John Harris Named News Director Of The Year

John Harris Named News Director Of The Year

John Harris, who guided WRAL-TV's award-winning and top-rated news department for 5 1/2 years, has been named News Director of the Year by the Radio Television News Directors Association of the Carolinas.

WRAL-TV News Director John Harris

Harris, who now serves as the station's director of special projects, was presented the News Director of the Year award Saturday April 8 in Charlotte at RTNDAC's annual convention and awards ceremony. It is the top honor bestowed each year by the association.

To win the award, news directors must be nominated by a broadcast journalist is North or South Carolina. The winner is selected by the Board of Directors of RTNDAC, a regional association of broadcast professionals in North

and South Carolina that sponsors professional development meetings and seminars, and awards an annual scholarship to college students pursuing careers in broadcast journalism.

Under Harris' leadership, many of WRAL's newscasts were the highest rated local news programs in the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville area. In 1999, Harris supervised coverage of several major events, including the Special Olympics World Summer Games, the moving of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and Hurricane Floyd.