Joe Davidson
The Washington Post Columnist
USA
Joe Davidson writes the Federal Insider, formerly the Federal Diary, a Washington Post column on the federal government. For 13 years he was a Washington and foreign correspondent with the Wall Street Journal. Before joining The Post as an assistant city editor in 2005, he was an editor with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. He is a founding board member of the National Association of Black Journalists and is in its Hall of Fame. At The Wall Street Journal, Davidson covered a broad range of domestic issues and agencies, including health, education and the Justice Department. He also covered presidential and state political campaigns. As a foreign correspondent, he covered South Africa during apartheid, before and after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison and his election as president of the “new” South Africa. Davidson was in the charter class of Ethics Fellows at the Poynter Institute, where he also has been a visiting faculty member. He has conducted professional coaching seminars at the Gannett News Service, the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism in Johannesburg and the University of Maryland. For many years he was an adjunct professor at Temple and Howard universities. Davidson's career began in his home town at the Detroit News. He moved to Philadelphia in 1974 to join the Bulletin, where he was city hall bureau chief. He also reported on city hall for the Philadelphia Inquirer and was managing editor of the National Leader, a national black weekly. He moved to Washington to join the Journal in 1984. Previously, he was a regular commentator on NPR’s "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered." He has been a political columnist for BET.com, a contributing editor to Emerge magazine and has written for the Nation, Mother Jones, the Los Angeles Times and the Christian Science Monitor. Among his numerous television appearances are those on CNN, MSNBC, PBS and BET. He is past president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, a two-time Pulitzer juror and the recipient of numerous awards.Education: University of Michigan, master's in public policy; Oakland University, bachelor's in social science and education
Honors & Awards: Oakland University Wilson Award for Outstanding Male Graduate; Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center Quiet Hero; Named a HistoryMaker in 2012; Peabody Award (with Washington Post team for "Being a Black Man"); Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism; National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame and Founders Medal; Oakland University Prominent Alumni inaugural list; Two-time Pulitzer Prize juror; National Association of Black Journalists International Reporting award; Professional Affiliations: National Association of Black Journalists, founding board member