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Benjamin Sampair Tracy (born July 16, 1976) is a rising star in the news broadcast industry and has been a CBS News national correspondent since January 2008.^[1] He is based in Los Angeles and covers the western United States, primarily for the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley and The Early Show.

Tracy was a reporter for WCCO-TV, the CBS-owned station in Minneapolis, where he was a member of the station’s investigative team, covering many major stories, including the methamphetamine epidemic and the collapse of the 35W bridge.

During that time, he also was a contributor to the Saturday Early Show, to which he brought his signature "Good Question" segment, started at WCCO-TV, to a national audience. Tracy also reported for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on the collapse of the 35W bridge in Minneapolis and flooding in southern Minnesota.

Before joining WCCO-TV, Tracy worked as a reporter at WISN-TV Milwaukee and WBAY-TV Green Bay, Wisc. He is the recipient of five Emmy Awards.

Tracy was born in St. Paul, Minn. He graduated from St. Thomas Academy and later from Marquette University with bachelor's degrees in broadcast journalism and political science and with a master’s degree in public service at Marquette University. Tracy lives in Los Angeles.

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• [1] CBS News Link

Tracy Morgan
Morgan discussing his book I Am the New Black, New York City 2009
Birth name	Tracy Jamal Morgan
Born	(1968-11-10) November 10, 1968 (age 43)[1][2] Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand up, Television, Film
Nationality	American
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Black comedy, Musical comedy, Cringe comedy, Character comedy
Subject(s)	African-American culture, Race relations, Racism, Marriage, Family, Self-deprecation, Recreational drug use, Sex, Current events
Spouse	Sabrina Morgan (1985–2009; 3 children) (Divorced)
Notable works and roles	Saturday Night Live Tracy Mitchell in The Tracy Morgan Show Tracy Jordan in 30 Rock Host of Scare Tactics

Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968)^[1][2] is an American actor and comedian who is best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live as well as the role of Tracy Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock.

Early life[link]

Morgan was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the second of five children of Alicia (née Warden), a homemaker, and James Morgan, Jr., a musician. Morgan says his father returned after multiple tours of duty in Vietnam addicted to heroin,^[3] causing him to leave the family when Morgan was six.^[4][5][6] He was the target of bullies as a child.^[7] His older brother had cerebral palsy and could not protect him so he used comedy to make bullies laugh rather than being beat up^[8]. Before Morgan began his career, he worked in New York City as a painter, for L&L Painting and Rose Company.

Early career[link]

Morgan began his career on Martin, where he played Hustle Man. The character sold various items he had from the "hood," always greeting people with his trademark "What's happ'n, chief?" and had a pet dog that he dressed as a rapper. In the 2003 Chris Rock film Head of State, Morgan appeared as a man watching television, often questioning why they are not watching Martin.

Morgan was also a regular cast member on Uptown Comedy Club,^[9] a sketch comedy show filmed in Harlem which aired for two seasons between 1992 to 1994. He was also on the HBO show Snaps.

[edit] Saturday Night Live

Morgan joined the cast of comedy show Saturday Night Live in 1996, where he performed as a regular until 2003. In December 2011, he made a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live's Christmas show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon.

Recurring characters[link]

He performed a variety of characters on the program, including:

• Brian Fellow
• Uncle Jemima
• Dominican Lou
• Bishop Don "Mack" Donald
• Astronaut Jones
• African Andy
• Benny the Bengal
• Woodrow

Notable impressions[link]

Morgan is also credited with impressions of:

On March 14, 2009, Morgan returned to SNL as host and reprised his roles of Brian Fellow and Astronaut Jones.

[edit] 30 Rock

Since 2006, Morgan has been a cast member of the NBC television show 30 Rock, playing the character Tracy Jordan, a caricature of himself. His work on 30 Rock has been well-received, being nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 2009 Emmy Awards.^[10]

Other work[link]

Morgan performing stand-up in 2008.

