George Watson, who was a National Press Club member for more than 60 years while he pursued his career as a national and international correspondent and ABC News executive, died June 1. He was 86.
A graduate of Harvard University, where he was managing editor of The Harvard Crimson, and of Columbia University’s graduate journalism program, Watson began his broadcast journalism career in 1962 with ABC News in Washington after working for the Detroit News and The Washington Post.
Watson joined the Club in 1961, according to Club records. He maintained his membership continuously, even while reporting from bureaus around the world. Members of 60 years or more are dubbed “Platinum Owls” in the association of longtime members, the Silver Owls.
Such dedication to the Club is not uncommon, said Club President Eileen O’Reilly. Just this spring, the Club initiated five new Platinum Owls. “People like George Watson who have valued their membership for so many years are a testament to the enduring legacy of this Club,” O’Reilly said.
During his career, Watson covered some of the heaviest fighting in Vietnam and Cambodia while on special assignment from 1968 to 1970. He was a correspondent and bureau chief in Moscow and London, where he won an Overseas Press Club Award for best foreign affairs documentary Terror in Northern Ireland.
Returning to the United States, Watson became ABC News’ White House correspondent, rising soon thereafter to Washington bureau chief and vice president, a position he held for 12 years in two different stints.
He worked as a vice president in New York as the first network executive responsible for overseeing policies, standards and practices for news programs. There, he developed and produced Viewpoint, a program hosted by Ted Koppel that provided a forum for viewer criticism of ABC News and broadcast journalism in general. It won an Emmy, a Peabody and the duPont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.
In 1980, he left ABC for one year to be vice president and managing editor of the new CNN.
He returned to Washington in 1985 for his second tour as ABC bureau chief. He retired in 1993, but continued to provide commentary and analysis for radio and the late-night program World News Now for eight years.
He was director of the Committee to Protect Journalists from 1982 to 1993.
He is survived by his wife Ellen Bradley Watson. His son, George Henry Watson IIIm and daughter, Ellen Havican Watson, preceded him in death.
