‘ABC World News’ anchor David Muir chosen for Arizona State University’s Cronkite Award

PHOENIX (AP) — David Muir, anchor of “ABC World News Tonight,” will be the next recipient of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, the school announced Tuesday.

The managing editor of the nightly newscast, Muir will accept the award in February at a luncheon in downtown Phoenix.

This will be the 40th year the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication has given out the accolade.

The honor is named for the legendary CBS news broadcaster, who covered the tumult of the 1960s and 1970s, from the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the U.S., to the international crises of the Vietnam War and the Iranian hostage crisis.

To receive an award in Cronkite’s name “is not only deeply humbling, it’s a call for us to live up to those standards especially when they’re needed most,” Muir said in a statement.

Muir, who is also co-anchor of ABC’s “20/20,” was a reporter and anchor at TV stations in Boston and Syracuse, New York, prior to joining the network. At ABC, he has conducted exclusive interviews with several world leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv last year.

Past honorees of the Cronkite Award include Bob Woodward, Christiane Amanpour and Gayle King.