Anchor and Managing Editor, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir

David Muir '95 arrived at the Park School ready to prepare for a career as a broadcast journalist.

David Muir '95

After having been a regular intern, starting at 14 at WTVH-TV in his hometown of Syracuse, he was ready for his audition for ICTV. He was actually chosen to anchor on ICTVNews, much to the frustration of some of the seniors who had been vying for that position for several years. However, their advisor set them straight: David was just better than they were—even as a first-semester student.

He went on to intern and then work as a reporter at WTVH-TV in Syracuse, and he was tapped for reporting and anchoring at WCVB in Boston and then brought into the ABC Network in NYC. In 2007, he became the weekend anchor for ABC World News, and in 2014, he became the weeknight anchor, stepping into the chair after Diane Sawyer.

ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, is the most-watched newscast in the U.S. Muir has spent more than two decades reporting from all over the world on the major stories of our time from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine, Tahrir Square, Mogadishu, Gaza, Guantanamo, Fukushima, Beirut, Amman, and the Syrian border. Muir’s reporting has been honored with multiple Emmy awards and Edward R. Murrow awards, the prestigious George Polk Award, and the Society of Professional Journalists has honored Muir for his reporting overseas. Muir’s reporting on climate change has been recognized with the prestigious George Polk Award, and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award. In 2024, Muir was honored with the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.

Muir has maintained strong ties with Ithaca College. He served as our commencement speaker in 2011, and in 2015, he received the Jessica Savitch Award and an honorary doctorate from IC. He regularly Skypes into our first-year course, S'Park.