Morgan had his own show, The Tracy Morgan Show, in 2003, which was canceled after one season.

Morgan also had a stand-up special entitled "One Mic" that was shown on Comedy Central. He also was the host of the first Spike Guys' Choice Awards, which aired on June 13, 2007. In 2003, he was on an episode of Punk'd in which his car was towed from the valet parking. He can be heard as "Spoonie Luv" on the Comedy Central program Crank Yankers and as Woof in the MTV2 Animated Series Where My Dogs At?.

Morgan acted in commercials for ESPN NFL 2K, ESPN NBA 2K, and ESPN NHL 2K, where he co-starred with Warren Sapp, Ben Wallace and Jeremy Roenick. He appeared in the movie The Longest Yard, starring Adam Sandler, as a transvestite inmate.^[11]

Morgan has hosted the VH1 Hip Hop Honors for 2 consecutive years and hosted the third season of Scare Tactics, the Sci Fi Channel's hidden camera show that pranks people by using their worst fears against them.

Morgan voiced Agent Blaster in Disney's G-Force and a Bulldog named luiz in the Blue Sky Animation Studios film Rio.

Autobiography[link]

On October 20, 2009, Morgan's autobiography I Am the New Black was released. The book includes stories from his life living in Tompkins Projects in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, to becoming a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Tracy appeared on National Public Radio's Fresh Air hosted by Terry Gross, at times tearing up about his former life in a New York ghetto.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Morgan claims to have a number of tattoos, including: a peace sign; a happy and sad face; a cross bearing the names of his wife and three sons; the name of a friend he played football with in high school who was murdered; the words ME, MYSELF, & I on his back; and the phrase Stove Top.^[12]

Family[link]

Morgan married his high school sweetheart Sabrina in 1985. They have three sons together. Their sons' names are Bobby Morgan, Tracy Jr., and Chris Morgan.^[13] Morgan filed for divorce at Bronx Supreme Court on August 7, 2009 after 23 years of marriage, although he and his wife had been already separated for eight years. A friend told the New York Daily News, "Basically they were divorced without the paperwork."^[14] Morgan credits one of his sons with having saved him from his alcoholism.^[15] Morgan is estranged from his mother and most of his family.^[16]

On September 18, 2011, it was announced that Morgan is engaged to model Megan Wollover. Morgan proposed to Wollover while the couple were in San Francisco.^[17]

Health problems[link]

In 1996, he was diagnosed with diabetes, but says he never took it seriously, refusing to take medication or change his diet. After running a 104-degree Fahrenheit fever on the set of 30 Rock, Morgan decided to finally comply with his doctor's orders. He is now very cautious when it comes to the condition. With his consent, many of Morgan's own troubles have been incorporated within episodes of 30 Rock.^[18]

In early December 2010, Tracy Morgan received a kidney transplant. It was announced on December 22, 2010 that he was resting and would miss "at least two episodes" of 30 Rock in 2011.^[19]

On January 22, 2012, Morgan collapsed at an awards ceremony for the Sundance Film Festival. He appeared disoriented while giving a speech, and he was escorted out of the building before collapsing outside. Hospital officials stated that no drugs or alcohol were found in his system. His publicist attributed the incident to a combination of exhaustion and altitude sickness.^[20]

Legal troubles[link]

On December 2, 2005, Morgan was arrested in Los Angeles on impaired driving charges after police stopped him for speeding. On February 17, 2006, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, fined $390 and ordered to attend an alcohol education program.^[21]

In November 2006, Morgan was arrested for DUI after police spotted him driving erratically and was also charged with probation violation. In April 2007, Morgan entered a guilty plea where he had to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet and perform five days of community service.^[22]

Controversies[link]

On January 27, 2011, Morgan appeared on the NBA on TNT pregame coverage of the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks nationally televised live basketball game. During the appearance, commentators Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith asked Morgan to choose between Sarah Palin and Tina Fey on who was better looking (Fey portrays Palin on Saturday Night Live and is a coworker of Morgan). Morgan said Palin was "good masturbation material". The comment led TNT to apologize for his remarks on live camera.^[23]

