It is the highest form of patriotism and professional duty to ask the toughest questions at the toughest times even in a situation where your country has suffered tremendous harm, Christiane Amanpour said after receiving the 28th annual Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism at a luncheon.
“Without a strong and rigorous, independent and fair, free class of journalists, I don’t believe that any society can be truly healthy, truly empowered,” she said to a crowd of more than a thousand media professionals, Cronkite School faculty and students.
Amanpour, anchor of ABC News’s Sunday morning program and former chief international correspondent at CNN, has covered war zones ranging from from Bosnia to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and Rwanda.
She discussed the role journalists play, saying they are still the gatekeepers of news and information, even with all the new media technologies and advancements.
“It is not easy for any journalists on any level to sit down and ask the tough, rigorous questions,” Amanpour said. “What we have to do is control our fear and manage our fear and realize we’re speaking on behalf of all the citizens.”
The journalist, who has also received Emmy, Peabody and Alfred l. duPont-Columbia University Awards for her work, pointed out the negative consequences that can result from a lack of coverage. She cited the lead-up to the Iraq War in 2003 when she believed there was not enough questioning from the media.
Christopher Callahan, dean of the Cronkite School, recognized the work of students and the Cronkite Award-winning Amanpour at the luncheon, hearkening back to the man behind it all.
“I know Walter (Cronkite) would be proud you are here today,” he said to Amanpour. Former recipients of the Cronkite Award include Diane Sawyer in 2010 and Brian Williams in 2009.
While in Phoenix, Amanpour spoke on an ABC15 broadcast and interacted with Cronkite School students, visiting the school’s student broadcast station Cronkite NewsWatch Wednesday afternoon and speaking to students in its First Amendment Forum Thursday morning.
Amanpour spoke about the importance of international news in spite of cutbacks in the media industry. She recounted her experiences interviewing dictators Moammar Qaddafi and Hosni Mubarak just prior to their falls in the Arab Spring, and the psychological toll war reporting can take on journalists.
“This is not a profession you go into just for the money … It demands too much,” Amanpour said. “You have to love it.”
She also dispensed advice to aspiring reporters and foreign correspondents.
“Do well for yourselves, but do good for your community as well,” she said.
Students said they left feeling inspired.
“She’s gotten so far and she’s done so many things,” said Jennifer Borbon, a print journalism sophomore. “She’s broken so many glass ceilings with her career that it makes me believe I can get to that point.”
Contact the reporter at vpelham@asu.edu
