Broadcast journalist Gayle King, who is the co-host of “CBS Mornings,” recently accepted the 39th Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism presented by Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“We are very excited to honor Gayle with the 39th Walter Cronkite Award and celebrate her tremendous career,” Cronkite School Dean Battinto L. Batts Jr., said at the event. “She has had a profound impact on the journalism industry and the communities across the nation that benefit from her excellence in reporting and storytelling.”
King is often recognized for her longtime friendship with media mogul Oprah Winfrey. The two women met when they were working at a local television station in Baltimore. King has worked as a reporter in Washington D.C., and Kansas City, Missouri, before becoming a news anchor in Hartford, Connecticut. In addition to serving as co-host for “CBS Mornings,” King is also editor-at-large of Oprah Daily, and hosts a live weekly radio show on SiriusXM: “Gayle King in the House.” King’s net worth is valued at $40 million, according to Celebrity Networth.
King, who also works with OprahDaily.com and hosts her own radio show, has said television provides her biggest thrills.
“I thank Mr. Cronkite for the gifts of transparency, critical thinking, objectivity, perspective, and, the most important thing, decency,” King said during her acceptance speech. “Thank you for teaching me through your example, to report the news, stick to the facts, and keep my opinions to myself, although I am still working on that. Every morning when I take my front row seat to history at CBS News — the place you dedicated so many years to — I do my best to honor your legacy.”
Sentimental Gifts Go A Long Way
At the awards ceremony, King wore a red dress and a special necklace — a gift from Oprah Winfrey that she always wears.
In 1993, King ended an 11-year marriage to Bill Bumpus, an attorney who had also served as assistant attorney general of Connecticut. Winfrey fashioned a heart-shaped diamond earring into a pendant and gave it to King.
“One day, your heart will sing, from your heart to mine. You’ll get through this,” King recalled that Winfrey told her to an audience at “Watch What Happens Live.” She added, “So it has a very special meaning to me.”
In addition to another gift from Winfrey, a diamond heart pendant necklace, King shared on “Watch What Happens Live” that after she had her second child, Winfrey hired a nanny to help her as she had two small children.
A viewer of the show asked, “What is your all-time favorite, favorite gift from Oprah?” King said it had to be that her bestie gifted her a live-in nanny after she had her second child.
“I could never have afforded it,” she told host Andy Cohen of “Watch What Happens Live.” “That was a good gift.”
