Lynn Sherr (born March 4, 1942) is an American broadcast journalist and author, best known as a correspondent for the ABC news magazine '' 20/20''.

Life

Sherr was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore. She received a B.A. from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

. She was a freelance host at WNET-TV in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, then staff. She worked for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

and

WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS New York, is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–lic ...

. In 1977, she was the guest host of the MacNeil–Lehrer Report while Robert MacNeil was absent, and has hosted a number of PBS specials. In 1983–85 she was a reporter/editor for

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...

. In 2008, she left the television network ABC after working with them for 31 years. She is the author of ''Outside the Box: A Memoir'', published in September 2006, which chronicles her life on and off TV, including her husband's death from cancer as well as her own battle with colon cancer. She received a 1994

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in ...

along with producer Alan B. Goldberg for the "Hunger Inside" a 20/20 documentary about extreme anorexia.

Feminism

Sherr is a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. With Jurate Kazickas, Sherr published the ''Liberated Women's Appointment Calendar and Survival Handbook'' annually for ten years, beginning in 1971. Also with Kazickas, Sherr published the ''American Woman's Gazetteer'' in 1976, listing places in the US where women had featured in historic events; an updated version, titled ''Susan B. Anthony Slept Here'', was published in 1994. Sherr has twice (in 1989 and 1992) been the recipient of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's (PPFA) Margaret Sanger Award (known as the "Maggie"), which is awarded to journalists for "exceptional coverage of reproductive rights and health care issues" in the view of PPFA. She also hosted PPFA's Maggie Awards luncheon in 2010. Sherr has rejected calls for a "new feminism" and remarked, "What's wrong with the old feminism?" She strongly criticized Sarah Palin for calling herself a feminist: "What, exactly, has she done legislatively for other women? What paths has she forged?" Sherr was featured in the

Jewish Women's Archive The Jewish Women's Archive (JWA) is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to document "Jewish women's stories, elevate their voices, and inspire them to be agents of change." JWA was founded by Gail Twersky Reimer in 1995 in Brook ...

web feature ''Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution''.

Published works

References

External links

ABC News 20/20 profile
*
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation
where Lynn Sherr is a Founding Patron. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherr, Lynn 1942 births American biographers 20th-century American Jews American feminists Jewish American feminists American television reporters and correspondents Living people Peabody Award winners Writers from Philadelphia Wellesley College alumni Journalists from Pennsylvania Lower Merion High School alumni 21st-century American Jews