John Cochran

John Cochran is a consummate broadcast news reporter who has earned a reputation for fairness, accuracy, and objectivity.

Now chief Washington correspondent for ABC NEWS, Cochran was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama. He got his first broadcasting job as a student at The University of Alabama when Bert Bank (2000 Hall of Fame inductee) hired him to announce records and read the news at WTBC radio in Tuscaloosa.

But all was not "rock and roll" during his time at the Capstone. Memorable was his insider’s view of President Frank Rose during the Schoolhouse Door crisis precipitated by Governor George Wallace. Also memorable was the camera shot that found Cochran peeking over the shoulder of Dr. Rose in a group photograph that famously included "Bear" Bryant and President John F. Kennedy.
After military service and graduate study at The University of Iowa, Cochran worked as a television reporter and anchor at WSOC-TV in Charlotte and WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. In 1977 he joined NBC News, working first as its Pentagon correspondent and then as chief foreign correspondent from 1977 to 1987. He showed extraordinary courage in his reporting of stories such as the overthrow of the Shah in Iran and the Islamic Revolution. He pursued stories wherever they might be found, even to battlegrounds.

Cochran’s honest reporting angered officials in totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, a journalistic diligence that occasionally led to detention and incarceration. He received Emmy awards for his coverage of the Solidarity movement in Poland and the overthrow of the Romanian government. He served as NBC’s chief diplomatic correspondent and chief White House correspondent before joining ABC NEWS as chief Capitol Hill correspondent in 1994. Today he is a frequent reporter and commentator for ABC World News Tonight and other ABC NEWS programs.

John Cochran received the College of Communication’s Outstanding Alumnus Award in 1977 and its Distinguished Achievement Award in 1989. He also serves on the Board of Visitors for the College of Communication and Information Sciences. In 1999 the University awarded him an honorary doctor of humane letters, where he also received a rare standing ovation for his commencement address. Perhaps his greatest achievement is that despite the revolutionary changes in broadcast news during his twenty-four years as a network reporter, he remains one of the nation’s most trusted correspondents.

"He’s been very good for a very long time," says ABC’s Peter Jennings. "I know because I’ve been his competitor . . . and his editor."