Quinnipiac To Honor Raddatz With Fred Friendly Award

Quinnipiac University has announced that  Martha Raddatz, senior foreign affairs correspondent for ABC News, will receive its 19th annual Fred Friendly First Amendment Award .

Raddatz will be honored at an invitation-only luncheon on June 7 at the Metropolitan Club, One East 60^th Street, New York City.

The award is presented annually to a journalist who has shown courage and forthrightness in preserving the First Amendment.

“Martha was chosen because she exemplifies the courage and dedication to journalism that are the very essence of the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award,” said Lee Kamlet,  dean of the University’s School of Communications. “She has literally put herself on the front lines to report the truth of war and human conflict to the American people.” 

Raddatz was named senior foreign affairs correspondent for ABC News in November 2008, after serving as White House correspondent during the last term of President George W. Bush’s administration. She traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan dozens of times and to Iraq more than 20 times to cover the ongoing conflicts. She was on the last convoy out of Iraq and she was the only television reporter allowed to cover a combat mission over Afghanistan in an F15 fighter jet, spending nearly 10 hours in the air on two separate missions.

 She will join past recipients of the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award: Dan Rather, Lesley Stahl, Bill Moyers, Ted Koppel, Tom Brokaw, Jim Lehrer, Robert MacNeil, Don Hewitt, Peter Jennings, Mike Wallace, Christiane Amanpour, Tom Bettag, Tim Russert, Bob Schieffer, Steve Kroft, Charles Gibson, Morley Safer, Gwen Ifill and David Fanning.