Background
Pitts was born October 21, 1960, to Clarice and William Pitts in Baltimore, Maryland. He grew up in working-class neighborhood, raised by a single mother.
Pitts was born October 21, 1960, to Clarice and William Pitts in Baltimore, Maryland. He grew up in working-class neighborhood, raised by a single mother.
He attended Archbishop Curley High School, an all-boys Catholic high school in Baltimore. He graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts (Bachelor) in Journalism and Speech Communication.
Until 2013, he served as a chief national correspondent for The Columbia Broadcasting System Evening News and a contributor to the newsmagazine 60 Minutes. He has covered the September 11, 2001 attacks and Iraq. In his memoir, Pitts discussed that he had debilitating stutter as a child and was "functionally illiterate" until about age 12.
He went on to Ohio Wesleyan University, but spent summers in Apex, North Carolina.
Pitts always wanted to be a journalist. lieutenant was his goal since he was 18 was to be on 60 Minutes.
He interned at WTVD in Durham, North Carolina. After graduation, he bounced around to various television stations on the east coast.
During 1983-1984, he reported and served as weekend sports anchor at WNCT-television in Greenville, North Carolina He was a military reporter for WAVY-television in Portsmouth, Virginia (1984-1986), and a reporter for WESH-television Orlando (1986-1988).
He moved across the Florida peninsula to Tampa to be a reporter and substitute anchor for WFLA-television (1988-1989). After a brief stint, he moved to Boston as a special assignment reporter for WCVB-television (1989-1994). His last local job was as a general assignment reporter for WSB-television in Atlanta, Georgia(1994-1996).
Pitts then moved to Washington, District of Columbia as a correspondent for Columbia Broadcasting System Newspath, the 24-hour affiliate news service of Columbia Broadcasting System News (1997-1998).
He was named Columbia Broadcasting System News correspondent in May 1998, and was based in the Miami (1998-1999) and Atlanta (1999–2001) bureaus and eventually New York City in January 2001. As an embedded reporter covering the Iraq War, he was recognized for his work under fire within minutes of the fall of the Saddam Hussein statue.
Other major stories covered by Pitts include Hurricane Katrina, the war in Afghanistan, the military buildup in Kuwait, the Florida fires, the Elian Gonzalez story, the Florida Presidential recount, the mudslides in Central America and the refugee crisis in Kosovo. He is also the recipient of four Associated Press Awards and six regional Emmy Awards.
He wrote Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Maine Conquer Life"s Challenges, which was released September 29, 2009.
Pitts departed Columbia Broadcasting System News in March 2013 and currently works at American Broadcasting Company News.