Curry reflects on journalism career at WSU Symposium

Award-winning journalist and former NBC News Network anchor Ann Curry received the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcast Journalism at Washington State University’s 46th annual Murrow Symposium.

Curry delivered a keynote address on the WSU campus Tuesday evening, where she spoke about her experiences reporting on natural disasters and human suffering in war zones across the globe.

“This award is so prestigious, precisely because it is named for a journalist with high ideals, integrity, courage and empathy,” she said. “It’s especially meaningful as I think we all know, precisely because it is these same ideals that are often missing in journalism today, and yet are still yearned for with hope to come again.”

After starting her career as an intern for KTVL in Medford, Ore., in 1978, Curry worked at other stations in Portland and Los Angeles. She later became the news anchor for the Today show and eventually for NBC News.

Her work includes interviews with former President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama.

Curry also covered the genocide in Kosovo in 1999 and visited the Republic of Sudan three times between 2006 and 2007 to report on violence and ethnic cleansing. According to WSU Insider, Curry also reported on tsunamis in Southeast Asia and an earthquake in Haiti.

“Each year, faculty members in the Murrow College of Communication consider nominations of potential recipients of this award who best reflect Murrow’s professional ideals and virtues,” said Bruce Pinkleton, dean of the Murrow College. “In honoring Ann Curry with the 2022 Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcast Journalism, we recognize the remarkable quality and indispensable contributions of her work as a journalist.”

The symposium, which features two dozen sessions, keynotes and workshops, was canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, it was held virtually.

At every symposium, the Murrow College recognizes a prominent professional in the communications industry.

Edward R. Murrow graduated from WSU in 1930 and went on to produce work as a journalist into the 1960s. The values he practiced, of seeking and telling the truth, are still taught to students in the Murrow College, according to WSU Provost and Pullman Chancellor Elizabeth Chilton.

“Murrow’s ethical courage, professional excellence and dedication to the truth are perhaps more relevant today than at any time in our nation’s history,” Chilton said. “Today, it’s easy for us to create a personal media environment that avoids uncomfortable truths or fails to provide a full accounting of facts. But the powerful reality is this: truth still matters.”

During her keynote address, Curry said journalism is about getting the truth even when it’s inconvenient.

She added the current public outrage over Russia’s war on civilians in Ukraine is influencing how the U.S. responds to the conflict.

“A senior U.S. official once quietly told me that it was only when the American public is aware about an injustice that there is any chance that Washington D.C. will have the political will to do something about it,” Curry said. “Despite all of our conflicts, our deepest human instinct is to help each other survive.”

Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.