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8 April 2019 Whitaker73, L.H.D. 97 Honored as Giant of Broadcasting
HWSTrusteeand Emmy Award-winning60 Minutescorrespondent Bill Whitaker73, L.H.D. 97 was among the honorees 2018 Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts celebration in December.
The annual event honors distinguished individuals who have for the past century been the creators, innovators, journalists, leaders, performers, and producers that have brought the electronic arts to the prominence they occupy in the United States and the world today, and who have set the stage for the future.
A member of the HWS Board of Trustees for more than a decade, Whitaker joined60 Minutesin 2014, investigating stories across the world from the Syrian refugee crisis to the issue of race and policing in America. In 2016, his reporting on the segment The Swiss Leaks, about the biggest data breach in Swiss banking history, earned him and his colleagues a2016 Emmy Awardfor Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting in a News Magazine.
This years Giants of Broadcasting also included Ed Asner, Ryan Seacrest and Paula Zahn.
Earlier in 2018, Whitaker was awarded theSidney Hillman Prize for his reporting in the segments The Whistleblower and Too Big to Prosecute. The Hillman prizes recognize work in the field of socially conscious journalism, this year honoring Whitaker and his colleagues at60 MinutesandThe Washington Post for their work expos[ing] a war withinDEAover whether to hold the powerful drug industry accountable for fueling the opioidepidemic.
Before joining60 Minutes, during his decades of reporting with CBS News, Whitaker covered many of the major breaking news events and issues of the day, including the pro-democracy uprising in Tienanmen Square in Beijing, the Persian Gulf War, the Unabomber case and the presidential campaign of George W. Bush.
After earning a bachelors degree in American history from Hobart in 1973, he received a masters degree from Boston University in African-American studies and attended the master of journalism program at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1997, Whitaker was awarded an honorary degree by the Colleges for his accomplishments as a journalist and his service to his alma mater.
Details on Whitakers distinguished career and his Life of Consequence can be foundhere.