David Muir biography
David Muir is the anchor and managing editor of ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, the most-watched newscast in the U.S., and co-anchor of ABC’s 20/20. Since joining ABC News, Muir has reported from all over the world on the major stories of our time with global dispatches from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, the Ukraine border, Tahrir Square, Mogadishu, Gaza, Guantanamo, Fukushima, Beirut, Amman, and the Syrian border. Muir’s reporting has been honored with multiple Emmy awards, Edward R. Murrow awards, the prestigious George Polk Award, and the Society of Professional Journalists has honored Muir for his reporting overseas.
Muir’s exclusive interviews with world leaders have generated global headlines. Muir’s interview with President Biden at the White House in December 2021, during which he pressed President Biden on whether the U.S. was prepared for the Covid surge, generated major headlines. Muir was also the first network anchor to interview Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Previously, Muir landed the first interview with President Donald Trump in the White House and the first network interview with President Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic. Muir secured the first joint interview with former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris weeks before the 2020 election. Muir traveled to Afghanistan to interview the top U.S. commander amid talks with the Taliban and traveled to Iraq to interview top American military leaders in the fight against ISIS. Muir interviewed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani after the U.S. pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Muir secured the exclusive interview with then-President Barack Obama during the former president’s historic trip to Cuba. Muir conducted the historic sit-down with Pope Francis inside the Vatican, moderating the first-ever Vatican town hall, Pope Francis and the People. Muir conducting that town hall in Spanish. Muir moderated a town hall with President Obama, The President and the People: A National Conversation about race, policing and efforts to bridge the divide, earning an Emmy for his work.
Muir has moderated multiple Democratic and Republican Presidential Primary debates and has conducted numerous interviews with presidential candidates, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It was during one of Muir’s interviews with Secretary Clinton she apologized to the American people for her use of a private email server.
Muir has reported numerous in-depth specials for ABC News. Most recently, Muir reported The Children of Climate Change from Southern Madagascar, bringing light to what the U.N. warns is the first climate-driven famine. Muir’s reporting on climate change earned the Polk award and raised a record near $4 million for the World Food Programme. Muir reported The Children of Auschwitz, documenting the journey back for Holocaust survivors returning to Poland 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz. Muir reported Return to Normandy, profiling World War II veterans who stormed the beaches of Normandy returning to France 75 years after changing the course of history. Muir spent more than a year reporting Breaking Point: Heroin in America and Flashpoint: Refugees in America. Muir was the first American journalist to anchor from the scene of Europe’s refugee crisis, reporting from the Hungarian/Serbian border. Muir also reported from the Syrian border on child refugees. Muir gained rare access to Guantanamo prison and traveled to Amman, Jordan to report on the vetting of refugees coming to the United States.
A magna cum laude graduate of Ithaca College, Muir also attended the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University and studied at the University of Salamanca in Spain. Prior to joining ABC News, Muir distinguished himself as an award-winning anchor and reporter at WCVB-TV in Boston, and WTVH-TV in his hometown of Syracuse, NY.