Lynn Sweet

Lynn Sweet is an American journalist, who became the Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times in October 2013. She has been with the Sun-Times for over four decades, joining in 1976. Sweet is also a columnist for The Hill and The Huffington Post. She has appeared on CNN and MSNBC as a political analyst and has been a frequent guest on C-SPAN and Charlie Rose.

In 2009, Sweet was among the winners of the "50 Top Journalists" of the year, chosen by Washingtonian. In naming Sweet, she was described as, "a one-woman multimedia newsroom who often seems to out-produce whole teams of correspondents."

During her career, Sweet built a reputation as being committed to accountability in journalism; her philosophy is described in remarks made at 5th annual Washington Women in Journalism Awards, in 2018:

Education and background Sweet, a Chicago native, attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, majoring in English. However, she transferred in her senior year to the University of California at Berkeley, where she changed her major to Political Science; Sweet graduated in 1973. After graduation, she worked doing odd jobs, and at a department store in Oakland, California, before enrolling at the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism.

In 1975, Sweet graduated with her master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism. She was inducted into the Medill Hall of Achievement in 2006. Sweet was a Spring 2004 Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. She was also gaining a reputation from her colleagues, for her tenacity and tough stance in political reporting.

Sweet was working in Washington when she wrote a series of stories exposing the Democratic National Committee offering big money donors access to the Clinton White House and the Clinton administration's practice of allowing donors to fly on Air Force One.

Christopher Beam, of Slate magazine, said of Sweet, "the first time I saw her, she was berating a Hillary advance person at a sheet metal factory in Las Vegas for refusing to hold a press availability. It was marvelous. The other journalists shrank while Sweet chewed out the staffer. It was like good reporter/bad reporter."

Sweet witnessed the Highland Park parade shooting and recorded footage of it.

Coverage of Barack Obama In 1999, when Barack Obama was running for the seat in the House of Representatives, he paid a visit to Sweet and gave her a copy of his book, Dreams from My Father, which she says she put on a bookshelf and never opened until June 2004, as his popularity rose and he had given his speech at the Democratic National Convention. In a 2008 interview, Sweet said, "Obama came in and had a very lucky break to come in 90-something, make some of the right connections, and have an opening."

in 2008, Jim Romenesko wrote about Sweet, in an article titled: Sun-Times’ Sweet is an “important voice,” thanks to Obama:

Arianna Huffington, of the Huffington Post, described how "Sweet once took a room at the Beverly Hilton hotel, where Obama was holding a big presidential fundraiser. She booked the room so she could see who was going in and out." She continued her tough reporting throughout his time in office and frequently speaks about her experience covering his administration.

Awards and recognition

2006 Medill Hall of Achievement, Northwestern University School of Journalism 2009 Winner of the Washingtonian Magazine's 50 Top Journalists of the year 2014 Nominee for the Peter Lisagor Award, for best news column or commentary "selection of three columns by Lynn Sweet" 2018 Winner of the Women in Journalism Award for outstanding journalist in print 2019 Power 25 List of the most powerful women in journalism