Opening Day of the Edward R. Murrow Symposium

By Communications staff, Washington State University
PULLMAN – The 34th Edward R. Murrow Symposium, honoring Don Hewitt, creator of “60 Minutes” and executive producer at CBS News, is currently in progress, with a dinner slated for 7:30 p.m. in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.
 
 
Named for one of the university’s most illustrious graduates, the symposium is sponsored by the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication and acknowledges exceptional achievement in communication. Murrow was a 1930 graduate of Washington State College, now Washington State University.
 
Hewitt will receive the Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement for Broadcast Journalism. Among the previous winners are “Frontline” executive producer David Fanning, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Daniel Schorr, Walter Cronkite, Sam Donaldson, Bernard Shaw, Keith Jackson, Ted Turner and Al Neuharth.

Along with creating CBS-TV’s “60 Minutes,” the most successful and longest-running prime-time broadcast in history, Hewitt has produced numerous news broadcasts and the first televised presidential debates in 1960 between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. He has received many accolades for his work, including eight Emmy Awards, two George Foster Peabody Awards and the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors George Heller Lifetime Achievement Award.

WSU President Elson S. Floyd said of Hewitt’s selection, “It is hard to think of anyone who has played a more significant role in continuing Edward R. Murrow’s legacy of hard-hitting journalism in the public interest than has Don Hewitt. His development and leadership of “60 Minutes’ clearly sets him apart as one of the true pioneers of television news. We at Washington State University are absolutely delighted to be able to recognize his work in this way.”
 
 

The Edward R. Murrow Symposium also celebrates academic achievement through the annual scholarship banquet held the evening of the symposium.

Workshops throughout the day, led by communication professionals, provide students from WSU, the University of Idaho and Washington and Idaho high schools a glimpse of real-life career options.

High school journalists are also recognized in the annual Edward R. Murrow High School Journalism Awards Competition.

Schedule of Events

Thursday, April 3

8:00-8:30 a.m. | Registration

8:30-9 a.m. | Welcome

9:10-11:50 a.m. | Workshops

10-11:30 a.m. | Résumé Critiques

Noon-1:15 p.m. | Lunch
Celebrating the Centennial of Edward R. Murrow’s Birth

1:30-3:45 p.m. | Workshops

2:15-3:30 p.m. | Résumé Critiques

3:00 p.m. | Press Conference
Murrow Studio A

4:30-7:15 p.m. | Scholarship Awards and Recognition Banquet (Early reservations required)

7:30 p.m. | Thirty-fourth Edward R. Murrow Symposium with address by 60 minutes creator Don Hewitt
Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum

 
 
Complete details about the 2008 Murrow Symposium are available online at www.wsu.edu/murrow.

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