Patti Paniccia

Patti Paniccia (born 19 Sept 1952) is an American journalist, law professor, former TV news correspondent, and former professional surfer.
== Early Life and Education ==
Paniccia was born in Glendale, California to Italian immigrant parents, Valentino Paniccia and Mary Napoleoni Paniccia. She grew up in Northeast Los Angeles and Huntington Beach, California, as well as in Waialua, Hawai‘i.
She graduated from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa|University of Hawai'i in 1977 with a BA in Communication. In 1981 she graduated from Pepperdine University School of Law|Pepperdine Law School in Malibu, California. While in law school she spent a semester at the University of Hawai‘i William S. Richardson School of Law|Richardson School of Law and externed as a law clerk for U.S. Federal Judge Samuel Pailthorpe King|Samuel P. King in Honolulu.
== Surfing ==
As a competitor, Paniccia was one of six women who competed on the first world pro surfing tour in 1976, and was consistently ranked as one of the top professional surfers in the world. She also qualified for the first Women’s World Cup, held that year at Haleiwa, Hawaii. In 1975, she was one of five women invited to compete against male surfers in the Smirnoff World Pro-Am Contest in big surf at Sunset Beach on the North Shore of Oahu.
Paniccia is also recognized as a founder of pro surfing, and credited with helping to organize and launch the first women’s pro surfing tour, when she joined Fred Hemmings, Executive Director of International Professional Surfers (IPS) and Randy Rarick, IPS Director of the Men’s Division, in 1976 as IPS Director of the Women’s Division. IPS was the precursor to the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) and then, today’s World Surf League (WSL). 
She was also a co-founder of the Hawai'i Women’s Surfing Hui, a group of women surfers formed in 1974 who sought recognition for female athletes and equality in surfing competitions. As the Hui’s Pro Competition Director, she began working with contest promoter Fred Hemmings to create a fair rating/invitation system for women and ran the first pro qualifying contest for women surfers in 1976.Jim Kempton, Women on Waves: A Cultural History of Surfing: From Ancient Goddesses and Hawaiian Queens to Malibu Movie Stars and Millennial Champions (New York: Pegasus Books, 35, 120-9, 143, 158)
She worked with other notable women surfers in the Hui to create the North Shore Haleiwa Menehune Surf Contest in 1977 for children ages 3-12, which still runs today and has launched the careers of many top pro surfers.Sally Prange, Jeannie Chesser, Claudia Kravitz, Rell Sunn, and Dale Dahlin
Paniccia continues to be an outspoken advocate for gender equality in surfing. She has written about gender discrimination in the early days of women’s surfing, and made public appearances addressing the struggles the women faced and continue to face today.https://www.shacc.org/2018/07/18/3174_womenmakingwavesohanagalalagunabeach/ On June 30, 2018, in delivering the keynote address at the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center Annual Gala, Paniccia recounted the insults and poor treatment that women of her era had faced and publicly criticized the World Surf League and Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch for erecting a plaque at the 2018 inaugural Founder’s Cup of Surfing that recognized only men as being the founders of pro surfing. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-state-assembly-bill-ab-467-equal-pay-for-women-athletes-20190214-story.html; https://thecoastnews.com/boerner-horvath-introduces-equal-pay-for-equal-play/ 
== Journalism and Law ==
After leaving the pro surfing circuit, Patti attended law school and passed the Hawaii and California State Bar exams. She then pursued a career in journalism and in 1982 and began working as a news writer at KTLA Los Angeles while a news anchor and reporter at local public access South Bay Cable News in Manhattan Beach, California. She then held a reporter/anchor position at KEYT-TV|KEYT-ABC Santa Barbara and KCOP-TV in Los Angeles. She also produced and anchored a legal rights consumer segment. In 1987 she became a network news correspondent for CNN’s Los Angeles Bureau.
== Pregnancy Discrimination and Lawsuit ==
Paniccia is credited with changing the culture in broadcast news so as to allow women on the air to become pregnant without losing their jobs. After she became pregnant with her first child in 1989, CNN Executive Vice-President Ed Turner criticized her choice to have children and questioned her ability to continue working. Upon the birth of her second child in 1992, she was fired on the assumption that she would be incapable of maintaining a regular work schedule while caring for two children. She garnered national attention when she sued CNN for pregnancy discrimination. CNN settled the case two years later. The terms Paniccia demanded were not disclosed, but shortly after the settlement, many women at the network were given raises and promotions, and CNN implemented its first pregnancy policy. “Read This Before You Go on Maternity Leave; CNN Correspondent Patti Paniccia Lost Her Job Shortly After the Birth of Her Second Child,” by Nancy Hass. REDBOOK, July 1996, at 51. "Media Report to Women," Reveal Digital 28, no. 1 (2000), 8.
== Law Professor ==
In 1987, Paniccia began teaching First Amendment law as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine Law School. After her CNN lawsuit, she instituted two additional classes, Gender and Law and Employment Discrimination Law. She is often interviewed for issues of gender discrimination. 
In 1997, she created Pepperdine’s Patti Paniccia Law Scholarship with funds from the CNN settlement The scholarship financially assists students parenting minor children. She was also an advocate for same sex marriage, and in 2009-2010, signed on to amicus briefs in state and federal court in support of same sex marriage. http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2010/10/27/amicus31.pdf https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/s168047-amcur-prof-famlaw.pdf http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/12-144-bsac-California-Professors-of-Family-Law.pdf
== Legal Work ==
Paniccia has worked as an arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau and the Center for Dispute Resolution, and has been a hearing officer for the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission. She has also worked as a communications/media consultant to lawyers, law firms, Fortune 500 companies, and the U.S. Government. 
== Author and Print Journalist ==
In 2000, Paniccia published Work Smarts for Women: The Essential Sex Discrimination Survival Guide (Ballantine Books). The book focuses on helping women in the workplace avoid and respond to gender discrimination.
 
