Bernard Shaw–CNN’s First Chief Anchor & Pioneering Black Broadcast Journalist Dies At 82 [Condolences]

Bernard Shaw–CNN’s First Chief Anchor & Pioneering Black Broadcast Journalist Dies At 82 [Condolences]

Bernard Shaw– CNN’s chief anchor for two decades and a pioneering Black broadcast journalist has died of pneumonia at the age of 82.

Bernard Shaw is best remembered for calmly reporting the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991 as missiles flew around him in Baghdad.

Shaw was a former U.S. Marine who worked as a reporter at CBS and ABC News before taking on the chief anchor role at CNN when the network began in 1980. The pioneering journalist was at CNN for 20 years and was known for remaining cool under pressure. That was a staple of his Baghdad coverage when the U.S. led its invasion of Iraq in 1991 to liberate Kuwait, with CNN airing stunning footage of airstrikes and anti-aircraft fire in the capital city.

Bernard Shaw

In reflecting on his Baghdad news coverage, Bernard Shaw had this to say in a 2014 interview:

“In all of the years of preparing to being 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.”

His on-the-scene work in Baghdad was crucial in establishing CNN.

Frank Sesno– a former CNN Washington bureau chief and now a professor at George Washington University said,

“He [Bernard] put CNN on the map.”

On Twitter, CNN’s John King paid tribute to Shaw’s “soft-spoken yet booming voice” and said he was a mentor and role model to many.

Another colleague said,

“Bernard Shaw exemplified excellence in his life. He will be remembered as a fierce advocate of responsible journalism.”

Bernard Shaw is also known for infamously moderating a presidential debate in 1988 between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis. His first question to the Democrat Dukakis– an opponent of the death penalty– was whether he would want that sentence applied to someone who raped and murdered the candidate’s wife.