National Public Radio commentator
A Boston University drop out, Nina Totenberg today is one of the most respected radio journalists in America. She has been honored by the American Bar Association seven times. In 1988 she won the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for her coverage of Supreme Court nominations. Ten years later, the National Press Foundation honored her with its Excellence in Broadcasting Award.
Now a twenty-five year veteran of National Public Radio (NPR), and a regular correspondent in All Things Considered, Totenberg has been honored for breaking the story of Judge Douglas Ginsburg's use of marijuana, for covering the retirement of Judge Thurgood Marshall, and for reporting on University of Oklahoma professor Anita Hill's allegations of sexual harassment by Judge Clarence Thomas. In each case, Totenberg has been cited for her in-depth and balanced coverage.
Five years after the death of Justice Harry Blackmun, the author of the Roe v. Wade decision, Blackmun's papers, all 1576 boxes of them, became public. Totenberg was the only broadcast journalist permitted to examine the papers prior to their release. Before her years at NPR, she was the legal affairs correspondent for the National Observer and Washington editor of New Times Magazine.
The lighter side of Totenberg saw her playing herself in "Dave" in 1993, and a year earlier in her selection by Esquire magazine in a list of "Women We Love."