Mary Catherine Jordan (born November 10, 1960) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist for the Washington Post who has worked at the newspaper since 1984.[1] She is currently the editor of Washington Post Live, which organizes political debates, conferences and news events for the media company.[2] With her husband, Post journalist Kevin Sullivan, Jordan worked as the newspaper's co-bureau chief in Tokyo from 1995 to 1999, Mexico City from 2000 to 2005, and London from 2005 to 2009.[3] Jordan has also been a frequent commentator on BBC Television.[4]
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Jordan, a daughter of Irish immigrants, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from Georgetown University in 1983 and earned a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in 1984.[5] Jordan began her Post career as an intern for the Style section, eventually becoming the national education reporter.[6]
She also studied Irish poetry for a year at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, Spanish for a year at Stanford University,[3] and Japanese at Georgetown.[6] Jordan was awarded a Nieman Fellowship by Harvard University in 1989-1990.[7] During her 14 years as a foreign correspondent, Jordan wrote from nearly 40 countries around the world.
With Jordan moderating, Washington Post Live has hosted such events as a 2010 Maryland gubernatorial debate between Governor Martin O'Malley and former Governor Robert Ehrlich, a panel discussion on the "Business of Sports" with professional sports team owners in the Washington, D.C. area, and a day-long conference on government energy policy, electric cars and the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.[8]
Jordan and Sullivan won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for their Post series on the "horrific conditions in Mexico's criminal justice system and how they affect the daily lives of people," as the Pulitzer Board described.[9] Along with four Post photographers, Jordan and Sullivan were also finalists for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for their series of stories on the difficulties women face around the world. The Pulitzer jury called the series a "sensitive examination of how females in the developing world are often oppressed from birth to death, a reporting project marked by indelible portraits of women and girls and enhanced by multimedia presentations."[10]
Jordan and Sullivan authored The Prison Angel: Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail (The Penguin Press, 2005).[11] In 2006, the book won the Christopher Award, which "salutes media that affirm the highest values of the human spirit.”[12]
Jordan and Sullivan have also won numerous other awards including the George Polk Award for their coverage of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and awards from the Overseas Press Club of America and the Society of Professional Journalists.[13][14][15]