Karen DeWitt facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Karen DeWitt
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| Born | April 18, 1944 |
| Alma mater | Miami University |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Spouse(s) | Jesse Lewis (1969-1974) |
Karen DeWitt was born on April 18, 1944. She is an American journalist and a leader in communications. She has worked for many big newspapers like the New York Post, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. She also worked for ABC on the show Nightline.
Since 2017, she has been teaching at Morgan State University in Maryland. It's a large HBCU. She helps lead the Digital Newsroom there.
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Karen DeWitt's Early Life
Karen DeWitt was born in Washington, Pennsylvania. Her parents, Geraldine and Donald DeWitt, raised her in Dayton, Ohio. She has two younger brothers, Donald Jr. and Mark.
Her father's family came from Ulster County, New York. They were a historic Black family who lived there since the American Revolutionary War.
Karen DeWitt's Education
Karen finished Julienne High School in Dayton in 1962. She was even the president of her senior class! She loved music, art, and writing. She played the violin for many years. She also studied art at the Dayton Art Institute.
From 1962 to 1966, she went to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She studied English and philosophy there. After her first year, she worked as an intern for The Pittsburgh Courier. This was a very popular Black newspaper in the United States. While at college, she wrote for the school newspaper, The Miami Student.
Peace Corps Experience
In 1965, Karen decided to join the Peace Corps. This program sends Americans to help people in other countries. She spent a summer training in Los Angeles at the UCLA campus.
After graduating from Miami University in 1966, she went to Ethiopia. She lived in a town called Waliso, which is southwest of Addis Ababa. For two years, she taught English to high school students there.
Karen DeWitt's Personal Life
In 1969, Karen met Jesse Lewis while working for the New York Post. Jesse was a reporter for The Washington Post. They got married just six weeks later!
In June 1969, they moved to Lebanon. Jesse was going to open a news office for The Washington Post in Beirut.
Karen DeWitt's Journalism Career
While living in Beirut, Karen wrote for The Daily Star. This was the biggest English newspaper in the Middle East. She wrote news and feature stories from 1969 to 1972.
After returning to the U.S., she joined The Washington Post in 1977. Later that year, she became a national correspondent for The New York Times in Washington.
In 1982, Karen created and starred in a cooking show called Karen's Kitchen. It had 26 episodes and was shown on Black Entertainment Television.
Working at USA Today
Karen worked for USA Today from 1982 to 1990. She was the White House correspondent, covering President Ronald Reagan's second term. After that, she became an assistant national editor.
For five of her eight years at USA Today, she was a foreign correspondent. She reported from South Africa before apartheid ended. She also covered wars in Honduras and Nicaragua. She reported on the fall of President Manuel Noriega in Panama.
Later Career in News
After USA Today, Karen went back to The New York Times in Washington. She worked there as a national correspondent until 1997.
From 1997 to 2001, she was a senior producer for ABC News on the show Nightline.
In 2001, she started her own company, Suo Marte Media Consultancy. She helped groups like the Children's Defense Fund with their communication.
In 2004, Karen became the first Washington editor at the Washington Examiner.
In 2005, she became the Director of Communications for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Later, she became Vice-President of Content for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
From 2011 to 2014, she was a Communications Manager for The Sentencing Project. This group works for a fair criminal justice system. Karen once wrote, "I spent a lifetime writing who, what, where, when, why and how. I know how to tell and sell a story. At this point in my life, I could be selling soap. I’d rather sell justice.”
From 2014 to 2017, she wrote speeches for the president of the American Bar Association.
Since 2012, Karen has written regularly for the Baltimore Post-Examiner.
She started teaching at Morgan State University in 2017. Since 2019, she has been the Digital Newsroom Director at their School of Global Journalism and Communication.
Awards and Fellowships
Karen DeWitt received a journalism award in 1979 from the University of the District of Columbia.
From 1989 to 1990, she was an R.M. Seaton Fellow at Kansas State University.
In 1995, she was a U.S.-Japan Leadership Program Fellow in Tokyo.
She won a Best Feature award from the National Association of Black Journalists. This was for writing and producing the 1999 Nightline episode called "Found Voices: The Slave Narratives."
