Diane Sawyer Pays Sweet Tribute to David Muir as He’s Named One of Time’s 100 Most Influential People
Veteran broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer has penned a touching tribute to ABC News’ David Muir, who was named in the Time100 Most Influential People of the Year list.
Muir was named an “Icon” for his reporting over the past year on the evening news program World News Tonight, the long-running show he took over from Sawyer in 2014. Over the years, the show has been anchored by the likes of Peter Jennings, Bob Woodruff, Elizabeth Vargas, and Charles Gibson.
“Like Peter Jennings before him, David is authoritative and dynamic—the first out the door to the story,” Sawyer wrote. “Iraq’s hunt for ISIS. Hurricanes, fires. He traveled days to hold the hands of starving children in Madagascar and South Sudan, leading to millions of dollars in donations to the World Food Programme.”
“I think I know what destiny looks like because I’ve seen a photo of a serious 13-year-old boy, talking his way into an internship at the local TV station. Now he’s the anchor chosen for interviews by Popes and Presidents. He shows up calm, respectful, and fearless,” she added.
Muir grew up in Onondaga Hill, New York, and attended Onondaga Central Junior-Senior High School, during which he interned at WTVH-TV in Syracuse. He went on to graduate magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism in May 1995 from Ithaca College and also spent a semester at Institute on Political Journalism at the Fund for American Studies at Georgetown University.
He joined ABC News in August 2003 as anchor of World News Now and later World News This Morning and World News Saturday. He’d later go on to co-anchor ABC’s 20/20 with Vargas before landing his current spot as anchor of World News Tonight.
“I am lucky that my successor is also the irreverent friend I want to hang out with when the camera shuts down,” Sawyer continued in her write-up for Time100. “Though I am also miffed that he’s the guy who can leap two flights of stairs, vault into the anchor chair, and never lose focus—or his breath.”
World News Tonight currently ranks as the No. 1 most watched television news program across broadcast, beating out NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News. Muir is often credited with the ratings increase at ABC News.
“Every night more than 8 million Americans trust him to make sense of the day,” Sawyer wrote.
Other honorees in this year’s Time100 include Serena Williams, Demi Moore, Snoop Dogg, Ed Sheeran, Adrien Brody, Simone Biles, Blake Lively, and Lorne Michaels.
World News Tonight with David Muir, Weeknights, 6:30/5:30c, ABC News
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