R.I.P.: Trudy Haines, Philly Journalism Pioneer

Trudy Haynes, 95, a broadcast journalism pioneer whose trailblazing work as Philadelphia’s first Black television reporter transformed the news industry, died Tuesday, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Haynes — born Gertrude Daniels but known affectionately as “Miss Trudy” to many — began her more than three-decade TV news career in 1963 as the nation’s first Black weather reporter in Detroit, where she sought out a harder news reporting job, raising her hand for interview assignments.

She was quickly recruited to Philadelphia’s KYW-TV — the station that later became CBS3 Eyewitness News — in 1965, becoming the first Black television reporter in the city. In the face of sexism and discrimination, Haynes became a trusted reporter, host, and local personality, and told the day-to-day stories of Black Philadelphians — a community then covered “very little” outside of tragedy by an all-white newsroom — she told The Inquirer’s Layla A. Jones earlier this year.

“When I went out on the story, I did what I thought the story should be about. And I made a point when they were edited to include whatever our brown story was,” Ms. Haynes said in an Inquirer interview. “We needed to tell our own stories about our own people.”

Revered as a determined journalist with a sharp wit and warm personality, Ms. Haynes interviewed the likes of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., President Lyndon Johnson, Bette Midler, Muhammad Ali, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Tupac Shakur during her career.

At Eyewitness News, she won an Emmy in 1995, two lifetime achievement awards, as well as honors from the NAACP and United Way and a plethora of other recognitions. She was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia’s Hall of Fame in 1999. She also hosted “Trudy’s Grapevine,” a celebrity gossip segment.

Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists is saddened by the recent news that Broadcast legend Trudy Haynes has passed this morning at 95 years old.

We're not mourning, but will continue celebrating her trailblazing life and legacy. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/yl8zHSaKQt

— Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists (@pabj) June 7, 2022

Sarah Glover, former president of the National Association of Black Journalists who previously worked as a photographer for The Inquirer and Daily News, called Ms. Haynes an “icon for Black and brown female journalists.”

“She broke barriers with a smile,” Glover said. “She was a classy and consummate role model and she encouraged journalists like me to shed a light.”

Haynes retired from KYW in 1999 but remained busy and dedicated to promoting the careers of young journalists. Until the coronavirus pandemic, she hosted a weekly public access talk show on PhillyCAM, The Trudy Haynes Show. In 2020, Ms. Haynes partnered with PhillyCAM to develop the Trudy Haynes Reporting Fellowship, which provides resources and coaching for radio and television reporting. Earlier this year, Haynes worked with CBS3 and the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists to create a scholarship in her name for college students pursuing careers in journalism or communications.