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 Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

, Higgins graduated in 1979 from Columbus High School in Miami, Florida. At the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

he became deeply involved with the student newspaper, ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

.'' Higgins graduated from

Marquette University Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of M ...

in 1984 with a degree in marketing.

Career

As a reporter for the ''

Milwaukee Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currentl ...

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

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

, 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 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

, 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 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 at Syracuse University 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 Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...

and Time-Warner Cable. The first John M. Higgins Award for Best In-Depth/Enterprise Reporting was presented to

Peter Maass Peter Maass (born 1960) is an American journalist and author. Life and career Maass was born in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked for ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Wa ...

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