New York Icon Ernie Anastos to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award April 22

The Fair Media Council will honor legendary newsman Ernie Anastos with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Folio Awards Luncheon on April 22 at Crest Hollow Country Club on Long Island.

“The Fair Media Council’s Folio Awards recognize the best in news, and Ernie Anastos is an icon,” said Jaci Clement, CEO & Executive Director of the Fair Media Council. “It’s a privilege to honor an individual who is a legend and a role model, yet continues to roll out new projects and find new ways to serve the public interest.”

FMC’s Folio Awards is the biggest media event on Long Island, drawing about 600 business and community leaders to congratulate and recognize the best in news, as chosen by the public. About 40 Long Island leaders adjudicated the Folio Awards this year, which involves watching, reading and listening to more than 100 hours of news stories, submitted by the media to be judged by the ultimate critic: The public.

Ernie Anastos is a distinguished Emmy Award-winning anchor for the FOX flagship station, WNYW-TV in New York. He is also the creator and host of “Positively Ernie,” a program which aims to inform, and entertain viewers with inspirational stories. A New York Hall of Fame Broadcaster, Ernie has an extraordinary record of achievement. He has won more than 30 Emmy awards and nominations and is the first and only New York TV anchor to receive the coveted Lifetime Emmy Award, the highest honor given by The New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for his outstanding and personal accomplishments in the television industry. In 2010, The New York Times described Ernie as “the ubiquitous anchorman,” who has captured the love and respect of New Yorkers.

As a seasoned anchor and reporter, Anastos has covered the major news stories that have shaped the last three decades, including the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, and the tragic deaths of Michael Jackson, Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy Jr. Anastos has met with Fidel Castro in Cuba to produce a series of special reports on the anniversary of the Cuban revolution. Earlier in his career, as part of an official pastoral trip, he traveled to the war-torn countries of El Salvador and Nicaragua. He has interviewed past U.S. presidents, including Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, as well as former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Nobel Peace Prize winner and South African Bishop, Desmond Tutu.

Ernie has national experience as a news anchor and substitute host for ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “The CBS Morning News.” He has created and hosted information programs for CBS, Lifetime and ABC and appeared in major motion pictures and primetime dramas such as “Independence Day,” “Summer of Sam” and FOX’s “24.” Anastos is a celebrated author, most recently introducing a series of children’s books titled, Ernie and the Big Newz (proceeds of which are donated to The Make-A-Wish Foundation). Previously, he wrote a historical book on the lifestyle of America’s youth entitled Twixt: Teens Yesterday and Today, which was featured at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and applauded in The New York Times. Anastos has also been a regular columnist for leading woman’s magazine Family Circle.

As a Phi Kappa Phi honoree, he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeastern University, where he is a noted member of the university corporation. His academic credits include postgraduate studies at Columbia University. He holds Honorary Doctorate degrees in Humanities from Manhattanville College in New York and Curry College in Massachusetts. Anastos is profiled in the International Who’s Who of Intellectuals.