WTOP reporter becomes third-generation Club member

For some young members, the National Press Club is primarily a place to network or grab free tacos on Friday nights.

But for one, the halls of the 13th floor hold a deeper meaning. They're his father's and
grandfather's old stomping grounds.

Paul D. Shinkman, a reporter for WTOP and an accomplished freelance journalist, is a proud third-generation Club member.

He was preceded by his grandfather, Paul Alfred Shinkman, a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune who reported from Europe in the years leading up to World War II and ended up being the first journalist to interview Charles Lindbergh after his historic transatlanic flight.

Paul's father, Bernard "Buck" F. Shinkman III, served four tours in Vietnam before becoming a Foreign Service Officer specializing in public affairs.

"[The Press Club] has always been a big part of my life," Shinkman told the Wire, explaining that while growing up he and his relatives would often mark special occasions at the Club or, in later years, pop into the Reliable Source for beer and sandwiches.

In fact, Shinkman added, a visit to the Club with his father in the mid-1990s served as his "first dose of journalism."

"He brought me to an event where Ralph Nader was speaking," Shinkman said. "I was the youngest person in line to get into the auditorium by about 30 years."

Although Paul never had a chance to attend the Club with the two other Shinkman men, his grandfather died before the youngest Shinkman was born, he did enjoy one cross-generational moment shortly after joining.

"During my introductory orientation lunch in the Winners Room of the Fourth Estate, I was naturally nervous and looking around at the mostly senior journalists who were also admitted in my class," he said. "I was concerned about holding up the family name and all that nonsense. I looked up at the book shelf along the wall facing me, and noticed one that had been separated from the rest. It was my grandfather’s book, 'So Little Disillusion,' about his corresponding in Paris and London."

Shinkman noted that the book was not just written by his grandather, but had also been edited by his father. Seeing it instantly set him at ease and reminded him why he was there.

While Shinkman, 28, has no plans to have children any time soon, he does hope the Club will someday have a fourth member of his family on its roster.

"I'll certainly make sure they know what the Press Club is and then, of course, it'll be to them to decide if they want to be involved," he said.