David Muir

David Jason Muir was born in Syracuse, New York, and grew up in Onondaga Hill. His parents, Ronald Muir and Pat Mills, supported his interest in broadcasting from an early age. At 10, he mocked television broadcasts from a cardboard box in his family's living room, and by 12 he regularly stopped playing with friends to watch the evening news. He identified Peter Jennings as his biggest journalistic influence.

Muir began interning at Syracuse station WTVH-TV as a young teenager, helping photographers and reporters in the newsroom. He attended Ithaca College's Roy H. Park School of Communications, where he studied journalism and political science and anchored a student newscast during his first year. He graduated magna cum laude in 1995 after also studying political journalism at Georgetown University and spending a semester at the University of Salamanca in Spain. His Spanish-language study later helped him conduct a town hall with Pope Francis entirely in Spanish.

Muir returned to WTVH-TV after college, working as a reporter and anchor from 1994 to 2000. His coverage from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and the Gaza Strip following the 1995 assassination of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin received honors from the Radio-Television News Directors Association, the Associated Press, and the Syracuse Press Club.

In 2000, Muir joined Boston's WCVB-TV, where he reported on the plans and movements of the hijackers involved in the September 11, 2001, attacks. The investigation earned him a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, as well as National Headliner and Associated Press recognition.

Muir joined ABC News in August 2003 as anchor of World News Now and World News This Morning. He later became a correspondent and contributed to Primetime. In 2007, he became the anchor of World News Saturday, and in 2011 he took over both weekend broadcasts under the title World News with David Muir. In 2013, he became a co-anchor of 20/20, working with Elizabeth Vargas during that period.

Muir's reporting for ABC has taken him to Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine, Egypt, Somalia, Gaza, Haiti, Fukushima, Guantanamo Bay, Beirut, Amman, and the Syrian border. His coverage has included Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, the famine in Somalia, the BP oil spill, the opioid crisis, and climate-related humanitarian emergencies. During reporting from Mogadishu, his team came under fire.

He has also conducted major interviews with political and religious leaders. He was the first network anchor to interview Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and he interviewed Donald Trump shortly after Trump's inauguration in 2017. Muir also interviewed Barack Obama during Obama's visit to Cuba, spoke with Pope Francis, and interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook during the dispute between Apple and the FBI over access to a phone used by a San Bernardino killer.

ABC News announced in 2014 that Muir would succeed Diane Sawyer as anchor and managing editor of the weekday newscast. His first broadcast in the role aired on September 1, 2014, and the program was rebranded World News Tonight with David Muir. It became the most-watched evening newscast in the United States in 2015 and broke a 21-year streak during which the program had not held that position since Peter Jennings was behind the desk.

As anchor, Muir has moderated presidential primary debates and major town halls. He and Linsey Davis moderated the 2024 presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, which was watched by nearly 70 million people. Muir also conducted interviews with Joe Biden, including discussions about the COVID-19 pandemic, support for Ukraine, and whether Biden would pardon his son Hunter Biden.

His climate reporting has received particular recognition. A report from Madagascar about climate-change-driven famine helped prompt ABC viewers to donate more than $3 million to the World Food Programme. His reporting from Madagascar and South Sudan earned News and Documentary Emmy Awards, the George Polk Award, and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award.

Muir has received multiple Emmy Awards, Edward R. Murrow Awards, Society of Professional Journalists honors, and other journalism prizes. His reporting on the American heroin crisis won a CINE Golden Eagle Award, while his coverage of Hurricane Michael, the Las Vegas shooting, Auschwitz survivors, and other major stories also received awards.

He has maintained ties with Ithaca College, giving the commencement address in 2011 and receiving an honorary Doctor of Letters degree and the Jessica Savitch Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2015. He later delivered commencement addresses at Northeastern University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Syracuse University.

In 2024, Muir received the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. He was named to TIME's list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2025 and also received the Lew Klein Excellence in Media Award from Temple University's Klein College of Media and Communications.