Bernard Shaw, a top CNN anchor for 20 years, who is also known for his powerful coverage from Tiananmen Square in Beijing during the Chinese government’s crackdown on people protesters in 1989 and from Baghdad at the start of the Persian Gulf War two years later, died on Wednesday. He was 82 years old.
The death, at a hospital in Washington, was confirmed in a statement by Chris Licht, CNN’s president and chief executive officer. The cause is pneumonia.
When the Gulf war began in January 1991, Shaw was watching from the balcony of the Al-Rashid hotel as air strikes and anti-aircraft fire filled the air in Iraq’s capital city.
“The sky over Baghdad was illuminated,” he said. “This is thunder. This is lightning. This is death. This is hell.”
Two years ago, when he was covering CNN from Tiananmen Square, he informed viewers that the Chinese government was about to cut off the network’s live coverage before signing.
Known for his lasting influence at his desk and from the field, Mr. Shaw worked at CBS News and ABC News before leaving the comfort of television news to join a career gamble. career when he joined Ted Turner’s fledgling Cable News Network in 1980.
He was one of the first Black hosts of a network news program, after Max Robinson, who became co-broadcast of ABC News’ “World News Tonight” in 1978.
Wolf Blitzer, a CNN host, recalled that Shaw remained in Baghdad for several days after the war despite the dangers of the mission. “When he came back, I told him how worried we were and he was risking his life for all of us,” Mr. Blitzer said, “and he said, “It was.” was a huge news story, so we stayed.”
Lisa Napoli, author of the book “Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News” (2020), wrote in an email that when CNN started, “Shaw defined CNN for what it was.” a small audience,” but “he showed the networks that the concept of a news channel is powerful.”
A full obituary will appear soon.