On June 3, 2011, during a performance in Nashville, Tennessee, Morgan made offensive remarks against gay people, reportedly including that, if his son was gay, he'd better speak to him like a man or he would "pull out a knife and stab" him. Morgan apologized, saying that he had "gone too far".^[24] NBC Entertainment head Bob Greenblatt stated, "I speak for NBC and myself personally when I say we do not condone hate or violence of any kind, and I am pleased to see Tracy Morgan apologizing for recent homophobic remarks in his standup appearance... Unfortunately, Tracy's comments reflect negatively on both 30 Rock and NBC — two very all-inclusive and diverse organizations — and we have made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated." Tina Fey, Morgan's boss both in fiction and in real life, said, "I'm glad to hear that Tracy apologized .... but the violent imagery of Tracy's rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the LGBT community...the Tracy Morgan I know, ...is not a hateful man and [would never] hurt another person. I hope for his sake that Tracy's apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian co-workers at 30 Rock, without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket."^[25]

On June 25, 2011, during a show at Caroline's in New York City, Morgan made derogatory comments about disabled children, saying things such as, "Don't ever mess with women who have retarded kids,"^[26] and referring to a woman as "a cripple". Peter Bernes, CEO of The Arc, an organization supporting people with disabilities, stated, "Tracy Morgan should apologize immediately. This quote is far too offensive to be excused as comedy, and it is very hurtful to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Mr. Morgan has an incredibly powerful platform from which to fix this, and if he's learned anything in the last few weeks, he can't bomb this apology."^[27]

Awards/nominations[link]

• Emmy Awards
  • 2009, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock, nominated
• Image Awards
  • 2008, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock, nominated
  • 2007, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock, nominated

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tracy Morgan

• Tracy Morgan on Twitter
• Works by or about Tracy Morgan in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Tracy Morgan at the Internet Movie Database
• Tracy Morgan collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Interview with Tracy Morgan
• Tracy Morgan at Emmys.com

Ben Wallace

Ben Wallace in 2009.
No. 6 – Detroit Pistons
Center / Power forward
Personal information
Born	(1974-09-10) September 10, 1974 (age 37) White Hall, Alabama
Nationality	American
High school	Central HS (Hayneville, Alabama)
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
College	Cuyahoga CC (1992–1994) Virginia Union (1994–1996)
Pro career	1996–present
Career history
1996–1999	Washington Bullets / Wizards
1999–2000	Orlando Magic
2000–2006	Detroit Pistons
2006–2008	Chicago Bulls
2008–2009	Cleveland Cavaliers
2009–present	Detroit Pistons
Career highlights and awards
NBA Champion (2004) 4× NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2002–2003, 2005–2006) 4× NBA All-Star (2003–2006) 3× All-NBA Second Team (2003–2004, 2006) 2× All-NBA Third Team (2002, 2005) 2× NBA Rebounding Champion (2002, 2003) NBA blocks leader (2002) 5× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2002–2006) NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2007)

Ben Camey Wallace (born September 10, 1974) is an American basketball center for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. A native of Alabama, Wallace attended Cuyahoga Community College and Virginia Union University and signed with the Washington Bullets (later Wizards) as an undrafted free agent in 1996. In his NBA career, Wallace has also played the power forward position and with the Washington Bullets/Wizards, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers teams.

He has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times, a record he shares with Dikembe Mutombo. In six seasons with the Pistons (2000–2006), Wallace made two NBA Finals appearances (2004 and 2005) and won a championship with the Pistons in 2004.

Early life[link]

Ben Wallace was born in White Hall, Alabama, a small town in Lowndes County, and is the tenth of eleven children. He later attended Central High School in Hayneville where he received all-state honors in basketball, baseball, and football (as a linebacker). Former basketball player Charles Oakley is Wallace's mentor, having discovered Wallace at a 1991 basketball camp, and later recommended Wallace to his previous college, Virginia Union.

