foreign Policy Group, and Women of Washington Inc. She serves on the Advisory Board for Mt. Carmel House in Washington, a shelter for homeless women. Join us May 19, 1999, to meet Susan King.
