Byron Pitts

Last updated
Byron Pitts
Byron Pitts 2011.jpg
Pitts in 2011
Born (1960-10-21) October 21, 1960 (age 64)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Education Ohio Wesleyan University
Occupation Television journalist
Years active1983–present
Notable credit(s) CBS Evening News
60 Minutes
Nightline
Children3

Byron Pitts (born October 21, 1960) is an American journalist and author, working for ABC News as co-anchor for the network's late night news program, Nightline . [1] Until March 2013, he served as a chief national correspondent for The CBS Evening News and contributed regularly to 60 Minutes .

Contents

Early life

Pitts was born October 21, 1960, to Clarice and William Pitts [2] in Baltimore, Maryland. [3] He grew up in a working-class neighborhood, raised by a single mother. [4] In his memoir, Pitts discussed that he had a debilitating stutter as a child and was "functionally illiterate" until about age 12. He attended Archbishop Curley High School, an all-boys Catholic high school in Baltimore. He went on to Ohio Wesleyan University, but spent summers in Apex, North Carolina. [5] He graduated in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and speech communication.

Career

Pitts has always wanted to be a journalist. It was his goal, since he was 18 years old, to be a correspondent on the CBS show 60 Minutes. [5] He interned at WTVD in Durham, North Carolina. After graduation, he bounced around to various television stations on the East Coast. During 1983–84, he reported and served as weekend sports anchor at WNCT-TV in Greenville, North Carolina He was a military reporter for WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, Virginia (1984–86) and a reporter for WESH-TV Orlando (1986–88). He moved across the Florida peninsula to Tampa to be a reporter and substitute anchor for WFLA-TV (1988–89). After a brief stint there, he moved to Boston as a special assignment reporter for WCVB-TV (1989–94). His last local job was as a general assignment reporter for WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia (1994–96).

Pitts then moved to Washington, D.C. as a correspondent for CBS Newspath , the 24-hour affiliate news service of CBS News (1997–98). He was named a CBS News correspondent in May 1998, and was based in the Miami (1998–99) and Atlanta (1999–2001) bureaus and eventually New York City in January 2001.

Pitts was one of CBS News' lead reporters during the September 11 attacks and won a national Emmy Award for his coverage. As an embedded reporter covering the Iraq War, he was recognized for his work under fire within minutes of the fall of the Saddam Hussein statue. Other major stories covered by Pitts include Hurricane Katrina, the war in Afghanistan, the military buildup in Kuwait, the Florida fires, the Elian Gonzalez story, the Florida Presidential recount, the mudslides in Central America and the refugee crisis in Kosovo.

Pitts other awards include a national Emmy Award for his coverage of the Chicago train wreck in 1999 and a National Association of Black Journalists Award (2002). He is also the recipient of four Associated Press Awards and six regional Emmy Awards.

Pitts published a memoir, Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges on September 29, 2009.

Personal life

Pitts has a daughter, Christiani Pitts (born 1998), who is a TV and theater actress. [6]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Guthrie, Marisa. "Correspondent Byron Pitts Departing CBS News for ABC News". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  2. ↑ "Byron Pitts Found Faith To 'Step Out On Nothing'". NPR. November 16, 2009. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Byron Pitts". CBS News. 2002-10-09. Archived from the original on September 14, 2006. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  4. ↑ "Byron Pitts". Greater Talent Network Speakers Bureau. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  5. 1 2 Menconi, David "How Byron Pitts came out on top". News Observer. December 17, 2009. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
  6. ↑ Weaver, Hilary (2018-11-08). "Meet Christiani Pitts, the First Woman of Color to Play King Kong's Ann Darrow". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2024-10-28.

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