Diane Sawyer is anchor of ABC's
flagship broadcast World News. She is also the network's principal anchor
for breaking news, election coverage, and special events.
Ms. Sawyer is one of the most respected journalists in the world. She has
traveled the globe delivering in-depth and breaking news reports and has
conducted interviews with almost every major newsmaker of our time. Her
primetime documentaries have won critical acclaim for shedding light on
difficult and previously under-reported topics.
During the historic 2008 presidential election, Ms. Sawyer co-anchored ABC
News' coverage of the political conventions, Election Night, and the
Inauguration. Over the course of the campaign, she conducted wide-ranging
interviews with the candidates and also reported "Portrait of a President,"
two hour-long specials that revealed new insight into Barack Obama, John
McCain and their families.
In June 2009, along with Charles Gibson, Ms. Sawyer moderated "Questions for
the President: Prescription for America," a conversation with President
Obama about healthcare reform at the White House.
Through her distinguished documentary work, Ms. Sawyer has tackled
challenging issues in primetime. In 2006, her report on the crises in the
foster care system was recognized with the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism
Award. In January 2007, Ms. Sawyer delivered an eye-opening report on
poverty in America, "Waiting on the World to Change," which gave viewers
insight into the lives of families in Camden, New Jersey -- the poorest city
in America. Ms. Sawyer and her team of producers spent two years in the
hills of Appalachia reporting the February 2009 special "A Hidden America:
Children of the Mountains."
Video: 10 Questions with Diane Sawyer
Courtesy: YouTube
Ms. Sawyer's other primetime documentaries include: an investigation into
the warehousing of Russian children in state-run orphanages; a diary of life
inside a woman's maximum security prison where she spent two days and nights
with inmates; an investigation into the neglect and abuse at state-run
institutions for the mentally retarded; and a landmark investigation into
pharmacy prescription errors.
In October 2006, Ms. Sawyer traveled to North Korea and brought viewers an
unprecedented look inside that secretive country. The first American
journalist to ever report live from North Korea, Ms. Sawyer also anchored
"North Korea: Inside The Shadows," an hour-long primetime special that
included interviews with key government and military officials and new
information on what life is like for North Koreans.
In February of 2007, Ms. Sawyer traveled to Syria and Iran, where she had
conducted exclusive interviews with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In April 2008, Ms. Sawyer anchored
Good Morning America from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.
Ms. Sawyer also reported from Southeast Asia in the wake of the deadly 2005
tsunami; from Moscow, where she made her way into the office of Boris
Yeltsin at the pinnacle of the Soviet coup; from Egypt during the Gulf War,
where she interviewed President Hosni Mubarak; and Amman, Jordan, where she
interviewed King Hussein and Queen Noor. During the Iraq War, she conducted
an exclusive interview with one of the main architects of Saddam Hussein's
biological weapons program, Dr. Rihab Taha, nicknamed "Dr. Germ."
Domestically, Ms. Sawyer reported from New Orleans on the devastating
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005. She also conducted a
live, exclusive interview with President George W. Bush in the midst of
widespread criticism of his Administration's handling of the storm.
On September 11, 2001, Ms. Sawyer, along with Charles Gibson, began the
network's award-winning coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon. In the days that followed, Ms. Sawyer reported live from
Ground Zero and later interviewed more than 60 widows who gave birth after
the World Trade Center disaster.
Ms. Sawyer's reporting has been recognized with numerous awards including
duPonts, Emmys, Peabodys, the grand prize of the premier Investigative
Reporters and Editors Association, an IRTS Lifetime Achievement Award, and
the USC Distinguished Achievement in Journalism Award. In 1997, she was
inducted into the Television Academy of Hall of Fame.
Ms. Sawyer joined ABC News in February 1989 as co-anchor of "Primetime." In
addition to that role, she was named co-anchor of "Good Morning America" in
January 1999 and held the post until taking over the World News anchor chair
in December 2009. In August 2009, "GMA" was recognized with its third
consecutive Emmy Award for Outstanding Morning program.
Prior to joining ABC News, Ms. Sawyer spent nine years at CBS News. There
she made history as the first female correspondent of 60 Minutes. She also
co-anchored the CBS Morning News and was CBS News' State Department
correspondent. While at CBS, Ms. Sawyer covered the 1980, '84 and '88
national conventions as a floor and then podium correspondent.
Ms. Sawyer was part of the Nixon-Ford transition team from 1974 to 1975 and
assisted former President Nixon in the writing of his memoirs in 1974 and
1975. She began her career in broadcasting in 1967 in Louisville, Kentucky,
where she was a reporter for WLKY-TV until 1970.
A native of Glasgow, Kentucky, and raised in Louisville, Ms. Sawyer received
a B.A. from Wellesley College and completed a semester of law school before
embarking on a career in broadcasting.
Career timeline
1967-1970: WLKY-TV news reporter and weather girl
1970-1974: White House press aide
1974-1978: Literary assistant to former President Richard Nixon
1981-1984: CBS Morning News anchor
1984-1989: 60 Minutes correspondent
1989-1998, since 2000: Primetime Live co-anchor
1998-2000: 20/20 co-anchor[10]
January 1999 - December 11, 2009: Good Morning America co-anchor
December 21, 2009- Present: ABC World News anchor
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