ORLANDO, Fla. — Barbara West, Channel 9 Eyewitness News Anchor, announced Tuesday that she will be signing off from WFTV for the last time on December 29, 2010. West joined Eyewitness News in 1986 and has always provided a steady presence for Central Florida news viewers.
"Barbara's contributions to ‘Eyewitness News' are many", commented News Director Bob Jordan. "In the time she's been on the air at WFTV Channel 9, Barbara has distinguished herself as a first rate news reporter and anchor. Beyond that, she's dedicated herself to community service that has touched many lives," he continued.
"I have covered stories of people, politics and medical breakthroughs," commented Ms. West. "My work has taken me across the country and around the world. I covered the inauguration of President Bush and the impeachment of President Clinton. When Hillary Clinton attempted to reform our health care system, I traveled to Canada to examine the Canadian national health care system as a possible model for the U.S. From the heart of Ukraine, I was the only Western reporter to broadcast from inside the nuclear reactor building at Chernobyl on the 10th anniversary of the nuclear disaster there. I also uncovered the long term toll in increased incidence of cancer that the disaster had on the surrounding population."
Before relocating to Florida, Barbara worked as the principal assistant to Peter Jennings during his years as the anchor for ABC's World News Tonight in London, helping Peter cover such stories as the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana and the hostage crisis in Iran where 52 Americans were imprisoned by their captors for more than 400 days.
West was given the 2002 Summit Award for community service by the Central Florida Women's Resource Center and was voted Best Health Reporter in an Orlando Sentinel newspaper poll. Barbara also received an Emmy award for reporting on women fighting breast cancer.
Her work with Channel 9 and the Central Florida Fire Chiefs Association helped raise nearly 2.5 million dollars for the September 11th Fund which went directly to the families of the firefighters, police and Port Authority officers who lost their lives in the disaster. The City of New York Fire Chief noted it was the largest single contribution from any city or region in the country, including New York and L.A.
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