Since being named West Coast Correspondent for Dateline NBC in March of 1994, John Larson has been honored with many of the nation's most prestigious journalism awards.
In 2001, his investigation of the insurance industry for Dateline NBC, "The Paper Chase", became one of the most honored broadcasts in journalism history, winning the prestigious Alfred I. du Pont-Columbia Silver Baton, the George Foster Peabody, the George Polk, the IRE for Investigative Reporting, the Loeb Award for Business Reporting, the Edward R. Murrow Award and others.
Larson also received national recognition--a National Emmy for Investigative Reporting and the IRE Gold Medal for his one-hour Dateline documentary "Probable Cause", an investigation of Louisiana Police in 1997. He was awarded yet another National Emmy in 1996 for his coverage of the Houston Floods.
Some of his other accolades include 19 Regional Emmys for Reporting, three National Edward R. Murrow Awards, and three National Headliner Awards.
His Dateline career has taken John to the corners of the world to investigate the tragic sinking of a passenger ferry in Indonesia, and to tell the story of a 5-year-old Buddhist Monk in Nepal. From Brazil, John told the story of a city government that appears to do almost everything right. In Mexico City, he examined corrupt police. In Central Africa, he revisited a bloody terrorist attack in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
In the United States Larson has covered everything from snake handlers in Appalachia and an almost unknown 50-year-old diet that can relieve epilepsy in children, to ecstasy dealers and ground breaking reports on the O.J. Simpson story.
Larson is also a much sought after speaker, teacher and motivator. He speaks regularly at the National Writer's Workshops, the Poynter Institute, and the National Press Photographers' TV News Video Workshop. He has been a frequent guest lecturer for the Society of Professional Journalists, The Radio and Television News Directors Association, and local affiliates. In 1998 he was invited to participate in the Committee of Concerned Journalists, sponsored by the Nieman Foundation of Harvard University.
Larson began his journalism career as a stringer for the Boston Globe in 1979. Prior to joining NBC News, he worked as a general assignment reporter for KOMO-TV in Seattle, Washington(1986-1994).
Larson graduated from Colgate University in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.