Scott Pelley received the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism Monday afternoon at the Sheraton Grand hotel in downtown Phoenix.
The annual award highlights leaders in journalism who have shaped the industry and have worked to sustain accuracy over years of reporting.
This year, Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Cronkite Endowment Board of Trustees honored CBS’s Scott Pelley. The dean of the Cronkite School, Christopher Callahan, said honoring Pelley in 2016 was special for symbolic reasons.
“I think it’s particularly appropriate that the person sitting at the CBS Evening News anchor desk on Walter’s 100th birthday … is receiving the Cronkite award,” he said. “There’s just a wonderful symmetry to that.”
Adrian Marsh, a freshman at the Cronkite School, said she wanted to attend the luncheon for the experience and prestige of attending, which attracts members of media outlets from across Phoenix for Pelley’s address. She wanted to hear Pelley discuss his career path and offer advice.
Pelley, who befriended and admired Walter Cronkite, entered the national stage of journalism when he moved from WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas to New York’s national CBS station. Over his 40+ years in the profession, he obtained five Edward R. Murrow Awards and became a correspondent for “60 Minutes”, America’s most-watched television news program.
Pelley said he was humbled to receive the award, and he took the opportunity to share his impression of the Cronkite school’s efforts to produce the nation’s next top journalists.
“I’m no Walter Cronkite,” Pelley said in his acceptance speech.
Pelley attributes his success to heavy reliance on empathy and persistence.
“The Cronkite School today is training the young people who will defend our nation and will preserve the hope for freedom in the world,” he said.
Pelley left the crowded room of students, media and business people with a message that he said leaders like he, Walter Cronkite and other journalists work hard preserve about journalism.
“It’s how we understand one another, it’s how we respect one another. It is how we have empathy for one another’s ideas,” Pelley said.
Contact the reporter at ljmarsh1@asu.edu.
