Katie Couric's Sarah Palin Interview Wins Cronkite Award (VIDEO)

Katie Couric has won a Cronkite Award for her revealing, multi-part interview of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

The Cronkite Awards have been presented biannually by the USC Annenberg School for Communication, in honor of CBS News legend Walter Cronkite, since 2000.

Couric won her award in the category "Special Achievement for National Impact on the 2008 Campaign." In the awards announcement, judges called Couric's interview with Palin a "defining moment in the 2008 presidential campaign," and described it as "extraordinary, persistent and detailed."

The interview — in which Palin spoke about Alaska's proximity to Russia and was unable to name a single national publication that she read — was an instant classic, and would be parodied on "Saturday Night Live," with Tina Fey playing Palin against Amy Poehler's Couric.

ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" also won a Cronkite Award, for its "On the Trail" series.

"Judges praised the incisive and compelling nature of the reports, as well as [Stephanopoulous'] thorough preparation," the announcement said.

Watch Couric's full award-winning interview with Palin below:

Comments

[Ptama]

08:40 AM on 03/13/2009

Katie was fair. She basically gave Palin the shove and let her did her own hole. I'm glad Couric's interview revealed Palin's intellect or lack there of. We Americans needed to know who this person was and we did not have much time.

If you remember no one had heard of Sarah Palin before. We had 7 weeks to learn about this person before we decided if she should be a heart beat away from becoming president. 7 weeks that"s all. We had over two years to dissect all the other candidates­. So yes I'm glad the media was tough on her. We the people had a right to know as much as we could in that 7 week period. If you compare all the interviews Obama, Clinton, and McCain did in the long campaign, Palin hardly did any. Unfair? It was unfair to the American public to put this person out there with only 7 week to examine her.

[Bsals]

03:45 PM on 03/13/2009

I'd like to know how many of you who think this interview was a fair representa­tion of Palin to answer me a few questions as to how much you heard about Biden and Obama's apparent inteligenc­e or lack there of.....

How many heard Obama's comment that he had campaigned in 57 states and had one more to go???

How many heard Obama's comment to Joe the plumber about his plans to redistribu­te the wealth of America?

How many knew that Palin's comment about seeing Russia from Alaska made absolutely no mention of seeing it from her house?

How many knew that Biden had to pull out of a previous election for plagerizin­g a speech??

How many knew that Obama also won an election by getting the other 3 Dem thrown out of the race.


This entire interview was set up to try and make Palin look bad, and was a prime example of how the media has become another branch of the poltical machine designed to sway uninformed folks to the "opinions" of the new casters and has nothing to do with the actual facts.

[IsobelDeBrujah]

07:49 PM on 03/15/2009

"How many heard Obama's comment that he had campaigned in 57 states and had one more to go???"

Lots of us. It was all over the news. Most people saw it for what it was, a very tired candidate misspeakin­g.

"How many heard Obama's comment to Joe the plumber about his plans to redistribu­te the wealth of America?"

He actually said "spread the wealth." It was only once the right got a hold of it that they distorted it into redistribu­tion.

"How many knew that Palin's comment about seeing Russia from Alaska made absolutely no mention of seeing it from her house?"

I knew that. It doesn't change the fact that she looked inept and ill informed in the interview. Neither does it change the fact that the ability to see someplace doesn't count as foreign policy experience­.

The other two smears you're trying to spread aren't relevant to the article.

Palin had ample time to prepare for the interview. She simply did badly. That's a shame and all but it doesn't change the facts.

[feliznavidad]

03:16 PM on 03/12/2009

Congrats, Katie. This was a fine piece of journalism -- and I'm glad you were recognized by such a prestigiou­s organizati­on.

[deosil]

07:13 AM on 03/13/2009

Absolutely­. This was an IMPORTANT piece. It turned things around.

Conga rats, Katie. Couric deserved an award.

[Wigelah]

02:26 PM on 03/12/2009

So is the award for the "real" interview or the one that Sarah Palin says was "edited"? Thanks Katie! Thank you, thank you, thank you. And, in case I haven't mentioned it before, thank you.

[Busterdawg]

01:42 PM on 03/12/2009

Why do I get the feeling that Keith Olbermann has just thrown himself on the floor of his Manhattan penthouse and is having a tantrum.

[MsLiz]

12:40 AM on 03/13/2009

Because you are prone to hallucinat­ions?

[hipichick7]

12:05 PM on 03/12/2009

Thanks Katie! You helped to show the American public what Ms Palin was "made of".

[Pinky2]

02:37 PM on 03/12/2009

I find this award highly ironic since by all other signs, Couric was doing her darndest to HELP Palin. By helping her, she exposed her. I wonder if receiving this award will cause Katie any sleepless nights and I also wonder where she will exhibit it.

[aweissnet]

10:00 PM on 03/12/2009

No, but it's a another kick in the face to Palin.

She's got to understand at some point, those interviews were _revealing­_, and most all of Americans see it that way.

Only a very small following who actually believes otherwise.

[aweissnet]

10:01 PM on 03/12/2009

BTW, she saved this country.

It was heroic.

[Xgal08]

09:15 AM on 03/12/2009

Congrats Katie! The award is well deserved.

[pccel]

11:08 PM on 03/11/2009

Congratula­tions for the award for your great interviews with Palin; I have urged everyone who did not see them to watch them on You Tube; trust me, if she ever runs for another national office, the interviews will surface again.

[FuRyUs]

08:22 PM on 03/11/2009

hahahahaha­hahahahaha­hahahahaha­hahahahaha­hahahhahah­ahahahahha­hahahahaha­hahahahaha­hahahhahah­ahahahhaha­hahahhahah­a

Oh my....

[demomntgirl]

09:01 AM on 03/12/2009

I guess Kaie is the center of the center of the universe..­..in her profession­.
Gives her credibilit­y.
Makes one think that Palin's outrage over the "slanted" interview and the biased media.....­.less credible?
Congrats Katie!

[Pegi]

06:49 PM on 03/11/2009

Congrats Katie - you were awesome - wish you were back on Today!

[Rosewren]

06:42 PM on 03/11/2009

Yaaaayy! Good for her.

[just4shiggles]

06:12 PM on 03/11/2009

That's the day that Katie became one of my heroes.

[jessieo]

04:33 PM on 03/11/2009

Those Palin interviews never get old. I am eating popcorn and laughing out loud. My stomach hurts from laughing.

[johnie2xs]

03:51 PM on 03/11/2009

Quick, Katie. Set up interviews with Steele, Jindal, Vitter, Limbaugh, Cantor, (Geez, the list is endless)..­.....
you get the idea. You'll lock down that award in perpetuity­.

[Scott3843]

09:49 AM on 03/12/2009

And Romney! And Lindsay Graham! And... And...

[SurrealPumpkin]

02:52 PM on 03/11/2009

I loved the part where Palin couldn't name a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with other then Roe v Wade. Not long before the interview she was on national tv denouncing the Supreme Court decision to halve the exxon valdez restitutio­n amount.

[TedB]

01:58 PM on 03/11/2009

Congratula­tions Katie! You helped save the republic.