Byron Pitts

==Career==
Pitts has always wanted to be a journalist. It was his goal, since he was 18 years old, to be a correspondent on the CBS show ''60 Minutes''.<ref name="OBS1"/> He interned at [[WTVD]] in [[Durham, North Carolina]]. After graduation, he bounced around to various television stations on the East Coast. During 1983–84, he reported and served as weekend sports anchor at [[WNCT-TV]] in [[Greenville, North Carolina]] He was a military reporter for [[WAVY-TV]] in [[Portsmouth, Virginia]] (1984–86) and a reporter for [[WESH|WESH-TV]] [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]] (1986–88). He moved across the Florida peninsula to [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]] to be a reporter and substitute [[News presenter|anchor]] for [[WFLA-TV]] (1988–89). After a brief stint there, he moved to Boston as a special assignment reporter for [[WCVB-TV]] (1989–94). His last local job was as a general assignment reporter for [[WSB-TV]] in Atlanta, [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] (1994–96).

Pitts then moved to Washington, D.C. as a correspondent for ''[[CBS News#CBS Newspath|CBS Newspath]]'', the 24-hour affiliate news service of [[CBS News]] (1997–98). He was named a CBS News correspondent in May 1998, and was based in the Miami (1998–99) and Atlanta (1999–2001) bureaus and eventually New York City in January 2001.

Pitts was one of CBS News' lead reporters during the [[September 11 attacks]] and won a national [[Emmy Award]] for his coverage. As an embedded reporter covering the Iraq War, he was recognized for his work under fire within minutes of the fall of the [[Saddam Hussein]] statue. Other major stories covered by Pitts include [[Hurricane Katrina]], the war in Afghanistan, the military buildup in [[Kuwait]], the Florida fires, the [[Elian Gonzalez]] story, the Florida Presidential recount, the mudslides in Central America and the refugee crisis in [[Kosovo]].

Pitts other awards include a national Emmy Award for his coverage of the Chicago train wreck in 1999 and a [[National Association of Black Journalists]] Award (2002). He is also the recipient of four [[Associated Press]] Awards and six regional Emmy Awards.

Pitts published a memoir, ''Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges'' on  September 29, 2009.