As a freelance print journalist, Paniccia has written several long form features for publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Honolulu Magazine, LA Parent Magazine, and The Surfer’s Journal.
== Real Estate ==
Paniccia is a California state licensed real estate broker.
== Awards and Recognition ==
In 1988 Paniccia received an Emmy nomination from the Los Angeles Area Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for an investigative series on the Los Angeles justice system's failure to adequately deal with infant abuse. She also received the National Clarion Award from The Association for Women in Communications for News Documentary Series. 
In 2000 and again in 2018, she was awarded Pepperdine Law School’s David McKibben Excellence in Teaching Award.
In 2004, Paniccia was featured by the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum as part of its exhibit, "Legendary Surfer Women." In 2005, she was honored for her contributions to women’s pro surfing by Roxy Sportswear. In 2006, she was honored by the Hawai’i State Senate for her contributions to the sport of surfing. In 2015, she was featured in an exhibit called “Trailblazers in Women’s Surfing” at the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente, California.
== Community Service ==
Paniccia has served on many nonprofit boards, including for Los Angeles Children's Chorus (2004-2008; chair 2006-2008); Pepperdine Law School Board of Visitors (1996-2003); the Encyclopedia of Surfing and the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center (2015- ; Co-Chair (2019 – ). http://shacc.org/about/#team She is currently General Counsel for the nonprofit Radio Television News Association of Southern California (2011-). http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/02/local/la-me-ln-kelly-thomas-trial-cameras-20131202
She also served on press-related lawyer committees and nonprofits, including the American Bar Association Standing Conference of Lawyers and Representatives of the Media (1988-1991); Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Law and Media Committee (1988); California State Bar Committee on Public Affairs (1985-1987); California State Bar Fair Trial Free Press Committee (1984-1985). In 1985, she founded the Santa Barbara County Bench/Bar/Media Committee to serve as a communication vehicle among judges, lawyers, and journalists.
== Personal Life ==
Paniccia is married to CBS News photographer Jeff Mailes. They have two daughters.
== Selected Books and Articles ==
Paniccia, Patti (2000), Work Smarts for Women: The Essential Sex Discrimination Survival Guide. New York: Ballantine ISBN 0345422619
Paniccia, Patti (2002-1-27). “My Cold, Dark Place,” Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-31 https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jan-27-tm-24996-story.html
Paniccia, Patti (2003-11-16) “In the Name of the Duke,” Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-16-tm-duke46-story.html Retrieved 2020-12-31. Reprinted 2006-11-1 as “Who Owns the Duke?” Honolulu Magazine. https://www.honolulumagazine.com/who-owns-the-duke/
Paniccia, Patti (2003 Volume 12 Spring) “Progressions: 70’s Pro Genesis” The Surfers Journal. https://www.surfersjournal.com/product/progressions/ Retrieved 2021-1-6
Paniccia, Patti (2004-7-25) “The Devil’s Advocate,” Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jul-25-tm-currie30-story.html Retrieved 2020-1-31. 
 
Category:1952 births
Category:American journalists
Category:American legal scholars