Sara Jane Fritz, 1966
B.A., Denison University
Correspondent
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles
Citation awarded May, 1985
Sara Fritz is the congressional correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. This position places her in an elite cadre of distinguished American journalists who are involved on a daily basis with the workings of our national government.
At Denison, Sara was an English major and a junior Phi Beta Kappa. She served on the Denisonian as assistant news editor, feature editor and, as a senior, news editor. This campus experience helped win her a job as copy editor for the Pittsburgh Press upon graduation in 1966.
In 1970, she joined the staff of United Press International, and in 1971 was promoted to UPI’s Harrisburg bureau where she became bureau chief. Her next move was to the Washington D.C. office where she was the national labor reporter and UPI’s first woman weekend editor.
In 1978, Sara joined U.S. News & World Report as an associate editor covering labor issues and in 1980 she was named their chief White House correspondent. U.S. News & World Report has described her as “persistent, incisive, intuitive. Always objective, always relentless. When others ask ‘What?’ she’ll ask ‘Why?’ closely followed by ‘Now what?’.” In 1984, she joined the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times.
She has served her profession in various ways, most recently as the immediate past-president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. She has been a board member of the Reporters’ Committee for the Freedom of the Press and the National Press Foundation. She served as an officer of the Washington Press Club and is a permanent judge for the Sidney Hillman Foundation Awards.
Sara Fritz has participated as a Denison career advisor. Her career has been marked by hard work, skill and integrity, and Denison is proud to honor this noted journalist.
