John McLaughlin Higgins (17 April 1961 – 21 November 2006) was an American reporter and editor specializing in the cable television industry. His writings were often cited by academics, government officials, and other journalists, and a journalism award was named in his honor.

Early life and education

Born in Rochester, New York, Higgins graduated in 1979 from Columbus High School in Miami, Florida. At the University of Notre Dame he became deeply involved with the student newspaper, '' The Observer.'' Higgins graduated from Marquette University in 1984 with a degree in marketing.

Career

As a reporter for the '' Milwaukee Sentinel'', starting in 1983, Higgins most often worked the police desk. He turned to business writing in 1986 on the ''Miami Review''. Beginning in 1989 he joined ''

Multichannel News ''Multichannel News'' is a magazine and website published by Future US that covers multichannel television and communications providers, such as cable operators, satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television ...

'' where, as financial editor, he covered the cable television industry and related media. In 1996, he became business editor of ''

Broadcasting and Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') is a weekly telecommunications industry Trade journal, trade magazine published by Future US. Previous names included ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', a ...

''. Higgins covered the cable TV industry in the U.S. from 1989 to 2006. These years saw cable TV revenues more than quadruple, direct-broadcast satellite services beginning to compete with cable, a frequently-changing regulatory landscape, a boom affecting the entire telecommunications industry, and the collapse of the boom. Richard Parsons,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Time Warner, assessed Higgins as "an outstanding journalist and one of the smartest and best-informed reporters on our beat." A former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Richard Wiley, said after Higgins's death: "I thought he was a terrific journalist… He got right to the point. He was a keen analyst, and I will really miss reading his material." Higgins's writings have frequently been cited in books, and government reports.

Awards and tributes

''Broadcasting & Cable'' published tributes to Higgins after his death. ''CableFAX'' reported on a memorial held at

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

headquarters on 12 December 2006. Higgins was posthumously inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in 2007.

John M. Higgins Award for Best In-Depth/Enterprise Reporting

Five years after his death, in December 2011, the

S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic d ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

announced the establishment of the John M. Higgins Award for Best In-Depth/Enterprise Reporting. The award, part of the school's annual

Mirror Awards The Mirror Awards are annual journalism awards recognizing the work of writers, reporters, editors and organizations who cover the media industry. The awards were established by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2006. Awards ...

for media industry reporting, was co-sponsored by Discovery Communications and

Time-Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

. The first John M. Higgins Award for Best In-Depth/Enterprise Reporting was presented to Peter Maass on June 13, 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, John M. American male journalists Marquette University alumni University of Notre Dame alumni Writers from Miami Writers from Rochester, New York 1961 births 2006 deaths Journalists from New York (state) 20th-century American journalists Christopher Columbus High School (Miami-Dade County, Florida) alumni