SCI Superstar: John Hockenberry

John Hockenberry is one be the most successful US journalists with a spinal cord injury. Injured when he was 19 while hitchhiking (the driver fell asleep), John became a paraplegic as a result. Even though he was studying math at the time, that wasn’t in the cards. After volunteering for an NPR affiliate after college, he was hooked and moved to Washington DC where a career in journalism awaited him. Read on for his story.

Why He’s Fearless

After being a newscaster for NPR for 8 years in DC, covering world news, including being a correspondent in the Middle East for Persian Gulf War, he got his big break – his own 2 hour nightly news show Heat with John Hockenberry (the show received a Peabody award in 1991). The show was canceled in 1991, and he moved on to working for ABC and NBC.

John first got a job for ABC news for the show, Day One, where he covered the civil war in Somalia. He also worked as a correspondent in conflict zones such as Iraq, Lebanon, Romania, the Balkans, Russia, India and Afghanistan. And then he moved on to NBC in 1996, where he became a correspondent for Dateline NBC.  This is where you may have seen his face before. He hosted Edgewise and his own show, Hockenberry, which aired for 6 months.

While working for NBC, he wrote his memoirs, Moving violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence (this book has helped a lot of people in the first months of their injuries). He also wrote the fiction title, River Out of Eden. Not to be outdone, he’s a celebrated speaker and presenter on the topics of media, design and cutting-edge technology. One of his most noteworthy speeches is, “We Are All Designers” (for TED Talks).

And John has helped the disabled population. He spoke at the United Nations and the White House on the importance of improving the social justice and rights of the disabled. He also went on to become the father of five children post-injury.

What’s Next?

After working at NBC, John was hired at NPR in New York to host the live morning radio news show which he developed, The Takeaway, that was a hit. He and his co-host, Celeste, interviewed celebrities and newsmakers. He worked here until 2017, when the show was cancelled after a nearly 10 year run. He has since focused on writing and family. 

— Follow John on IG