Bernard Shaw, a journalist who left network TV in 1980 for the uncertainty of anchoring at the first 24-hour cable news network – CNN – and whose steady-under-missile-fire coverage from Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War helped elevate the outlet to global prominence, has died of pneumonia aged 82.
With his unflappable demeanour and sombre intonation – his heroes were broadcasters Edward R Murrow and Walter Cronkite – Shaw was credited with bringing professional polish to an experiment initially laughed off as the “Chicken Noodle Network” for challenging the Big Three networks for news dominance.
