BANFF – Renowned journalist Dan Rather will receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2014 Banff World Media Festival in June.
The award, which will be presented during the Rockie Awards gala ceremony on June 10, recognizes an individual who has significantly enriched the world of entertainment with their lifetime contribution to the industry. Past honorees include Sir David Attenborough, James Burrows, William Shatner, Larry King, and Christine Baranski. Rather will also be featured in a one-on-one interview at the Festival, giving delegates an unprecedented opportunity to hear directly from the broadcast legend about his celebrated career.
Perhaps the best-known journalist in the world, Dan Rather (pictured) served as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 1981 to 2005, the longest such tenure in broadcast journalism history. He has covered virtually every major event in the world in the past 60 years. His resume reads like a history book, from his early local reporting in Texas on Hurricane Carla to his unparalleled work covering the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the civil rights movement, the White House and national politics and wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia and Iraq. From his first days as the Associated Press reporter in Huntsville, Texas in 1950, Rather has more than earned his reputation as the “hardest working man in broadcast journalism.”
“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 the news release. “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.”
The 35th annual Banff World Media Festival will take place June 8 – 11, 2014 at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta.
