Pitts, Byron A.
1960-present · Contribution: 1983-present
Broadcast journalist; anchor
Overcame childhood illiteracy and a severe stutter to become chief national correspondent for CBS Evening News and a regular 60 Minutes contributor, then co-anchor of ABC News’ Nightline, winning multiple Emmy Awards over more than four decades in broadcast journalism

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Quick facts
- Born
- 1960, Baltimore, Maryland
- Active since
- 1983
- Category
- Press & Photography
- Best known for
- Overcoming childhood illiteracy to become a network anchor
Impact on the world
Pitts turned a childhood of illiteracy and a debilitating stutter into a career at the top of network journalism, reporting from Ground Zero, Baghdad, and Nelson Mandela's funeral.
Sources
- ABC News
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Related visionaries
Bradley, Edward Rudolph “Ed”
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Reported roughly 500 stories across a 25-year run on 60 Minutes — more than any other correspondent over the same period — after becoming CBS News’ first African American White House correspondent and being wounded covering the Vietnam War
Holt, Lester Don Jr.
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O’Brien, María de la Soledad Teresa
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Anchored CNN’s American Morning and created the network’s landmark In America documentary series, including Black in America and Latino in America, before founding Starfish Media Group in 2013 to continue producing hard-hitting documentary journalism on race and inequality
Lemon, Don Renaldo
1966-present
Anchored CNN Tonight and other prime-time CNN programs for 17 years (2006-2023), and in 2011 became the most prominent African American television journalist to publicly come out as gay, a disclosure made in his memoir Transparent