I wrote to the local news guy when I was 12 years old. I said, 'What do I need to do to be you one day?'
— David Muir
When I travel the country, I am often struck by how much we actually have in common. It's much more powerful than how much there is that's reported that divides us.
I think the sensibilities of having grown up in Upstate New York and the concerns, the fears, the hopes of the people there are reflected all over the country.
I hope people know that when I'm sitting there, it's not some guy on a desk on a platform with sort of this voice-of-God approach.
I need to ask the questions the people at home want answered.
I often work seven days a week. I'm not looking for a pat on the back because I love what I do.
I can report from the field with a tiny camera and a laptop.
If any event teaches you how to perform on no sleep, it's a hurricane.
If you go to certain cable news shows, you're generally going to hear the viewpoints that you already have reported back to you. I think there's no harm in that.
There's something about a sign-off that seems predictable. I just say whatever comes to my mind, to the pleasure and horror of the control room, I'm sure.
I think the American people are bombarded with information from all directions, all day long.
I think there is a danger when it comes to fake news because there is some fake news out there, but there's also a danger when you only hear back to you the beliefs you already have.
If we can get people engaged in the world around them in any form, in any way, that's a positive thing, and hopefully we can get them to come to the news more.
I think that with our 'Made in America' segments, where we go out to these factories all around the country, is essentially giving people a high-five and signal to them that we're in this together.
Every evening, I would excuse myself from playing in the backyard and go inside to watch the evening news... I wanted to get out there and see the world, and as a kid, I knew that Peter Jennings had a thirst and hunger to travel the world, too.
Not a day goes by when we're not grateful to see that viewers seem to be responding.
It's a business driven by curiosity. If you don't want to go out and learn about the world and see the place, it's the wrong business. But if you do... I've had an unbelievable front row seat.
I remember being in New Orleans after Katrina hearing people calling, 'Help me,' and wanting to slide down in the seat of my car because it felt like I was invading their suffering. But I also know that our being there gave them a voice.
I'm so privileged to sit where Diane Sawyer and Peter Jennings sat.
While anchoring at Boston's WCVB-TV, I reported on Mitt Romney's run for Massachusetts governor.
I do feel if we underestimate the viewer, it's at our own peril.
I still like the physicality of papers.
I think people do want to cut through the noise, and they do want straight shooters, and they want you to call people out on the facts when the facts are the facts.
We have to find a way to let everyone know when they're watching that we hear them, that we're asking their questions on all ends of the spectrum.
The reporting has always been what drives me.
When we get news 24 hours a day, I think people need the evening newscast more than ever.
The evening news is evolving rapidly, and I think we have to be extraordinarily nimble.
I think I was always a curious kid.
A huge part of my life is my job, and that's the highest compliment you can pay to any job.
Peter Jennings was the James Bond of evening news, and I always wanted to be that. His evening news was really a conversation with America, and I hope that's something I can achieve.
At 25, I found myself anchoring coverage of President Clinton's impeachment trial from Capitol Hill for WTVH-TV in my hometown of Syracuse, New York. I then covered Hillary Clinton's first Senate run.
I think Americans are a lot smarter than many give them credit for.
Our job every single night is to call out hypocrisy on both sides to make sure we're holding Republicans accountable and Democrats accountable, that we're holding the president accountable for promises made.
There's no such thing as alternative facts.
