Early years

Shaw was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1963 to 1968. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Career

Shaw began his broadcasting career as an anchor and reporter for WNUS in Chicago. He then worked as a reporter for the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company in Chicago, moving later to Washington as the White House correspondent. Shaw worked as a correspondent in the Washington Bureau of CBS News from 1971 to 1977. In 1977, Shaw moved to ABC News as Latin American correspondent and bureau chief before becoming the Capitol Hill Senior Correspondent. He left ABC in 1980 to move to CNN as its Principal Anchor.

Shaw is widely known for the question he posed to Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Michael Dukakis at his second Presidential debate with George H. W. Bush during the 1988 election, which Shaw was moderating. Knowing that Dukakis opposed the death penalty, Shaw asked Dukakis if he would support an irrevocable death penalty for a man who hypothetically raped and murdered Dukakis's wife. Dukakis responded that he would not; some critics felt he framed his response too legalistically and logically, and did not address it sufficiently on a personal level. Other critics thought the question inflammatory and unwarranted at a presidential debate.

He is also remembered for his reporting on the 1991 Gulf War. Reporting with CNN correspondents John Holliman and Peter Arnett from the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, he found shelter under a desk as he reported cruise missiles flying past his window. He also made frequent trips back and forth from the hotel's bomb shelter. While describing the situation in Baghdad, he famously stated "Clearly I've never been there, but this feels like we're in the center of hell."

He moderated the October 2000 vice-presidential debate between Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman.

Shaw co-anchored CNN's Inside Politics from 1992 until he retired from CNN in 2001. He has occasionally appeared on CNN, including in May 2005 when a plane flew into restricted air space in Washington, D.C.

Personal life

Shaw is married to Linda Allston, with whom he has a son and daughter.