The Roy H. Park School of Communications will honor Journalist Barbara Walters with the Jessica Savitch Award of Distinction for Excellence in Journalism on Friday, March 18 in New York City. David Muir ’95 will present the award to Walters.
To watch the livestream of the event, visit: livestream.com/parkmedianetwork. The broadcast will begin at noon EST.
The Jessica Savitch Award was created to honor the spirit of the pioneering NBC News anchor and correspondent. A 1968 graduate of Ithaca College, Savitch helped inspire and pave the way for a new generation of women in broadcast journalism. She remained closely involved with the college throughout her career and was serving on the board of trustees at the time of her death in 1983.
About the Honoree: Barbara Walters
ABC News Correspondent; The Barbara Walters Specials; Creator and Executive Producer, ABC Daytime's The View
Barbara Walters has arguably interviewed more statesmen and stars than any other journalist in history. She is so well known that her name and a brief biography are listed in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
In September 2004, after 25 years as cohost and chief correspondent of ABC News' 20/20, Walters left the show to begin a new phase in her career at the network. She remains an active member of the news division and network, substantially increasing the number of primetime ABC News specials, in addition to her Barbara Walters Specials.
Through the years, she has interviewed such world figures as Russia's Boris Yeltsin, China's premier Jiang Zemin, Great Britain's former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, and Iraq's president Saddam Hussein. She was also the first American journalist to interview Russia's president Vladimir Putin and the first to interview President and Mrs. Bush following the September 11 attacks.
She has interviewed every American president and first lady since Richard Nixon and made journalism history by arranging the first joint interview with Egypt's president Anwar Sadat and Israel's prime minister Menachem Begin in November 1977.
Walters joined ABC News in 1976 as the first woman to cohost the network news. She is also creator and coexecutive producer of The View.
Over the years, she has received national recognition for her work and has been the recipient of numerous prestigious honors and awards, including 11 Emmy Awards and two Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Photo credit: ABC/DONNA SVENNEVIK
