James Polk, BA’64, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1974 for his reporting as a staff writer for the Washington Star-News on financial irregularities that were part of the Watergate scandal.
A native of Oaktown, Ind., Polk received the Raymond Clapper award twice as best reporter in Washington and won the Sigma Delta Chi national reporting award. In his work for NBC News from 1975 to 1992, he covered many of major national or international stories of misdeed, fraud, extortion, espionage, terrorism or corruption.
In 1992, he joined CNN, where he is a senior documentary producer. He helped manage the network’s extended coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing, for which CNN won an Emmy in 1996. His documentary on the subject won a National Headliner award. He also contributed to coverage of the World Trade Center bombings in 1993 and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He continues to report, write and produce for the network.