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Lifetime achievement
Ted Koppel to receive Murrow award in the fall
Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011
By Mary Hawkins, The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
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| Koppel |
PULLMAN - ABC News veteran Ted Koppel will receive the 2011 Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement award at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, in Beasley coliseum. The date is a departure from the former April event and is part of a reconfiguration of the annual Murrow Symposium (see related article).
"I never met Ed Murrow, but my life has been bracketed by his influence," Koppel said. "First as a boy in London, listening with my father as the BBC rebroadcast some of his war time reports for CBS. Those gave me my first appetite for journalism.
"And now the great honor of receiving this award that bears his name, which still sets the standard for what broadcast journalism can and should be," he said.
"Ted Koppel is a living example of the values that drove Edward R. Murrow and a reminder in this age of opinion and factoids that solid, balanced reporting is fundamental to our democracy," said Lawrence Pintak, founding dean of The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication.
The award will be preceded by a breakfast in Seattle and an afternoon health communication seminar at WSU Pullman led by Koppel's wife, Grace, who is national spokesperson for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
The award is conferred each year by The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication.
Koppel is best-known as anchor of the ABC program Nightline, from its launch during the Iran hostage crisis in 1980 until his retirement in 2005. He is a news analyst for National Public Radio and contributor to BBC America.
Koppel began his broadcasting career at WMCA Radio, New York. In 1963, he joined ABC Radio News as a correspondent for its daily Flair Reports program, where one of his first assignments was to cover the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He moved to television in 1966, reporting on the Vietnam War.
During his 42 years at ABC, Koppel also worked as anchor of the ABC Saturday Night News, chief diplomatic correspondent and Hong Kong bureau chief. He has had a significant reporting role in every presidential campaign since 1964.
Koppel has won every major broadcasting industry honor, including 41 Emmy Awards, eight George Foster Peabody Awards, 10 duPont-Columbia Awards, 10 Overseas Press Club Awards, two George Polk Awards and two Sigma Delta Chi Awards.
Among his other tributes are: the first Gold Baton in the history of the duPont-Columbia Awards for Nightline's weeklong series originating from South Africa; the Gabriel Personal Achievement Award from the National Catholic Association of Broadcasters and Communicators; selection as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Republic of France; and more than 20 honorary degrees from universities in the United States.
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