Candlelit tables and stage lamps illuminated Beasley Coliseum on Tuesday night as Bob Schieffer and Helen Thomas received their 2009 Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 35th Murrow Symposium.

“We could not have had two better recipients,” President Elson S. Floyd said in his introduction. “I’m deeply honored to be in your presence this evening.” Former White House Correspondent Thomas and CBS reporter Schieffer humbly accepted their awards in front of more than 500 symposium attendees.

Thomas has covered all nine presidents since John F. Kennedy for United Press International, and Schieffer has covered the White House, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the State Department during his 52 years in journalism.

After receiving their awards and honoring Murrow, they quickly turned the focus of the ceremony to journalism and its current crisis.

Schieffer said every day it seems another newspaper is going bankrupt, and the technological marvels are causing a great shift in the journalism industry.

“I cannot imagine starting my day without my coffee and my newspaper,” he said.

When people use the Web for stories, he added, they only look for a particular piece of information. With newspapers, people come across stories they weren’t expecting to find.

“The new technology is going to bring us wondrous tools, but journalism is more important than its tools,” he said.

Thomas focused on the role of journalists in newspapers and their responsibility as reporters. She said reporters need to return to their mission of following the truth wherever it leads them.

“Unfortunately, everyone with a laptop thinks they’re a journalist,” she said.

Schieffer said he hopes and prays newspapers will survive and emphasized that American democracy cannot exist without independent sources of information. He said the Web is the only vehicle to distribute news with no editor, and even though there are good Web sites, many irresponsible ones still exist.

“We don’t know where journalism is going,” he said. “We must adhere to the standards Murrow stood for.” Each year, a committee of WSU faculty and advisory board members choose an honoree for the achievement award. The 2008 Murrow award winner in broadcast journalism, Don Hewitt, nominated Schieffer as this year’s recipient. Erica Austin, dean of the College of Communication, said Thomas received numerous nominations.

“The fact that they got the award together makes it very special,” she said. “We are honoring the excellence and integrity of their careers.”