John Larson was named West Coast Correspondent for Dateline NBC in March of 1994. Since joining Dateline NBC, Larson has been honored with many of the nation's most prestigious journalism awards.
In 2001, "THE Paper Chase," Larson's investigation of the insurance industry, became one of the most honored broadcasts in broadcast journalism history. The piece won 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 several others.
Larson has received national recognition winning the IRE Gold Medal and a National Emmy for Investigative Reporting for his one-hour Dateline documentary "Probable Cause," an investigation of Louisiana police in 1997. He was awarded another National Emmy in 1996 for his coverage of the Houston floods. Some of his many other accolades include 19 Regional Emmys for Reporting, three National Edward R. Murrow Awards, and three National Headliner Awards.
Larson's Dateline career has taken him to the corners of the world to investigate the sinking of a passenger ferry in Indonesia and to tell the story of a 5-year-old Buddhist Monk in Nepal. He reported on a city government in Brazil, and he examined corrupt police in Mexico City. He revisited a bloody terrorist attack in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Central Africa. In the United States, Larson has covered everything from snake handlers in Appalachia to ecstasy dealers to the O.J. Simpson case to an almost unknown 50-year-old diet that can relieve epilepsy in children.
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' National 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, Seattle, Washington from 1986 to 1994. Larson graduated from Colgate University in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.