Chuck Stokes, Editorial Director, WXYZ-TV
Neal Shine Award for Media Commitment
Nominated by Non-Profit Personnel Network
Chuck Stokes awardee video
Chuck Stokes is the editorial/public affairs director for WXYZ-TV/Channel 7 in Detroit, Michigan. Additionally, he serves as moderator and producer of Spotlight on the News, Michigan’s longest-running weekly news and public affairs show, created in 1965. His interviews have included a host of prominent politicians, entertainers, religious and business leaders.
He later traveled to South Africa to produce a prime-time documentary and a 10-part news series examining Africa’s apartheid system. Stokes has served as the co-executive producer of two 60-minute national Town Meetings featuring then Democratic candidate and former President Bill Clinton.
Before he became Channel 7’s editorial/public affairs director, Stokes worked as the station's executive producer of special projects in news. Under his direction, the department earned numerous awards and citations.
He has accumulated a long list of personal awards and achievements including 12 Emmys for editorial reporting and two Emmys for documentary reporting. In 2001, Stokes received the "The Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Detroit Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He is a past president of both the National Conference of Editorial Writers and its Foundation. In 2011, Stokes was inducted into the Michigan Association of Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame and in 2012 he received the “Life Membership Award” from the Association of Opinion Journalists (formerly called the National Conference of Editorial Writers). He is also a member of and an interview/discussion program award winner by the National Association of Black Journalists, past president of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation and the Historical Society of Michigan where he is still a member of the board. In addition, he sits on the board of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Stokes has also frequently supported and worked with local non-profit organizations during his career in Detroit including:
- Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
- Historical Society of Michigan
- Center for Journalism Ethics – University of Wisconsin-Madison Journalism School
- Midnight Golf Program
- Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation
- National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)
- Detroit Chapter-NABJ
- Winning Futures Mentorship Program
- Kappa Alpha Psi Detroit Foundation
- (The former) National Conference of Editorial Writers/Association of Opinion Journalists
- Reading Works
- National Museum of African American History
- Motown Museum
- William-Franklin Foundation (College Scholarships for African Americans)
- (The former) Detroit Public Schools Student Motivational Program
Stokes frequently appears as a panelist on Off the Record with Tim Skubick, a statewide PBS political affairs program produced by WKAR-TV in East Lansing at Michigan State University. He is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta and holds a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Stokes is married and has two daughters, a son-in-law, and one grandson.