ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer was honored with the 27th Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism Friday at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix.
Instead of giving a speech about her accomplishments, as past recipients have done, two ASU journalism students interviewed the host of ABC News’ “World News” in front of the audience at her request.
Journalism seniors Kylee Gauna and Siera Lambrecht asked her questions about her career accomplishments and her best and worst interviews.
Iraq’s late president, Saddam Hussein, was probably the trickiest interview she has done, Sawyer said, because of the sensitive way she had to phrase her questions.
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She recalled asking him, “How many people did you kill?” and “Why do you put people in jail who disagree with you?”
Hussein responded that the U.S. government does the same thing, and Sawyer said she realized then that he ran his dictatorship based on false information about the world.
She also shared her thoughts about the late broadcaster Walter Cronkite, namesake of ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“What [Cronkite] did can not be replicated,” Sawyer said of his career as a journalist.
Sawyer worked with Cronkite at the beginning of her career at CBS News.
"I was so afraid I would disappoint him," she said.
The final question the students asked was how she wanted to be remembered.
“It’s not what I think about at the end of the day,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer was in the Valley since Thursday and talked to soldiers at the Phoenix Veterans Day parade. She also broadcast “World News with Diane Sawyer” from the roof of the journalism school on Thursday and Friday evening.
On Friday morning, before the ceremony, she spoke to students at the journalism school’s First Amendment Forum.
“You are going to get rocked. It is going to be awful and at times humiliating,” Sawyer said. "If in that moment failure doesn't defeat you, then you do come back stronger in the broken places."
The Cronkite Endowment Board selects candidates for the award and has a final vote on who deserves it, said Christopher Callahan, the Cronkite School dean.
“[Sawyer’s] career reflects the best values and high degree of ethics and compassion,” Callahan said.
In past years, Cronkite himself would make the final decision, Callahan said.
Cathie Levine, the vice president of communications for ABC News, said Sawyer felt honored knowing she became the 27th recipient of the award.
Political figures, business leaders, local journalists and selected journalism students were invited to attend the award ceremony.
The number of people in attendance was about 1,200, including 97 journalism students.
The student attendees were selected based on their participation at school events. School officials kept track of students’ participation and eventually chose the award ceremony attendees from the list of participating students.
Journalism freshman Rebecca Alvarado said she was excited when she received an e-mail notifying her that she had been selected.
“I felt lucky,” she said. “I didn’t expect to get invited.”
Reach the reporter at uriel.garcia@asu.edu
