Marty Levin

Updated 11:14 AM PST, Tue, Aug 4, 2009

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On the wall above his desk, Marty Levin has a framed display of countless press credentials collected over the years. They were assembled as a gift and represent his experience of over 30 years and his participation in everything from national political conventions to Presidential Inaugurations.

The collection includes police credentials from five cities, passes for interviews with five different presidents and notices of access to venues ranging from the U.S. Senate to the Super Bowl. It is colorful and impressive, but if you ask Levin to pick his favorite, he will point to a typed, faded and lackluster "Honorary Lifetime Press Pass." It was issued in 1964 from his high school journalism class in Venice, California.

That high school class was the first step down a career path that included radio stints through college in Oregon and New York and eventually led to the field of broadcast news in Eugene, Ore.; San Jose, Calif.; Seattle, Wash.; Washington, D.C. and San Diego.

Since 1987, Levin has anchored the news team at NBC 7/39. In each market, his work has been recognized with local and national honors, including more than a dozen Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and three Golden Mikes from the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California.

There have been a lot of changes in news gathering since his days as part of the Venice High Press Corps, almost four decades ago. Not all of them, Levin concedes, have been for the better. There are more ways to get the news and more reasons to challenge that information.

But through it all, Levin continues to enjoy a well-earned reputation as a rare journalist; dedicated to the craft of reporting news in a fair, accurate and balanced way. All these years later, that "Honorary Lifetime Press Pass" still has a special meaning.

Drop Marty a line: marty.levin@nbcuni.com.