David Lawrence
Dewey's Angel Award
Diane Sawyer - Journalist ~
New York, New York
Diane Sawyer began her journalism career in 1967 in Louisville, Kentucky. She was raised nearby in Glasgow, Kentucky. In 1989, Diane became the host of Prime Time Live.
In addition to her duties at PrimeTime, in January of 1999, Diane was named a co-anchor, with Charles Gibson, of Good Morning America.
Sawyer has a long history of award-winning investigative reports and has traveled extensively around the United States and abroad to report on and investigate a wide range of topics and to interview a diverse group of newsmakers and personalities.
Most importantly, she has reported on those forgotten like the woman in Afganistan and the orphans.
Diane visited Afganistan five years ago to film and interview five Afganistan women who wanted to speak out against the Taliban about how the Taliban were treating women. Diane put herself in harms way. If she had been caught by the Taliban, she would have been arrested by the Taliban. Instead, she courgesouly interviewed these women so their story could be told.
In early March on Good Morning America she returned to Afganistan to followup on these five women she has interviewed five years ago and to report on the orphange in Afganistan she had also visited five years ago. Diane has a heart of gold when it comes to children. What she found at the orphanage was horrific. There are 700 orphans that have lost both parents. These children are lucky to get one bowl of food a day. And sadly, these children are lucky to get one piece of fruit a year. Yes, I said a year. This is deplorable that any child should go hungry anywhere in the world. You can help these starving orphans by sending a donation to help provide much needed food. Here are the details.
You can call 1-800-FOR-KIDS to donate via telephone, or send donations to:
US Fund for Unicef
333 East 38th Street
New York, New York 10016.
You need to send a note or write in on whatever you send check, money order
specifying "Afghan Relief for Children".
Also write "Orphanage in Kabul" in parentheses on the check or money order.
My hat goes off to Diane. Diane is a courgeous journalist because she reports what must be reported, even at the risk of her own life. She has no qualms on reporting the truth, whatever it may be. Thank you Diane for being the jounalist that you are! Be sure you catch Diane on Good Morning America and Primetime.
You can read Diane's story about her trip five years ago to interview those five Afganistan women and her recent return trip just a few short weeks ago to re-visit them and to visit the orphanage... HERE
You can also read Diane's recent online chat with readers at ABCNEWS HERE
Here is just a couple of the questions recently asked Diane by viewers regarding her trips to Afganistan.
Questions are in RED
"As you were walking through Kabul, did you experience or feel any hostility?"
DIANE SAWYER'S REPLY:
"You get glares. You get wariness. But nothing like 1996 when the Taliban would shove you and threaten you because they could see your hair, and it was obvious you were from the West and they had rifles and shoulder-guided missiles."
"With the recent murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter still in the news, I am reminded of the danger you put yourself in. Was there any time during your 1996 visit, while wearing a burqa, that you felt threatened and, if so, was there any plan in place for your safety?"
DIANE SAWYER'S REPLY:
Maybe I'm a journalist because I have a blind spot: I keep forgetting I'm in danger. I had no idea it was against Taliban law and would have sent me straight to jail if I'd been caught wearing the burqa and filming. Even if I had known it, I probably would have done just what I did. To me, the story was so powerful it put everything else in peripheral vision.
And no, there was no plan for my safety - just a producer who would have been pretty horrified if I hadn't returned to the group.
If you would like to read about Diane's extensive journalism career, CLICK HERE
If you know of someone you would like to nominate for this recognization here on my website, then email me David Lawrence Dewey
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