Norman Hollis Robinson (born 1951 in Toomsuba, Lauderdale County, Mississippi) is a former journalist in New Orleans, where he served as reporter for

WVUE-TV WVUE-DT (channel 8) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains primary studios on Norman C. Francis Parkway in the city's Gert Town secti ...

from 1976 to 1978 and

WWL-TV WWL-TV (channel 4) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Slidell-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WUPL (channel 54). Both stations share studios on Rampart St ...

from February 1979 through July 1989, and later news anchor for

WDSU-TV WDSU (channel 6) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Howard Avenue in the city's Central Business District, and its transmitt ...

Channel 6 (

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

), where he worked in the news department from July 1990 until his retirement in May 2014.

Career

After service as a musician in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, he began his career in broadcast journalism on radio in Southern California and then worked successively in television in Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans prior to being awarded a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University. After completing the Nieman Fellowship he joined CBS Network News in New York, and the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(where he served on the

White House Press Corps The White House press corps is the group of journalists, correspondents, and members of the media usually assigned to the White House in Washington, D.C., to cover the president of the United States, White House events, and news briefings. Its o ...

for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

) before moving back to New Orleans.Norman Robison bio on WDSU-TV's web site
(accessed 2009 March 21). Robinson is known for his tough straight forward interviewing skills. It was on the news program which Robinson anchors that New Orleans

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

woman

Stacy Head Stacy Aline Singleton Head (born June 30, 1969) is an American lawyer and former president of the New Orleans City Council. Early life and career Stacy Head was born in 1969 as the daughter of the former Katherine Hamberlin and Ernest Lynn Single ...

was interviewed as she started posting her e-mails online during the height of the 2009 New Orleans e-mail controversy.

1991 Louisiana gubernatorial debate

Robinson received significant national and international attention in 1991 when he questioned Louisiana gubernatorial candidate

David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a membe ...

, a Republican State Representative and former

Grand Wizard The Grand Wizard (later the Grand and Imperial Wizard simplified as the Imperial Wizard and eventually, the National Director) referred to the national leader of several different Ku Klux Klan organizations in the United States and abroad. The t ...

of the

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Catho ...

, during the state'
runoff debate
Robinson, who is African-American, told Duke that he was "scared" at the prospect of Duke winning the election because of his history of "diabolical, evil, vile" racist and anti-Semitic comments, some of which he read to Duke. He then pressed Duke for an apology and when Duke protested that Robinson was not being fair to him, Robinson replied that he didn't think Duke was being honest.

Jason Berry Jason Berry (born 1949) is an American investigative reporter, author and film director based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is known for pioneering investigative reporting on sexual abuse in the priesthood of the Catholic Church. Life He att ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called it "startling TV" and the "catalyst" for the "overwhelming" turnout of black voters that helped former Governor Edwin Edwards defeat Duke.

Post Katrina

In June 2008 Robinson was furloughed by WDSU after being arrested for

driving while intoxicated Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

but returned to work a month later. Robinson promised that he would never again drive while under the influence of alcohol. In an April 2009 testimony concerning the role of the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

in the

Mississippi River Gulf Outlet Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Missis ...

, Robinson said that post- Katrina trauma, including loss of his home: ::I ended up going to a psychologist because I wanted to commit suicide, and I ended up in a drunken stupor most of the time.Robinson quoted in Susan Finch
Newsman describes his own trauma: Robinson testifies in MR-GO, Corps lawsuit
''Times-Picayune'', 2009 April 23, pp. A1, A3 (quotation appears on p. A1).

Personal life

He is a member of

Golden Key International Honour Society The Golden Key International Honour Society (formerly Golden Key National Honor Society) is an Atlanta, Georgia-based non-profit organization founded in 1977 to recognize academic achievement among college and university students. Golden Key has ...

and a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

at Central St. Matthew United Church of Christ in New Orleans.

References

External links

* ( National Aeronautics and Space Administration) {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Norman (news reporter) 1951 births Living people African-American journalists Our Lady of Holy Cross College alumni People from Gaithersburg, Maryland People from Lauderdale County, Mississippi Television anchors from New Orleans United States Marines African-American television personalities Journalists from Alabama Journalists from Mississippi Nieman Fellows Military personnel from Mobile, Alabama Military personnel from Mississippi 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people