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Don Hewitt
The 2008 Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Communication will be given to Don Hewitt, creator and former executive producer of the CBS news magazine "60 Minutes." The award presentation and Hewitt's acceptance speech will take place on Thursday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. in WSU's Beasley Coliseum.
WSU President Elson Floyd said of Hewitt's selection for the Murrow Award, "It is hard to think of anyone who has played a more significant role in continuing Edward R. Murrow's legacy of hard-hitting journalism in the public interest than has Don Hewitt. His development and leadership of '60 Minutes' clearly sets him apart as one of the true pioneers of television news. We at Washington State University are absolutely delighted to be able to recognize his work in this way."
Hewitt attended New York University and began his career in journalism in 1942 at the New York Herald Tribune as head copyboy. In 1948 he started at CBS News as the producer-director for the evening news broadcast.
He was the first director of "See It Now," the landmark documentary news program that was coproduced by Fred W. Friendly and host Edward R. Murrow.
In 1960, Hewitt produced and directed the first televised presidential debates, between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. He later became the executive producer for the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
Hewitt is best known, however, for creating the longest-running prime time broadcast on American television, "60 Minutes." First airing in 1968, it continues today and is considered by CBS to be the most successful television broadcast in its history. Hewitt stepped aside as executive producer in 2004 at age 81, but remains at CBS, where he helps develop and launch new projects and fine-tune existing programming.
"Don Hewitt not only carries forward the best traditions of Edward R. Murrow, he helped to create them," said Erica Weintraub Austin, professor and interim director of the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at WSU. "He directed Murrow, created '60 Minutes,' and produced the famous Kennedy–Nixon debate that demonstrated the power of television. We are humbled to be able to honor one of Murrow's own colleagues on the occasion of the centennial of Murrow's birth."
During his distinguished career, Hewitt has received many awards, including 2 George Foster Peabody Awards, 8 Emmy Awards including the second annual Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors' George Heller Lifetime Achievement Award, the Spirit Award, and a lifetime achievement award from the National Association of Broadcasters in April 2003.
Hewitt's 2 books, Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Television and Minute by Minute, chronicle his life as a newsman and examine the history of "60 Minutes."
Hewitt will be accompanied to Pullman by his wife, Marilyn Berger, a former Washington Post reporter and NBC and PBS news correspondent and a frequent contributor to magazines including The New Yorker and the New York Times.
Among the previous winners of the Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement are "Frontline" executive producer David Fanning, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Daniel Schorr, Walter Cronkite, Sam Donaldson, Bernard Shaw, Keith Jackson, Ted Turner, and Al Neuharth.
"The Murrow Award and the annual symposium celebrating Murrow's achievements and his legacy remind us of the importance of shaping future generations of responsible and ethical journalists and communicators," said Erich Lear, dean of the College of Liberal Arts.
During the symposium, WSU and University of Idaho students and high school students from Washington and Idaho have the opportunity to attend workshops led by communication professionals to get a glimpse of real-life career options. The Murrow Symposium also celebrates scholarship through the annual scholarship banquet, held the evening of the symposium. High school students from across the country compete in the annual Edward R. Murrow High School Journalism Awards Competition.
The Chronicle, College of Liberal Arts, Washington State University