Peabody Awards: Dan Rather Recognized With Career Achievement Honor
Dan Rather, the longtime anchor of CBS Evening News from 1981 to 2006, was presented with the Peabody Career Achievement Award on Tuesday. Country music legend Dolly Parton presented Rather with the award, which honors “individuals whose work and commitment to broadcasting and digital media have left an indelible mark on the field and in American culture.” Rather joins recent winners of the award Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Cicely Tyson and Sam Pollard.
“Dan Rather’s remarkable career — from local news reporter and international correspondent to network anchor — is a textbook example not just of what quality reporting looks like, but how journalists serve democracy well,” said Jeffrey Jones, executive director of the Peabody Awards. “Spanning over six decades, Rather helped viewers understand and interpret some of the most traumatic historical events in our nation’s history, from the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War to 9/11 and more. We are happy to call attention to and celebrate his life’s work.”
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“To this day, Dan has stayed dedicated to fighting the disinformation, the chaos and the division that has defined recent years in America,” said Parton in her presentation of the Peabody Award to Rather. “His voice and his reflections remain vibrant for millions others standing out from the crowd and noise of social media. For more than six decades, Dan Rather has brought his righteous passion, his intelligence, his boldness, his humor and his commitment to the truth to the public arena.”
Rather began his television career at Houston’s CBS affiliate KHOU-TV in 1960, before becoming the network’s White House correspondent in 1964. During his time at CBS, Rather reported on John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the war in Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, Watergate, the Cold War and 9/11. After leaving CBS in 2006, he hosted Dan Rather Reports for HDNet and The Big Interview on AXS TV, and Rather currently serves as president and CEO of non-fiction production company News and Guts. Throughout the course of career, Rather has won numerous awards and honors including three Emmys and seven Peabody Awards.
“I know that humility is not a word usually associated with current or even former network news anchors,” Rather said when accepting the honor. “But I can honestly say that I am humbled by this recognition.”
The Peabody Awards also announced today a special recognition for TV Rain (known in Russian as Dozhd), which earned the Peabody Journalistic Integrity Award. TV Rain was Russia’s last independent TV channel before it was shut down in March 2022 following its criticism of President Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During its final broadcast, the TV Rain staff gathered on air before walking off the set and announcing “no war” during their exit.
The Peabody Board of Jurors also made a special commendation to journalists and filmmakers around the world who have risked their own personal safety to report the Russian invasion and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. “We honor these courageous storytellers killed in their line of duty to bring the truth to the world, not just in Ukraine, but in India, Mexico, the Philippines and globally,” said Jones.
The 82nd annual Peabody Award winners will be announced during a multi-day virtual celebration from June 6-9, which will be broadcast on the Peabody Awards’ social channels as well as the organization’s website.
Watch Dolly Parton present the career achievement award to Dan Rather in the video below.
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