College career[link]

Wallace first played college basketball on the junior college level at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland for two years. There, staples of Wallace's defensive prowess were shown as he averaged 17.0 rebounds and 6.9 blocks per game. He then transferred to Virginia Union, a Division II school, where he studied criminal justice. Wallace averaged 13.4 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per game as a member of the Virginia Union Panthers, whom he led to the Division II Final Four and a 28–3 record.^[1] As a senior, Wallace was named to the First-Team All CIAA and was selected as a First Team All-American (Div. II) by the NABC. Wallace was a letterman in football, baseball, basketball and track. He won All-State honors in all but track.

NBA career[link]

Early career[link]

As an undrafted player, he was signed as a rookie free agent by the Washington Bullets on October 2, 1996 after playing in Italy. In 1999, Wallace was traded to the Orlando Magic along with Tim Legler, Terry Davis, and Jeff McInnis for Ike Austin.

Detroit Pistons[link]

On August 3, 2000, he was traded along with Chucky Atkins to the Detroit Pistons for Grant Hill, in what was at the time considered a one-sided trade; Hill had planned to sign with Orlando as an unrestricted free agent, but the sign and trade deal allowed Hill to receive a slightly more lucrative contract while Detroit received at least some compensation for losing its marquee player. Since the trade, Wallace won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, and 2005–06 seasons, and was selected to six All-Defensive teams. In the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons, he led the league in both rebounds and blocked shots, the first to do so since Hakeem Olajuwon. In 2003, he was voted by fans to the first of his four NBA All-Star Game appearances as a center for the Eastern Conference.

Near the end of a November 2004 game against the Indiana Pacers, Wallace responded to a foul by Indiana's Ron Artest by shoving Artest, which eventually led to the Pacers–Pistons brawl, involving both players and spectators. Wallace was suspended for six games, and his brother David Wallace, received a year of probation and community service for punching Indiana players in the stands.^[2]

Wallace during his tenure with the Bulls

The game was a rematch of the heated Eastern Conference finals which the Detroit Pistons won on their way to the 2004 NBA Finals where they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 on the back of Wallace's effective and strong defense against a declining but still dominant Shaquille O'Neal.

The Pistons began a tradition of sounding a deep chime whenever "Big Ben" scored or recorded a block on Detroit's home court, The Palace of Auburn Hills – an allusion to the original Big Ben in London. (The Bulls and Cavaliers continued the gimmick during his respective tenures with Chicago and Cleveland).

Chicago Bulls[link]

On July 3, 2006, Wallace agreed to a four-year, $60 million deal with the Chicago Bulls.^[3] Chicago Bulls coach Scott Skiles had a strict "no-headband" policy, but decided to make an exception for Wallace when his teammates voted in favor of allowing him to keep the signature headband.^[4] During his two-year run in Chicago, Wallace battled with various knee injuries and averaged 5.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.0 blocks per game.

Cleveland Cavaliers[link]

Wallace during his tenure with the Cavs

On February 21, 2008, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of a three-team deal that included the Seattle SuperSonics and the Chicago Bulls.^[5] The deal moved Wallace to the power forward position with Zydrunas Ilgauskas as the starting center. Following the trade, Wallace played in 22 regular season games (all starts). In 26.3 minutes, he averaged 4.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. In 72 total regular season games Wallace averaged 4.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.^[6] Wallace had a Cavalier regular season high of 12 points on February 24, 2008 against the Memphis Grizzlies, and had regular season Cavalier highs of 15 rebounds against the Charlotte Bobcats and four blocks against the Orlando Magic.^[7] In the 2008 playoffs, Wallace played in 13 games (all starts) and averaged 3.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.^[6] He had his playoff high of 12 rebounds in Game 4 win against the Washington Wizards in the first round of the NBA playoffs.^[7] On November 25, 2008, Wallace grabbed his 9,000th career rebound and blocked his 1,900th career shot.

