Peter Jennings, anchor of ABC's "World News Tonight," received the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism at the Kennedy School last night in front of an audience of more than 400 people.

Jennings received the honor as part of the Goldsmith Awards program for a job which he joked his 13-year old son's friends believe is the easiest in the world--reading the news.

His award headlined a program which included awards for outstanding journalists across the country for their contributions to the areas of journalism, government and public policy.

The awards, presented jointly by the Kennedy School and the Joan Shorenstein Center, this year included the Career Award, nineteen Research Awards, one Book Prize and one Prize for Investigative Reporting.

Jennings, however, was clearly the main attraction.

"Jennings holds the position of the best anchorman in the business today," said Marvin Kalb, director of the Shorenstein Center, who presented the award to Jennings.

Kalb lauded Jennings' 30-year career as a broadcast journalist and singled out his critical role in alerting the American public to the horrors of the war in Bosnia for extra praise, saying that if Jennings had been reporting during the Holocaust "he would have made every effort to stop it."

He added that Jennings is known for his worldly experience, particularly for having been the head of the first American television news bureau in the Arab world--in Lebanon.

Jennings opened his remarks with a string of jokes before moving on to various aspects of his career.

Early in his speech the anchor talked of his involvement in the Bosnian conflict and explained why he made the war a top priority.

"I was interested in how we, as a people, would respond to such horror," he said.

Jennings also spoke about the changing role of broadcast journalism and the role it plays in American society today, particularly focusing on commercialism and the faster-paced nature of society.

"I believe that we are obliged by the pressures of time and the development of competition to get out the facts too quickly and at the cost of context," he said.

On a slightly different note, Jennings added that he believes that good news is as important to cover as bad news and expressed the hope that the "if it bleeds, it leads" era of news coverage is over.

Jennings also emphasized the journalist's obligation to the public to discuss different perspectives that exist on a single issue, adding that "there is no such thing as a single truth."

Audience members said they were generally impressed by Jennings.

"I thought it was a fascinating speech and a very interesting question and answer session," Ben K. Stephens '99 said.

"He seems like one of the more sincere anchor people out there and is a strong believer in investigative journalism," added Patricia S. Guthrie, who is a Shorenstein fellow this semester.

"He speaks the same way that he does while being broadcasted. It relieves me that he doesn't have to put on an act on television contrary to who he actually is," said Kuan J. Liu '99.

Other winners included the 19 recipients of the Goldsmith Research Awards who received prizes on work in areas such as international journalism, diversity in the press and the influence of the press on American public policy.

Additionally, the Goldsmith Book Award went to Stephen Ansolabehere and Shanto Iyengar, co-authors of "Going Negative: How Political Advertisements Shrink and Polarize the Electorate."

The Goldsmith Award in Investigative Journalism went to Russell Carollo, Carol Hernandez, Jeff Nesmith and Cheryl Reed of the Dayton Daily News for investigative work on "Military Secrets" and "Prisoners on Payroll."

These award recipients, including Jennings, will be speaking at an open panel at the Kennedy School's Malkin Penthouse at 9:30 a.m. today