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Bernard Shaw (May 22, 1940 – September 7, 2022) was an American journalist and lead news anchor for
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
from 1980 until his retirement on March 2, 2001. Prior to his time at CNN, he was a reporter and anchor for WNUS,
Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndicat ...
,
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
, and
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
.


Early life

Shaw was born in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, Illinois, to Edgar Shaw, a railroad employee and house painter, and Camilla (Murphy) Shaw, a housekeeper. He attended the
University of Illinois Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois sy ...
from 1963 to 1968. He served in the
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
, including stints in Hawaii and at
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point (*) is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, United States, in the eastern part of the state. It was built in 1941, and was commissioned in 1942 and ...
, North Carolina, where in 1962 he was a "Message Center" specialist, achieving the rank of Corporal, E-4. He exhibited a passionate interest in the print media, clipping articles from newspapers, and often traveled on weekends to Washington, D.C. He cultivated an acquaintance with Walter Cronkite and had an interest in baseball.


Career

Shaw began his broadcasting career as an anchor and reporter for WNUS in Chicago in 1964. He then worked as a reporter for the
Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndicat ...
Company in Chicago, moving later to Washington as the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
correspondent. He worked as a correspondent in the Washington Bureau of
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
from 1971 to 1977. In 1977, he moved to
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
as a Latin American correspondent and bureau chief before becoming the
Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
Senior Correspondent. Shaw left ABC in 1980 to move to CNN as co-anchor of its ''PrimeNews'' broadcast, anchoring from Washington, D.C. Shaw's coverage of the 1981 assassination attempt on U.S. President Ronald Reagan (with Shaw joined by former CBS News correspondent Daniel Schorr, one of the first on-air personalities hired by the fledgling cable channel) is credited as helping to establish CNN as a credible and reliable broadcast news source at an early point in the network's history. As the leading anchor of Cable News Network, Bernard Shaw covered a variety of events that shaped the political and societal reality of the 20th century. The student revolt in Tiananmen Square in 1989, the California earthquake of 1994,
Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
’s death in 1997, and the 2000 presidential race of the United States, were some of the news that he reported. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the main event he reported was the start of the Persian Gulf War on January 16 of 1991. Shaw was widely known for the question he posed to Democratic U.S. presidential candidate
Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...
at his second presidential debate with
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
during the 1988 election, which Shaw was moderating. Knowing that Dukakis opposed the death penalty, Shaw asked him if he would support an irrevocable death penalty for a man who hypothetically raped and murdered Dukakis's wife. Dukakis responded that he would not; critics felt he framed his response too legalistically and logically and did not address it sufficiently on a personal level.
Kitty Dukakis Katharine "Kitty" Dukakis (née Dickson; born December 26, 1936) is an American author. She is the wife of former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. Life and career Dukakis was born Katharine Virginia Dickson in Cambridge, Massachusetts, th ...
, among other public figures, found the question inflammatory and unwarranted at a presidential debate. Several journalists also on the panel with Shaw, including
Ann Compton Ann Compton (born January 19, 1947) is an American former news reporter and White House correspondent for ABC News Radio. Career highlights Ann Compton graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, in 1965. She began her broadcasti ...
,
Andrea Mitchell Andrea Mitchell (born October 30, 1946) is an American television journalist, anchor and commentator for NBC News, based in Washington, D.C. She is NBC News' chief foreign affairs & chief Washington correspondent, reporting on the 2008 presid ...
, and Margaret Garrard Warner, expressed an interest in leaving Dukakis's name out of the question. He is also remembered for his reporting on the 1991
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
. His journalistic involvement in this moment of history led him to be recognized as one of the “Boys of Baghdad” (Vargas, 2022). Reporting with CNN correspondents
John Holliman John Holliman (October 23, 1948 – September 12, 1998) was an American broadcast journalist. He was a member of the original reporting corps for CNN, serving as its agriculture correspondent after serving in the same capacity for Associa ...
and Peter Arnett from the
Al-Rashid Hotel The Royal Tulip Al Rasheed Hotel (sometimes spelled ''Al-Rashid'') (Arabic, ) is an 18-storey hotel in Baghdad, Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Koma ...
in
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, he found shelter under a desk as he reported
cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...
s flying past his window. He also made frequent trips back and forth from the hotel's bomb shelter. While describing the situation in Baghdad, he famously stated "Clearly I've never been there, but this feels like we're in the center of hell." Shaw moderated the October 2000 vice-presidential debate between
Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...
and Joe Lieberman. Shaw co-anchored CNN's '' Inside Politics'' from 1992 until he retired from CNN in March 2001. He then occasionally appeared on CNN, including in May 2005, when a plane flew into restricted air space in Washington, D.C. He co-anchored Judy Woodruff's last broadcast on CNN in June 2005. Shaw reflected over his 41 years in journalism, that what he missed in his personal life was not worth the success. Shaw appeared on the June 1, 2020, episode of
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
's '' Erin Burnett OutFront'' to recognize the 40th anniversary of the start of the network.


Accolades

* 1994:
Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism The Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism is an annual award presented by Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The recipient is deemed to represent a leading figure in the journalism ...
. * 1996: Paul White Award,
Radio Television Digital News Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dire ...
* Bernard Shaw was inducted as a Laureate of
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois The Lincoln Academy of Illinois is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to recognizing contributions made by living Illinoisans. Named for Abraham Lincoln, the Academy administers the ''Order of Lincoln'', the highest award given ...
and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 2002 in the area of Communications. * 1999: Shaw became part of the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame * 2001: Lifetime honor from the
Edward R. Murrow Awards The Edward R. Murrow Award may refer to one of several awards named after American journalist Edward R. Murrow: * Edward R. Murrow Award (Corporation for Public Broadcasting), given out to individuals in public radio since 1977 * Edward Murrow Awa ...
* 2007: Shaw was granted the Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Black Journalists


Personal life

Shaw was married to Linda Allston from March 30, 1974, until his death. They had two children: Amar Edgar and Anil Louise. Shaw died at a hospital in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, on September 7, 2022, at the age of 82, after contracting pneumonia.


References


External links


Biography
at the
Museum of Broadcast Communications The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum, the stated mission of which is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain through our archi ...

CNN anchor Bernard Shaw leaving the network
CNN, November 11, 2000


Second Bush-Dukakis debate transcript

Assignment: China—Tiananmen Square; including reporting segments by Bernard Shaw
* *
"In Black America; Bernard Shaw,"
1985-02-22, KUT Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (
WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...
and the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
), Boston, Mass. and Washington, D.C. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Bernard 1940 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists African-American journalists African-American television personalities American television news anchors CNN people CBS News people ABC News people Deaths from pneumonia in Washington, D.C. Dunbar Vocational High School alumni Journalists from Illinois People from Chicago People from Takoma Park, Maryland United States Marine Corps non-commissioned officers University of Illinois Chicago alumni War correspondents of the Gulf War