On June 25, 2009, Wallace was traded to the Phoenix Suns with Sasha Pavlović, a second round draft pick and $500k for Shaquille O'Neal.^[8] On July 13, 2009, the Suns bought out Wallace's $14 million contract, saving $8 million in the process. Wallace actually received $10 million but Phoenix was in luxury tax so the savings were effectively doubled.

Return to Pistons[link]

On August 7, 2009, Wallace agreed to re-sign with the Pistons as a free agent to a 1-year deal. He formerly wore #3 with the Pistons, but changed his jersey to #6 upon his return, allowing Rodney Stuckey to keep that number. On July 11, 2010, Wallace agreed to a 2-year deal with the Pistons.^[9]

On August 4, 2010, Wallace was re-signed by the Pistons.^[10] On November 30, 2010, in a 90-79 road loss to the Orlando Magic, Wallace surpassed the 10,000 rebound mark for his career, becoming the 34th player in NBA history to achieve that mark.

On December 22, 2010, in a 115–93 road win over the Raptors, Wallace played his 1,000th game becoming the 95th player in NBA history to achieve this record.

On February 14, 2012, Wallace played his 1055th game, passing the record held by Avery Johnson for most games by an undrafted player.^[11] The same night, Wallace announced his plan to retire at the end of the 2011-12 season.

Player profile[link]

Ben Wallace primarily plays the center position despite being somewhat undersized. Wallace is listed at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), 240 lbs, a frame that is more suited for a forward rather than a true center. He, himself, admits his actual height is 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m).^[12] However, Wallace's long wingspan, brute strength, tenacity, and keen ball awareness make up for his lack of height at the center position. As a result, he is lauded for his prolific rebounding and shot blocking,^[12] having been voted the NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times. Unfortunately, Wallace lacks solid offensive scoring skills, with most of his points coming from offensive put-backs, baskets in transition, or other high-percentage field goals. His most problematic area on offense is his free throw shooting. Wallace's career free throw shooting percentage has never exceeded 50%.^[13] This has often led teams to foul him much like the Hack-a-Shaq defense.^[14]

Personal life[link]

Wallace is married to Chanda and is the father of two sons, Ben Jr. and Bryce, and one daughter, Bailey.^[15] Wallace appeared on the cover of ESPN NBA 2K5. An inflatable basketball training aid of Wallace's likeness, called the Inflatable Defender, is manufactured by PlayAir Systems. His sneaker, the Big Ben was released November 5, 2007 under Stephon Marbury's Starbury label and sold for $14.98 at Steve & Barry's stores.^[16] Fans often arrived at games sporting wigs in honor of his trademark afro hairstyle.^{[citation needed]} However, he usually only had the afro for home games; for away games, he had his hair styled into cornrows.^{[citation needed]} In 2011, Wallace was arrested and charged with DWI and carrying a concealed weapon.^[17] Wallace noted to Arda Ocal of The Score Television Network that he is a fan of professional wrestling, citing some of his favourite wrestlers as Andre the Giant, Big John Studd, Hulk Hogan and John Cena.^[18]

Honors and statistical highs[link]

Wallace is honored with the Pistons at the White House for the team's victory in the 2004 NBA Finals.

• NBA Champion: 2004
• 4× NBA All-Star: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
• 4× NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006
• 6× All-NBA Defensive Team:

• First Team: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
• Second Team: 2007

• 5× All-NBA:

• Second Team: 2003, 2004, 2006
• Third Team: 2002, 2005

• 2× NBA regular-season leader, rebounds per game: 2002 (13.0), 2003 (15.4)
• NBA regular-season leader, blocks per game: 2002 (3.5)
• 2× NBA regular-season leader, total rebounds: 2001 (1052), 2003 (1026)
• NBA regular-season leader, total defensive rebounds: 2001 (749)
• 2× NBA regular-season leader, total offensive rebounds: 2003 (293), 2006 (301)
• NBA regular-season leader, total blocks: 2002 (278)

NBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

Playoffs[link]

See also[link]

• List of National Basketball Association players with 1000 games played
• List of National Basketball Association career rebounding leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career blocks leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career playoff rebounding leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career playoff steals leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career playoff blocks leaders
• List of National Basketball Association players with 10 or more blocks in a game

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ben Wallace

• Ben Wallace at NBA.com
• Ben Wallace at Basketball-Reference.com

Scott Pelley
Pelley with President Barack Obama in the Diplomatic Receiving Room of the White House, 2011.
Born	Scott Cameron Pelley (1957-07-28) July 28, 1957 (age 54) San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Education	Texas Tech University
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	1975–present
Notable credit(s)	60 Minutes 60 Minutes II CBS Evening News

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

Scott Cameron Pelley (born July 28, 1957) is an American television journalist who is currently anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News and a correspondent for the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes. Prior to his 60 Minutes position, Pelley was a correspondent for the 60 Minutes II program and served as CBS News's chief White House correspondent.^[1]

Early life[link]

Born in San Antonio, Texas,^[1] Pelley grew up in Lubbock, where he graduated from Coronado High School and obtained his first job in journalism at the age of fifteen as a copyboy for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Staying close to home, he majored in journalism at Texas Tech University, in Lubbock.^[2]

Family[link]

Pelley is married to the former Jane Boone and has two children, daughter Blair and son Reece. They reside in Darien, Connecticut.^[3]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Pelley began his career as a broadcast journalist at Lubbock's KSEL-TV in 1975. He moved on to KXAS-TV in Fort Worth in 1978, then jumped to WFAA-TV in Dallas in 1982, remaining there for seven years. In 1985, Pelley's reporting on Guatemalan refugees living in remote jungles of Mexico caught the attention of executives at CBS News, but it would be another four years before Pelley would move to the CBS network.

Scott Pelley, in Antarctica, 2007

CBS News[link]

Pelley's CBS career started in New York City in 1989. Later, he returned to Dallas to cover national affairs from the CBS bureau. Pelley covered the 1990/91 Gulf war, reporting from Baghdad and traveling with the XVIII Airborne Corps in its assault on Iraq and Kuwait. He was assigned to cover the 1992 presidential campaigns of Ross Perot and Bill Clinton, and also reported on such major events as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Branch Davidian siege near Waco, Texas, and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Pelley served as CBS News' Chief White House Correspondent from 1997 to 1999. During that time, President Clinton was impeached by the United States House of Representatives. In covering the investigation of the president, Pelley broke the news that Monica Lewinsky had become a cooperating witness in the investigation conducted by the Office of Independent Counsel. Pelley was also first to report that President Clinton had been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Later, in 2001, Pelley got the first interview with former president Clinton in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks.

Scott Pelley with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office.

[edit] 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II

In 1999, Pelley left the White House to join 60 Minutes II shortly after its inception. In 2000, Pelley landed the first interview with the new president-elect, George W. Bush. The next year, on the morning of September 11, Pelley reported from the scene of the collapsing World Trade Center towers. In 2002, Pelley landed the only interview with President Bush on the anniversary of 9/11. In 2003, Pelley began filing reports for 60 Minutes on Sunday. He moved to the Sunday edition of the broadcast in 2004.

Scott Pelley interviewing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke

In recent years Pelley's work has featured reporting on the economic collapse of 2008-2009, on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and reporting on climate change from Antarctica and the Arctic. In 2008, Pelley conducted an interview with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The interview was the first with a Fed Chairman in decades and broke a long standing Federal Reserve tradition. The broadcast was honored with an Emmy Award.

In a 2007 article in USA Today,^{[citation needed]} Pelley told columnist Peter Johnson, "I am looking for epic stories of human struggle, big issues that I can get my arms around — especially in places that are difficult to get to and which most people don't see."

