Bernard Shaw (journalist) Biography

Bernard Shaw (born May 22, 1940) is a retired American journalist and former lead news anchor for CNN from 1980 until his retirement in March 2001. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he attended the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1963 to 1968.

He served in the U.S. Marine Corps including stints in Hawaii and at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, NC, wherein 1962 he was a “Message Center” specialist as a Corporal, E-4.

He had a passionate interest in the print media, clipping articles from newspapers, often traveling at weekends to Washington, DC (“Big W”). He cultivated an acquaintance with Walter Cronkite, and had an interest in baseball.

Shaw began his broadcasting career as an anchor and reporter for WNUS in Chicago. He then worked as a reporter for the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company in Chicago, moving later to Washington as the White House correspondent. He worked as a correspondent in the Washington Bureau of CBS News from 1971 to 1977.

In 1977, he moved to ABC News as Latin American correspondent and bureau chief before becoming the Capitol Hill Senior Correspondent. He left ABC in 1980 to move to CNN as its Principal Anchor. Shaw is widely remembered for the question he posed to Democratic U.S.

presidential candidate Michael Dukakis at his second Presidential debate with George H. W. Bush during the 1988 election, which Shaw was moderating. Knowing that Dukakis opposed the death penalty, Shaw asked Dukakis 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; some critics felt he framed his response too legalistically and logically and did not address it sufficiently personally. Other critics thought the question inflammatory and unwarranted at a presidential debate.

In 2001, at the age of 60, Bernard Shaw decided to retire from CNN. He now spends time with his wife, Linda, and two children. Shaw says he misses his colleagues, but he does not miss working. He appeared in Robert Wiener’s book Live from Baghdad.

He appeared as a character in the 2002 HBO film of the same name where Robert Wisdom portrayed him. On January 4, 2006, CNN analyst Jack Cafferty relayed an anecdote about Shaw when discussing the role of the media in the Sago Mine disaster.

Cafferty said on CNN’s Situation Room that when conversing with Shaw about why he was the only anchor covering the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan to not report that James Brady was dead, Shaw said that he didn’t go on air with the information because he didn’t have confirmation with “anyone in the room.” According to Cafferty, Shaw did not report the erroneous information, when all the network anchors did.

Bernard Shaw (journalist) Age

Bernard Shaw is a retired American journalist and former lead news anchor for CNN from 1980 until his retirement in March 2001. He was born on May 22, 1940, in Chicago, IL. He is 79 years old as of 2019

Bernard Shaw (journalist) Early life

Shaw was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1963 to 1968. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, including stints in Hawaii and at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, 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.

Bernard Shaw (journalist) Image

Bernard Shaw (journalist) Career

Shaw began his broadcasting career as an anchor and reporter for WNUS in Chicago. He then worked as a reporter for the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company in Chicago, moving later to Washington as the White House correspondent. He worked as a correspondent in the Washington Bureau of CBS News from 1971 to 1977.

In 1977, he moved to ABC News as Latin American correspondent and bureau chief before becoming the Capitol Hill Senior Correspondent. He left ABC in 1980 to move to CNN as co-anchor of its PrimeNews broadcast, anchoring from Washington, D.C.

Shaw is widely known for the question he posed to Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Michael Dukakis at his second Presidential debate with George H. W. Bush 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, 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, Andrea Mitchell, 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. Reporting with CNN correspondents John Holliman and Peter Arnett from the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, he found shelter under a desk as he reported cruise missiles 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.”

He moderated the October 2000 vice-presidential debate between Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman.

Shaw co-anchored CNN’s Inside Politics from 1992 until he retired from CNN in 2001. He has still occasionally appeared on CNN, including in May 2005 when a plane flew into restricted air space in Washington, D.C. He also co-anchored Judy Woodruff’s last broadcast on CNN in June 2005.

Bernard Shaw (journalist) Wife

In 2001, at the age of 60, Bernard Shaw decided to retire from CNN. He now spends time with his wife, Linda Allston
m. 1974, and two children.

Bernard Shaw (journalist) Accolades

1994: Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.
1996: Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association
Bernard Shaw was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State’s highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 2002 in the area of Communications.

Former CNN Anchor Kept Cool But Paid The Price Of Success

Award-winning journalist Bernard Shaw was a CNN news anchor for more than 20 years. He reflects on his career, mentors and how he knew it was time to leave the anchor desk.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I’m Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. We are going to spend this hour talking with and about mentors. The Wisdom Watch segment has been a feature of this program since we began. We’ve spoken with people with different careers, backgrounds, ages, and faiths, who’ve made differences through their lives and work. Today we’ll hear from people who made a difference in our lives.

