AWARD DATE: 1967
AWARD NAME: Best Radio Reporting From Abroad
AWARD RECIPIENT: Don North
AWARD RECIPIENT AFFILIATION: ABC
AWARD HONORED WORK: Vietnam coverage
“Don North is very hard on tape recorders,” the ABC bureau cheif in Saigon once cabled to the network’s New York headquarters, about the correspondent tapped by a jury of his peers as the award winner in category 5. Contemplating his exploits to date and the dedication he exhibits toward this prime tool of his reportage from anywhere and everywhere- he frequently carries two recorders into the field, just in case- it is not difficult to understand why.
For a youngish man, he has covered much territory and plenty of action. Since joining ABC two years ago he has spent most of his time in Vietnam, carrying out more than 100 assignments from the Saigon bureau. Of these, dozens were combat missions, during which he got close to the action to record the sights, sounds, and impressions for which the judges sent him to the head of the class.
Canadian born, Don North began in television 10 years ago with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), In Vancouver, Thereafter he plied his trades of radio, television and newspaper correspondent in far corners of the world, from Cuba to India. In Hong Kong, he worked for the China Mail, and covered the guerilla war in Borneo. In India he freelanced, and taught English to Tibetians. In Cuba, where he managed to worm into somehow during the missile crisis, he was apprehended and spent a week in the pokey.
His next adventures are anybody’s guess. They may be east, west, south, or even north.
Citation for Excellence: Morley Safer, CBS, for “Debriefing: Morley Safer’s Red China.”