Bernard Shaw (journalist)
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Bernard Shaw (born May 22, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois) was a leading news anchor for the Cable News Network from 1980 to his retirement in 2001.
He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1963 to 1968. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps[1]
Shaw is widely remembered for the question he posed to Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Michael Dukakis at his second Presidential debate with George H. W. Bush during the 1988 election, which Shaw was moderating. Knowing that Dukakis opposed the death penalty, Shaw asked Dukakis if he would support an irrevocable death penalty for a man who hypothetically raped and murdered Dukakis's wife. Dukakis responded that he would not; some critics felt he framed his response too legalistically and logically, and did not address it sufficiently personally. Other critics thought the question inflammatory and unwarranted at a presidential debate.
He is also remembered for his reporting on the 1991 Gulf War. Reporting with CNN correspondents John Holliman and Peter Arnett from the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, he hid under a desk as he reported cruise missiles flying past his window. He also made frequent trips back and forth from the hotel's bomb shelter. While describing the situation in Baghdad, he famously stated "Clearly I've never been there, but this feels like we're in the center of hell."
Shaw retired from CNN in 2001 to write books and has occasionally appeared on CNN, including in May, 2005 when a plane flew into restricted air space in Washington, D.C.
On January 4, 2006, CNN analyst Jack Cafferty relayed an anecdote about Shaw when discussing the role of the media in the Sago Mine disaster. Cafferty said on CNN's Situation Room that when conversing with Shaw about why he was the only anchor covering the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan to not report that James Brady was dead, Shaw said that he didn't go on air with the information because he didn't have confirmation with "anyone in the room." According to Cafferty, Shaw did not report the erroneous information, when all the network anchors did.
It is believed he is named for the Irish Socialist playwright and dramatist, George Bernard Shaw.
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