CBS News correspondent to receive Murrow College award

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????PULLMAN, Wash. – CBS News Correspondent Clarissa Ward has been selected to receive the 2015 Murrow Award for International Reporting from The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University.

Ward is considered among the most intrepid and recognized international journalists of our time. She has reported from every major news hotspot in the past decade and has earned numerous honors for her work from inside the civil war in Syria, as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She has also covered the Russian incursion into Georgia and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan

“Clarissa embodies the Murrow attributes of courage, fairness and balance in her outstanding reporting from combat zones around the world, most recently Syria,” said Lawrence Pintak, founding Dean of The Murrow College.

Clarissa Ward in Syria
Clarissa Ward in Syria

In October 2014, Ward returned to Syria undercover to interview two Western jihadis – a young American man and a former Dutch soldier – about their paths to radicalism. She was the first journalist to sit down with an American fighter inside Syria.

“We believe Clarissa is extremely deserving and will resonate with our students,” said Pintak

Prior to joining CBS News, Ward was an ABC News correspondent based in Beijing and Moscow and a correspondent for FOX News Channel, working out of Beirut and Baghdad. Ward graduated from Yale University with distinction and speaks six languages.

Ward will appear on the WSU Pullman campus on April 2 and 3 to accept the award as part of The Murrow Symposium, held annually to honor Edward R. Murrow, a 1930 WSU graduate considered one of the 20th century’s most highly regarded broadcast journalists; an industry leader, radio and television pioneer whose lofty standards and unflinching spirit of inquiry, courage and integrity continue to inspire generations of communication professionals.

Media contacts:

John Paxson, Director of the Murrow Symposium, john.paxson3@wsu.ed

Darin Watkins, Murrow College Director of Communications, darin.watkins@wsu.edu (509) 335-4456