Scott Pelley is the 2016 honoree of the prestigious award named for one of his predecessors.
Arizona State University just announced that Pelley will be the recipient of the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Pelley, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News and a correspondent for 60 Minutes, will receive the 33rd Cronkite Award at a ceremony Nov. 21. The award is presented annually by ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“CBS News, for many, is synonymous with Walter Cronkite. ASU and this award continue the best values of the Cronkite legacy,” said CBS News president David Rhodes. “We are so pleased that the journalism school recognizes the continuation of this important legacy through the impressive work Scott Pelley is doing for our audiences every day.”
Pelley joined CBS News in 1989. He covered the first Gulf War for CBS and, as a Dallas correspondent, reported on the Oklahoma City bombing and trial of Timothy McVeigh. He also was among the first journalists to report from the World Trade Center site during the Sept. 11 attacks. In 2004, Pelley became a correspondent for 60 Minutes. His work has been honored with 29 Emmys, five Murrow Awards, three Peabody Awards, and two duPont Awards, among other honors.
When he took over the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News in 2011, Pelley had never anchored a newscast before.
Previous Cronkite Award winners include Charlie Rose, Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts, Tom Brokaw, Christiane Amanpour, and Brian Williams. One of Cronkite’s other successors on the Evening News, Bob Schieffer has also been honored by the Cronkite School.
It was 35 years ago this month, March 1981, that Cronkite stepped down from the CBS Evening News, making way for Dan Rather who anchored the broadcast until March 2005.