Dan Rather has received the Peabody career achievement award, with Dolly Parton presenting the broadcast journalist with the honors. Peabody announced the news on Tuesday morning.
“For more than six decades, Dan Rather has brought his righteous passion, his intelligence, his boldness, his humor and his commitment to the truth to the public arena,” Parton said before presenting the award to Rather. “His life’s work has been to ask the questions that matter and to tell the stories that matter.”
The recipient of the career achievement award is selected by the Peabody Board of Jurors, honoring individuals who have made an impact on the field of broadcasting and digital media and contributed to the course of American culture. Past honorees include Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Cicely Tyson and Sam Pollard.
“Dan Rather’s remarkable career — from local news reporter and international correspondent to network anchor — is a textbook example not just of what quality reporting looks like, but how journalists serve democracy well,” said Jeffrey Jones, executive director of the Peabody Awards. “Spanning over six decades, Rather helped viewers understand and interpret some of the most traumatic historical events in our nation’s history, from the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War to 9/11 and more.”
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“While I proudly accept this award for the body of my work, I also fervently hope that I have not seen my last dateline or deadline because I continue to be driven trying to tell the stories of our time,” Rather said in his acceptance speech. “The power of a free press is one of the great insurance policies on freedom and it’s as vital now as it’s ever been.”
Peabody also announced that TV Rain (known in Russian as Dozhd) has been recognized with the journalistic integrity award, which honors professional standards and journalistic integrity. TV Rain was shut down in March after airing criticism of Vladimir Putin amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The remaining 30 winners of the 82nd Annual Peabody Awards will be announced over the course of a multi-day virtual event spanning from June 6 to June 9.
Watch Parton present Rather with the award in a digital presentation below:
