Schieffer Gets Freedom Forum's Free Spirit Award

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

CBS Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer has been named the 2007 Free Spirit award winner by the Freedom Forum.

The forum, formerly the Gannett Foundation, selects "free spirited" individuals each year who embody its ideals of "Dream, Dare, Do."Schieffer gets the nod for a nearly 50-year career in journalism that has included hosting venerable Sunday public affairs show and recently

stepping in to replace CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather

while CBS searched for a permanent replacement--Katie Couric.The forum's free spirit of choice can be "a risk-taker, a visionary, an innovator, an entrepreneur or a courageous achiever who accomplishes great things beyond his or her normal circumstances. " The forum did not specify which applied to Schieffer.Schieffer will get the award on March 21 at the National Press Club in Washington.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.