In a few minutes, we’ll hear from the Beauty Shop ladies on their mentors, but first, we are joined by one of mine; the veteran journalist Bernard Shaw.

A former marine, Mr. Shaw began his reporting career in Chicago. He reported for CBS News and ABC News, from Congress, the White House, and Latin America, before moving to CNN as its principal anchor until he retired in March of 2001. He was famous for literally being cool under fire, as when he reported live from Baghdad in January 1991 during Operation Desert Storm.

Now, we’ve spoken on this program before, but as we wind down we thought it would be here to hear some words of wisdom from him again.

Welcome back, Bernard Shaw. Thank you for joining us once again.

BERNARD SHAW: Thank you.

MARTIN: When you got started in the business, what did you hope for? Did you have a goal for yourself?

SHAW: I wanted to be the best broadcast journalist I could be, and I wanted to emulate my idol – the first of two idols – Edward R. Murrow, and later, Walter Cronkite, who became a good friend for about 50 years.

MARTIN: When you say emulate, what do you mean? What qualities were you looking for?

SHAW: Strive for the writing abilities these men had, the clarity of thought they had, and their ability to communicate what they were seeing, what they were hearing, what they were witnessing, what they were feeling. And each of them had an opportunity to do that, given the wide venue of stories they covered, especially World War II.

MARTIN: You know, speaking of that – of war – you reported live from Baghdad in January 1991, as we mentioned, when the U.S. and its allies launched Operation Desert Storm. That coverage is credited with putting CNN on the map and changing the way events are covered on live TV.

I’m just going to play a short clip from your coverage. Here it is.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SHAW: Something is happening outside. Peter Arnett, join me here. Let’s describe to our viewers what we’re seeing. The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated. We’re seeing bright flashes going off all over the sky. Peter?

MARTIN: Being cool under fire, just being – keeping it very calm, and very direct – and I just, you know, wondering what gave you the ability to do that?

SHAW: In all the years of preparing to be anchor, one of the things I strove for was to be able to control my emotions in the midst of hell breaking out. And I personally feel that I passed my stringent test for that in Baghdad. The more intense the news story I cover, the cooler I want to be.

The more I ratchet down my emotions, even the tone of voice because people are depending on you for accuracy, dispassionate descriptions of what’s happening. And it would be a disservice to the consumers of news – be they readers, listeners or viewers – for me to become emotional and to get carried away.

MARTIN: You know, you’re kind of the anti-anchor monster. Because you know, the stereotype of like, an anchor head or anchorman, anchor monster, is somebody who’s just really – takes up a lot of room – you know that, right?

SHAW: I understand what you’re saying, but to me, more important than how I sound or how I look is how I think, how I write, how I communicate – that’s journalism. The other is BS. Using my initials in vain.

MARTIN: (Laughing) If you’re just joining us, I’m speaking with award-winning journalist and former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw.

Did you ever feel, as an African-American broadcaster, you had any special duty or responsibility to, you know, present yourself in a certain way, or to stand for something in particular?

SHAW: No. What I strove for was perfection, which was impossible to achieve. If I’m covering a story that’s of particular interest to African-Americans, I want to be certain that I cover that story as thoroughly as possible, as I would any other story. And being African-American, I would be the critic most critical of me if I failed to do the best job possible with that story.

MARTIN: Well, you know, one of the things I always noticed about you – because I always would run into you on the, take for example on campaigns – you know, I actually spoke with one of your colleagues, Judy Woodruff, as you know…

SHAW: Ah, Judy, yes.

MARTIN: …With whom you shared the anchor chair for a number of years at CNN. One of the things she told me was, that one of the things that she always appreciated about you was professionalism. It was that there was never any kind of hint of sexism, or trying to, kind of, you know, play rank with her.

Or just – she always felt like, the utmost respect from you. And I have to tell you, that you know, when I would run into you, on the – say, on a campaign trail or on assignments, you know, I always felt the same thing. Which is not the case with some of the – I’ll just say it – some of the senior men in the business.

What was your sense of like, working with people like me, who were junior to or coming up behind you?

SHAW: I have a responsibility. As a leader in my profession, I have a responsibility. To what? To share. I’ve been there. I know what it’s like. I know what it means to be Jukered (ph) out of a story. I’ve had stories stolen from me.

