Top Five Journalists In The WorldBy Fatima Iftikhar

WALTER CRONKITE

Referred to as the ‘most trusted man in America’, Walter Cronkite was the former anchor and managing editor of the show CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.A correspondent for United Press during World War II, he famously covered the Nuremberg trials in Germany. After joining CBS, he reported on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the battles over civil rights, the Vietnam War, the Apollo moon landings, the death of Beatles musician John Lennon and the Watergate scandal.Considered a pioneer in broadcast journalism, he was famous for his catchphrase “And that’s the way it is,” at the end of every bulletin. A winner of numerous awards, his 1996 autobiography, A Reporter’s Life, was also a best seller. He died in 2009 aged 92.

Considered one of America’s most distinguished journalists, Jennings was a legendary broadcaster who reported extensively on breaking news events.He was in Berlin when the Berlin Wall was built and when it came down; he covered the civil rights movement in the US and South Africa; he was one of the first reporters to go to Vietnam in the 1960s and has reported extensively from the Russian Federation.On December 31, 1999, Jennings anchored ABC’s coverage of Millennium Eve, ABC 2000 for 25 consecutive hours and was watched by around 175 million viewers. Jennings also co-authored two books, The Century and In Search of America.He died in August 2005 at age 67 because of complications caused by lung cancer.

PETER JENNINGS

Listed among the Top 100 Influential People by Time magazine in 2011, Chinese journalist Hu Shuli is considered one of the best reporters in the media-restrained country.Shuli started her journalism career as a reporter for Workers’ Daily in 1982. She went onto to become an international editor and chief reporter at China Business Times, before starting Caijing magazine, a business publication in 1998. Globally recognised for her investigative pieces on corruption and fraud, she created a new media group, Caixin Media in 2009 of which she remains editor-in-chief.She has received numerous international awards for her achievements and currently serves as a board member of the International Women’s Media Foundation, is on the Reuters Editorial Advisory Board and a regional advisor for the International Center for Journalists.

HU SHULI

The BBC’s chief news correspondent became one of the best-known faces on television for her reporting from major wars and conflicts including the Gulf, former Yugoslavia, Albania, Rwanda, China and Sierra Leone.Adie, who joined the BBC in 1968 as a studio technician in local radio, shot to fame after her coverage of the 1980 siege of the Iranian embassy in London.“I never desired to go into war zones,” she said. “I never had any thought about it. It sort of just happened as part of the job.”Currently a presenter of the From Our Own Correspondent show on BBC’s Radio 4, she has also authored many books including The Kindness of Strangers, Corsets to Camouflage, Nobody’s Child: The Lives of Abandoned Children and Into Danger.

KATE ADIE

Christiane Amanpour is arguably one of the most popular faces of modern day American TV news, serving as CNN’s chief international correspondent and global affairs anchor for ABC News.Amanpour began her career as a journalist at CNN in 1983 as an entry-level assistant before working her way up to the international desk. Since then she has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, the Palestinian territories, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan, Somalia, Rwanda, Egypt, Libya, Europe and the US.She has interviewed most of the world’s top leaders, including Libya’s Muammar Gadhafi and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak during the recent Arab Spring.The recipient of numerous awards, Amanpour also serves as a board member of the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Women’s Media Foundation.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR