Paul White Award
Named for the first news director of CBS, the Paul White Award is RTDNA's highest honor and recognizes an individual's lifetime contributions to electronic journalism. The Paul White Award is presented annually at RTDNA's conference.
2025 Recipient: Dean Baquet, The New York Times
Dean Baquet, the former executive editor of The New York Times and an innovative force in American journalism, will be honored as the 2025 recipient of the Radio Television Digital News Association’s Paul White Award.
The Paul White Award, named for the first news director of CBS, is RTDNA’s highest honor, presented annually to recognize a lifetime of achievement and service to the journalism profession.
“Dean Baquet will go down in journalism history as a transformative leader helping to bring the ‘Gray Lady’ into the 21st century by ensuring it now reaches news consumers wherever they are,” said RTDNA President and CEO Dan Shelley. “Even more important, he upheld the highest standards of ethical, responsible reporting, never shying away from holding those in power accountable to the public they served.”
Baquet will be recognized during an awards ceremony and reception June 13 at RTDNA25 in New Orleans.
2024: Ilia Calderón
2023: Pierre Thomas
2022: Judy Woodruff
2021: Susan Zirinsky
2020: Byron Pitts
2019: Scott Pelley
2018: Bill Whitaker
2017: Lester Holt
2016: Charlie Rose
2015: Lesley Stahl
2014: Dick Ebersol
2013: Chris Wallace
2012: Jeff Fager
2011: Linda Ellerbee
2010: Steve Kroft
2009: Fred Young
2008: Sam Donaldson, Tim Russert
2007: Christiane Amanpour
2006: Charles Gibson
2005: Charles Osgood
2004: Ted Koppel
2003: Bob Schieffer
2002: Tom Brokaw
2001: Jim McKay
2000: Ed Bradley
1999: Tom Johnson
1998: Jane Pauley
1997: Dan Rather
1996: Bernard Shaw
1995: Peter Jennings
1994: Charles Kuralt
1993: Ed Bliss
1992: Paul Harvey
1991: Mike Wallace
1990: Robert MacNeil, Jim Lehrer
1989: R.E. "Ted" Turner
1988: Douglas Edwards
1987: Don Hewitt
1986: Fred Friendly
1985: Barbara Walters
1984: Ralph Renick
1983: John Chancellor
1982: David Brinkley
1981: Walter Cronkite
1980: Pauline Frederick
1979: Dick Salant
1978: Bill Monroe
1977: Eric Sevareid
1976: Ted Koop
1975: Elmer Lower
1974: Bill Small
1973: Julian Goodman
1972: Sam Ervin
1971: Dr. Frank Stanton
1970: Walter Cronkite
1969: Judge Herbert B. Walker
1968: W. Theodore Pierson
1967: Sol Taishoff
1966: Morley Safer
1965: Ralph Blumberg
1964: Edward R. Murrow
1962: Howard K. Smith
1961: John F. Kennedy
1959: Jim Hagerty
1958: Robert D. Swezey
1957: Dr. Frank Stanton
1956: Hugh Terry