I remember as ABC’s Latin America correspondent and bureau chief, I would average five trips a year into Cuba to cover various stories. And when ABC finally got a one-on-one interview with Fidel Castro, a man I’d covered for two years – who interviewed him? Who got off a charter jet from New York and strode in to interview him? Barbara Walters. So I’ve been there. And I was determined never to do that to any colleague. Never to be condescending.

MARTIN: But it’s not that you were just not condescending, it’s also what you were, which is very supportive and encouraging. You would say things to people like, you know what, you’re doing a great job. Or you’d say, you know what, that report was really crisp. And things like that. And I just wondered where that came from?

SHAW: I was a history major in school. That comes from the reality that you are in the next echelon. And those of us who are here have a responsibility to share what’s been shared with us. I wasn’t born doing this. So many hands, helping hands, are on my shoulders; I can’t count them.

So I have a responsibility to pass it on. Plus, you’re a fellow human being, you know. Everybody listening to this interview will be dead in the fullness of time. The question is, what are we going to do while we’re here?

MARTIN: Did you have a mentor?

SHAW: Oh, I had many mentors. They go all the way back to elementary school in Chicago. I could read when I was three years old and in my public school, Carter School on the South Side, this school had an accelerated reading program. It was a very tough program. And Mrs.

Robinson was the teacher. And of course, those were the days where there was no air-conditioning and this class always started at 2 o’clock, after lunch. I would go home, two and a half blocks from the school, have lunch, come back. And of course, it’s 85 degrees outside, it is hot.

And being a little boy I go into this class. The windows are open, but there’s no air coming through. So what did I do? I nodded off. And I was awakened with a thunderous slap across my head, and those were in the days when teachers could do that.

MARTIN: (Laughing) Yeah.

SHAW: Of course, you know what would happen to them now. And she towered over me and she said, young man, God has given you a gift and you will not waste it in my classroom.

She was a mentor. My mother and father, they were mentors. There were all kinds of mentors. Too numerous to count.

MARTIN: When did you decide it was time to retire? Or, how did you decide it was time to wrap up that phase of your life?

SHAW: Gnawing at me for years were the untold sacrifices that my wife, Linda – we’ve been married 40 years – and my daughter Anil and my son Amar made.

I will never know the sacrifices they made so that I could do what I did. The countless weeks away from them, the missing of so many precious moments in a child’s and a wife’s lifetime, experiences. And it began to gnaw at us more, more, more. And I decided it was time to walk off the field when I was approaching my 61st birthday.

MARTIN: Are you glad? Is there a story you wanted to get your hands on?

SHAW: Oh, I’m very glad. I’m very glad.

MARTIN: Is there any story going on now you wish you could get your hands on?

SHAW: No. Occasionally the pulse increases when there are major stories going on, but I quickly get over that. You know, I did my time and I served the cause as much as I could. There are occasionally conversations that come up and people at networks will say, you know, you would be good for this.

But the right vehicle just hasn’t happened. And if it were to happen, I would return. I would return, but not full time, not full bore.

I remember, CNN, when I left, they did three separate one-hour tribute programs. One of them was Larry King for an hour. But another one was anchored by Judy Woodruff. And Gwen Ifill was there, Sam Donaldson, Frank Sesno, and a couple of other journalists.

And they played tapes and Sam Donaldson was making the point about the 1988 presidential debate that I moderated, and I interrupted him; I interjected.

I said, Sam, looking back over my career when I think about all the things that I did, but all the things that I missed within my family because I was out doing – I don’t think it was worth it.

His jaw dropped, and he just went apoplectic, and, how can you say that? How can you?

I said, honestly I’m telling you that after 41 years in this business, given what I missed, it was not worth it.

MARTIN: So what’s your advice then, for the people coming behind you? What is it – to not grab so hard for the brass ring? What would it be? What’s your advice?

SHAW: No, no. That’s such a personal judgment call. I would urge anyone – pursue your dreams. Don’t let anyone tell you what you cannot do. If you think you can, you will. If you think you can’t, you won’t.

MARTIN: So final thought would be, what? Would be, lean in as far as you want to lean in? Dream? Do what? What would your final thought – putting together everything you know, and everything you…

SHAW: Pursue your dreams, but know that it will cost you. Success will cost you. Physically and mentally it’s going to cost you. And I just pray and hope that you survive.

MARTIN: Bernard Shaw is an award-winning journalist, now retired. He was a principal anchor at CNN for more than 20 years, and he was kind enough to join us here in our studios in Washington, D.C.

Bernard Shaw, thank you so much for speaking with us.

SHAW: Thank you for having me here.

Bernard Shaw (journalist) Net Worth

Estimated Net Worth and Income Info:

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