About Carol Ross Joynt

       
Carol Joynt was born in Denver, and as a military and academic brat was raised in Europe, Ohio, and on the East Coast. She skipped college and jumped right into national news, joining the staff of the Washington bureau of United Press International the same week in January 1969 when Richard Nixon was inaugurated President for the first time. At first she was a dictationist, taking breaking stories from Helen Thomas and Merriman Smith, before her beat became reporting on the antiwar movement. Carol also covered political stories and the Apollo space program. In 1972, she was hired by TIME Magazine and moved to New York to write about politics and assorted features. She traveled on the McGovern campaign bus, reported from the presidential conventions in Miami, and covered the premiere of "The Godfather," among other assignments. TIME offered that kind of diversity of stories.

Later the same year, Walter Cronkite asked Carol to be one of his three writers on the CBS Evening News, and she accepted without hesitation. She sat by his side for four years as Cronkite informed viewers about the death of LBJ, the Watergate scandal, the resignation of Richard Nixon, the kidnap of Patricia Hearst, and the end of the Vietnam war. Each year, Carol and her colleagues were awarded the Writer's Guild Award for best news script, and The CBS Evening News was commended on many fronts for its outstanding coverage of Watergate and Vietnam, including Emmys and Peabody Awards, among other accolades.

After a year-off to crew on a racing boat in the West Indies, and to live in France, Carol returned to Washington and network news and a succession of positions, which included producer roles at NBC News, CBS News Nightwatch, USA Today the TV Show, This Week with David Brinkley, Nightline, Larry King Live, John Hockenberry, and Hardball with Chris Matthews. For these broadcasts she focused on subjects ranging from global politics and the world's leaders to the latest successes or scandals involving the talented, the royal or the merely celebrated. At Nightwatch, Carol and Charlie Rose won the national news Emmy Award for "Best Interview" for an hour CBS News broadcast interview with Charles Manson at San Quentin Prison.

Carol also directed documentary films and oversaw several film projects for clients such as the National Gallery of Art. She directed a video retrospective of the NGA's 50th Anniversary, and a film tribute to the Kress family and their contribution to the Gallery's collections. In 1994 she directed a film for the American Academy in Rome, celebrating its 100th anniversary.

In 1997, when she was a producer for Larry King Live, her husband of twenty years, J. Howard Joynt III, died suddenly from pneumonia. Joynt inherited his landmark Georgetown restaurant, Nathans, where she created The Q&A Cafe, the only known "talk show in a saloon."

Carol created The Q&A Cafe in October 2001 as a response to the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. She felt the community craved information and she sought to help fill that void by initially doing weekly interviews with experts on subjects related to terrorism, the Middle East and south Asia. Over time, and with its growing popularity, The Q&A Cafe focused on other subjects as well - politics, medicine, science, the military, diplomacy, literature, the arts, sports, fashion, music and entertainment - and began broadcasting on youtube. Carol provides the show free of charge to local cable channels, News Channel 8, airing Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 11 p.m., and DC Cable, Fridays at 8 p.m.

In addition to booking and producing the show, Carol also writes a daily blog, "Swimming in Quicksand," and a regular column about Washington for NYsocialdiary.com. But her priorities are making a home for her teenage son, Spencer, their Bichon Frise, Leo, Ozzy, the Conure parrot; writing, community affairs, and survival. Her memoir, Innocent Spouse, about her first harrowing year as a widow, is available for reading at Nathans website.

 write to Carol Joynt:   carol@nathansgeorgetown.com