2005 Distinguished Service Award

Paul Schatt

Each year the Arizona Press Club honors one journalist who exemplifies the craft with the Distinguished Service Award.

We realize we should have honored Paul Schatt years ago. Now, too late, we now pay tribute to a career filled with integrity, persistence and laughter that spanned more than four decades.

Schatt, who died Nov. 18, 2005 at age 60, taught so many journalists and readers so many things that to list them all would overflow a double truck. What we should recognize above all is his commitment to the Fourth Estate and the people it serves.

During his 43 year career, not including his time spent on a bike tossing papers to Valley homes, Schatt held many titles in his career, from reporter, columnist and editor, to teacher, mentor and friend. He also taught journalism at Arizona State University for many years. Schatt began his newsroom life as a gung-ho copy boy, working his way to a two-day-a-week reporting gig. In 1964, as a college sophomore who still spent several days a week filling glue pots and clipping wire copy, Schatt scooped the national press by landing an interview with Sen. Barry Goldwater, who had won the Republican presidential nomination. His tenacity scored him an A-1, above- the-fold headline that screamed “Exclusive!”

He didn’t stop there.

Bob Early, former managing editor of The Arizona Republic, gave Schatt many of his assignments. He said he shuffled the newsman between beats until Schatt was the most knowledgeable and experienced reporter on staff. “He had a very good analytical mind,” Early said. “I used him a lot in situations where analysis was a key factor, such as voting trends on election night or public attitudes on various issues.”

Later, Schatt launched the opinions pages of many of The Republic's community editions. His final assignment was as editorial page editor for the Southeast Valley community editions.

He served as vice president of The Arizona Press Club, president of the Society of Professional Journalists Valley oft eh Sun chapter and as national trustee of the First Amendment Congress.

Here is how Carla, the executive director of the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, remembers Schatt.

 “Paul truly enjoyed thoughts and ideas and the people they came from. He might not have agreed  with a word you wrote or said, but he gave you the opportunity to write it and would honestly debate you on its content. And never -- no matter if you were a powerful CEO or a hard-headed, unsophisticated cactus-hugger trying to make a positive difference in the unfamiliar world of politics -- would he make you feel like your opinion, or your person, didn't matter. Instead, Paul welcomed and encouraged new faces and thoughts. While a few might not agree, most of us know that our state is a better place because of that -- and because of Paul.”

For his impact on the stories and people that shaped Arizona, and his commitment to furthering the cause of freedom of information and upholding the First Amendment, the Arizona Press Club is proud to give this year’s Distinguished Service Award to Paul Schatt.

― Rebecca I. Allen