War reporting[link]

Pelley with Darfur refugees, 2006.

Starting with the Persian Gulf crisis of 1990 and the 1991 invasion of Iraq, Pelley has reported extensively from many war zones, including the former Yugoslavia and post-Taliban Afghanistan. In 2003, Pelley and a 60 Minutes team opted out of the Pentagon's embed system and covered the invasion of Iraq independently from the initial strike to the fall of Baghdad. He has returned to Iraq frequently to report on the insurgency. In 2006 and 2007 he filed reports on the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. In his 2007 report, Pelley enlisted the help of a rebel group to organize an armed reconnaissance into Darfur. The story revealed a village that had been destroyed by government forces in their campaign of genocide. The Darfur report was honored with an Emmy Award. In a review of the story, the Washington Times wrote, "The legacy of (Edward R.) Murrow lives at CBS in the daring, long-range investigations of Scott Pelley."

[edit] CBS Evening News

Pelley became the anchor of the CBS Evening News on June 6, 2011, succeeding Katie Couric.^[4][5] CBS's announcement followed media reporting that had pointed to Pelley being the frontrunner for the position.^[6] In his first 9 months in the anchor chair, Pelley gained an additional 821,000 viewers.^[7]

Appraisals[link]

The reviews of Pelley's 60 Minutes work have been generally positive. David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun wrote in 2007, "If there is a single face of the broadcast, it is now that of Pelley who has done several of the biggest interviews and stories." Allen Neuharth, founder of USA Today, noted that "Pelley threw hardballs" in his 2007 interview with President Bush. Bob Woodward, writing in The Washington Post in 2007, said, "Scott Pelley nailed the crucial question" in his interview with former CIA Director, George Tenet. William F. Buckley, Jr., in the National Review, said "Pelley did fine work" in the Tenet piece. Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times wrote, "the strongest on-air personality of the moment belongs to one of the program's blander faces, Scott Pelley."^[8]

Recognition[link]

In 2011, Pelley's team of producers, photographers and editors won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for an investigation into the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The story uncovered the troubled history of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the months and days before the 2010 blowout that killed 11 crewmen and unleashed the largest accidental oil spill in history.

In 2009, Pelley's team won its second George Foster Peabody Award for a report on the medical relief organization Remote Area Medical. RAM was created to airdrop doctors and supplies into the developing world, but today it does most of its work setting up free medical clinics for the uninsured in the United States.^[9]

Also in 2009, Pelley's team won the George Polk Award and an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for an investigation of American recycling companies that secretly ship hazardous waste to China. The report exposed an illegal trade that ruins the health of villagers who dismantle discarded computers under medieval conditions.

The Pelley team's reporting on the deaths of civilians during a Marine engagement in Haditha, Iraq, won the 2007 George Foster Peabody Award.^[10] The citation for the award said in part, "This thorough, open-minded investigation of the worst single killing of civilians by American troops since Vietnam put not just the incident into better perspective but the entire Iraq War and the terrible choices it presents both soldier and civilian".^[11]

Pelley has been the correspondent on teams that have won twenty national Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Their reporting on child slavery in India earned 60 Minutes II the Investigative Reporters and Editors award in 1999. In addition, Pelley's team has won five Edward R. Murrow Awards, bestowed by the Radio and Television News Director's Association and the Writers Guild of America Award.

Pelley serves on the board of directors of the International Rescue Committee, the refugee relief agency headquartered in New York City. He is Co-Chair of the IRC's Board of Overseers.

Pelley was inducted into the Texas Tech University alumni Hall of Fame. He currently serves on the board of the university's College of Mass Communications.

In 2010, Pelley was named to Salon.com's "Men on Top" list alongside Conan O'Brien, Tom Hardy, and Mark Ronson.^[12] "He restores a little of our faith in TV news," writes Salon.com, "while performing hugely important, world-bettering reports along the way."^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Scott Pelley's bio at CBSnews.com

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Scott Pelley