Tuesday Trailblazers

Bernard Shaw

Bernard Shaw is an American journalist and former news anchor for CNN from 1980 until his retirement in March 2001. Shaw was born on May 22, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois.  

"Mr. Cronkite, I have to talk to you. I have to be a journalist. And I have to find out how I do that."

In the 1960s as a  21-year-old corporal in the Marines stationed in Hawaii, Shaw took advantage of the opportunity to speak with one of his heroes(who became a long time friend)-Walter Cronkite. Shaw served in the Marines until 1963 when he enrolled at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1963-1968. 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. Shaw worked as a correspondent in the Washington Bureau of CBS News from 1971 to 1977. In 1977, Shaw 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 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 Dukakis "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?" To which the Governor responded, "No, I don't, Bernard. And I think you know that I have opposed the death penalty all of my life..." Click here for the footage.

"Whoa! The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated. This is thunder. This is lightning. This is death. This is hell."

He is perhaps mainly 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." Check the video below for part of one of his broadcasts.




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. In 2001, CNN aired a farewell tribute to Shaw. You can view the transcript here. He has occasionally appeared on CNN, including in May 2005 when a plane flew into restricted air space in Washington, D.C.


I must acknowledge that the "color" of newscasts has changed since Shaw reported on the Gulf War back in 1991 and I think its a shame. It baffles me that networks *cough cough* can claim to deliver "fair and balanced" news without a diverse staff. Blacks continue to rarely get the big stories, the prime-time slots, or headline their own shows. I understand that you do not have to be diverse to deliver accurate news, but there is something to be said about the importance of having a staff similar to the people you're reporting on.  I digress...

Talented Generation Salutes Bernard Shaw!!!