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TORONTO – Dan Rather is to receive a lifetime achievement award at the upcoming Banff World Media Festival.
The veteran newsman is to be feted at the Canadian festival’s 35th edition in June for his contribution to TV news, including as anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1981 to 2005.
“For one who began his life’s work in the print and early electronic era of journalism, to now receive special recognition from an international organization on the cutting-edge of the digital age is both an honor and a humbling experience,” said Rather in a statement Friday.
Rather currently host a show, Dan Rather Reports, on AXS-TV.
“Journalists should rarely if ever strive to be the focus of a story. With that very much in mind, I am deeply grateful for this award,” he added.
During a long career, Rather pioneered TV news, starting with early local reporting in Texas on Hurricane Carla and covering the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 50 years ago.
“Dan Rather has celebrated an illustrious career that began in 1950 and continues through to today. As one of the most respected journalists in history, we are so pleased to have him at Banff and look forward to honoring him with the lifetime achievement award,” said Ferne Cohen, Banff’s executive director, in her own statement Friday.
Past honorees of the lifetime achievement award include Sir David Attenborough, James Burrows, William Shatner, Larry King and Christine Baranski.
The Banff World Media Festival is set to run from June 8 to 11, 2014.
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