“CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley will be the 2016 recipient of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Walter Cronkite signed off for the final time as anchor of the program that Pelley now anchors 35 years ago this month. Pelley is the 33rd recipient of the Cronkite Award and will broadcast from the ASU campus next fall when he accepts the award.
“Walter became known as ‘Uncle Walter’ to an admiring audience, but he was truly like an uncle to me. In our conversations, he pressed me to be honest with the audience, skeptical of conventional wisdom, and grateful for my family,” Pelley said.
Pelley took over the anchor chair in 2011.
Charlie Rose took home the honor last year, and Robin Roberts won in 2014.
Previous winners of the prestigious award include Tom Brokaw, Ted Turner, Bob Woodward, Bill Moyers, Katharine Graham, Allen Neuharth, Don Hewitt, Helen Thomas, George Will, Ben Bradlee, Bernard Shaw and Roone Arledge.
“I’m greatly humbled by this recognition from the Cronkite School because it comes in the name of a man I knew, admired and loved,” Pelley said.
Cronkite would have been 100 years old this November.
“CBS News, for many, is synonymous with Walter Cronkite. ASU and this award continue the best values of the Cronkite legacy,” CBS News President David Rhodes said. “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.”