Walton - James, Vickie
Vickie Walton-James is Managing Editor/News for NPR. Vickie is responsible for overseeing the daily news gathering of all NPR desks, shows and platforms, such as npr.org.
Before taking on this role last year, Vickie was Chief National Editor for NPR News for eight years. She supervised a desk of about 50 reporters, editors and producers based in Washington, D.C., and in 19 bureaus around the country.
National Desk correspondents cover domestic breaking news and beats that include immigration, criminal justice and national security. Before assuming this post in 2014, Walton-James was the network's Deputy National Editor and held other senior management positions.
Vickie is a native of Kansas City, Kansas. She is a graduate of Wyandotte High School and the University of Kansas. She continues to cheer for the Jayhawks, particularly the basketball team–winner of multiple NCAA championships. Vickie started out as a news clerk at The Kansas City Star, but won quick promotions – to reporter, editor, and columnist. Her beats included courts, police, prisons, social services, and residential real estate.
After leaving The Star in 1989, Vickie joined the staff of the Chicago Tribune, where she edited coverage on the paper’s National and International desks.
In 1995, she became the Tribune’s Deputy Bureau Chief in Washington, D.C. The big stories of the day included the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and the rise of Newt Gingrich’s Republican revolution Congress.
In September 2001, Vickie was part of a team of editors leading coverage of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and later directed coverage of the fallout from the attacks, including investigations and changes in homeland security. She was named Chicago Tribune Washington Bureau Chief that same month, becoming the paper’s first woman and African-American to hold that position.
Vickie directed coverage of Washington institutions and issues, including justice, diplomacy, defense and the presidency.
Her last position with the Tribune Co. was as a manager for Tribune Publishing in Washington, where she coordinated the convergence of print, digital and television coverage between the companies’ newspapers and broadcasting arm.
Vickie serves on the Steering Committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and is on the executive committee of the Gridiron Club, among the oldest journalistic organizations in Washington, D.C. She’s a mentor for Report for America and is a trustee of the William Allen White Foundation at KU.
For the past 28 years, Vickie has been married to Frank James, whom she met while they both worked at the Chicago Tribune. They have an adult daughter, Rachel, and son, Jordan, who live in New York City but still cheer for KU teams.