Katie_Couric

May 29, 2008
Author: sachin sahrawat (wikipedia)

Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric (born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist who became well-known as co-host of NBC's Today. In 2006, she made a highly publicized move from NBC to CBS, and on September 5, 2006 she became the first solo female anchor of the weekday evening news on one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks. She currently serves as the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, having replaced Bob Schieffer on September 5, 2006. Schieffer served as the interim anchor following the departure of long time anchor and managing editor Dan Rather on March 9, 2005.

(CBS) Katie Couric is anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, 60 Minutes correspondent and anchors CBS News primetime specials. Couric is the first female solo anchor of a weekday network evening news broadcast.

Couric completed a 15-year run as co-anchor of NBC News’ "Today" on May 31, 2006. While at NBC, Couric was also contributing anchor for "Dateline NBC." She was a "Today" substitute co-anchor from February 1991 before taking over the job permanently two months later. Couric joined NBC News in 1989 as deputy Pentagon reporter before serving its first national correspondent in June 1990, which included two stints covering the Gulf War.

Couric has covered most of the major breaking news events over the past 15 years, including the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center; the Columbine tragedy in Colorado; six Olympic Games, including the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bombing; the funeral of Princess Diana; the Oklahoma City bombing; the Timothy McVeigh execution; the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings; and the end of millennium coverage, which she co-anchored with Tom Brokaw.

Couric has interviewed an extraordinarily diverse collection of newsmakers, from presidents and prime ministers to captains of industry and cultural icons. She has interviewed Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush when he was a presidential candidate, along with all of the major presidential candidates over the past several elections. Couric has also sat down with Vice President Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Sandra Day O’Connor and First Ladies Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford and Lady Bird Johnson. She has interviewed major world leaders including Kofi Annan, Tony Blair, Ariel Sharon, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah (in his first U.S. television interview), Benjamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres. Other Couric interviews include Bill Gates; Tricia Meili, the Central Park Jogger; the last interview with John F. Kennedy, Jr.; and a myriad of other authors, politicians and newsmakers.

After losing her husband, Jay Monahan, to colon cancer in 1998, Couric embraced the fight against the country’s number two cancer killer. In March 2000, Couric launched the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance in association with the Entertainment Industry Foundation and Lilly Tartikoff, to fund new medical research in colorectal cancer and to conduct educational programs encouraging the prevention and early detection of the disease through proper screening. Following Couric’s on-air colonoscopy in 2000, a scientifically documented 20 percent increase was noted in the number of colonoscopies performed across the country. Researchers at the University of Michigan dubbed this "The Couric Effect."

Couric received the George Foster Peabody Award for her March 2000 series on colon cancer, which also led to NBC News receiving the 2001 RTNDA-Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence. She also has won six Emmy Awards, the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award, a National Headliner Award, an Associated Press Award, a Matrix Award, two American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Awards, the Harvard University School of Public Health’s Julius B. Richmond Award and UNICEF’s Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award.

Couric also played a leadership role in establishing The Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell. The Monahan Center, which opened in March 2004, provides a comprehensive, fully integrated multi-disciplinary program, stressing education and prevention in addition to diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal cancers. The Monahan Center’s mission focuses on the seamless coordination of all needed care for patients and their families facing the difficult diagnosis of gastrointestinal cancer. As part of her work to generate funds for both the Center and the nine scientists whose research the NCCRA supports, Couric has hosted three extremely successful benefits. The most recent, "Hollywood Meets Motown," took place on March 15, 2006, and showcased approximately 40 film, recording industry, television and Broadway stars. These three events generated a significant portion of the almost million Couric and EIF’s NCCRA have raised to date to fight colorectal and other GI cancers.

Couric was a general assignment reporter for WRC-TV Washington, D.C. (1987-89) and for WTVJ Miami (1984-86). She worked for CNN (1980-84) as an assignment editor, associate producer, producer and, ultimately, political correspondent. Couric began her broadcast journalism career as a desk assistant at ABC News in Washington, D.C. (1979).

She was born in Arlington, Va. Couric graduated with honors from the University of Virginia in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in English and a focus on American studies. She lives in New York with her two daughters.