Elizabeth Vargas (born September 6, 1962 in Paterson, New Jersey) is a television journalist, currently co-anchor of ABC's television newsmagazine 20/20 and anchor of ABC News Specials. From January 2006 to May 2006, she was co-anchor of ABC's flagship broadcast World News Tonight, anchoring much of the broadcast alone after co-anchor Bob Woodruff's severe injury in Iraq on January 29, 2006.
Vargas was born to a Puerto Rican father and an Irish-American mother; her father was then a Colonel in the U.S. Army. She spent her youth moving from base to base in Germany, Belgium and Japan.
Vargas graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia, where she made her debut broadcast as a reporter/anchor for KOMU-TV.
She spent four years as a reporter and anchor for WBBM-TV. Phyllis McGrady, a senior vice president at ABC, said of her: "Elizabeth is one of the most flexible talents I've ever worked with. She could do interviews, and do hour-long specials that make you think, and then she'll do a great interview with P. Diddy. She is versatile."
Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas
Vargas is the first woman to anchor an evening newscast in the U.S. since Connie Chung, and the first woman of Puerto Rican and Irish American heritage to be named a network nightly news anchor. She is said to be particularly proud of an ABC special report in which she questioned why the Laci Peterson case merited more attention than two other similar cases, one involving a black woman and the other involving a Hispanic woman. Another story she did, based on the book The Da Vinci Code and the role of Mary Magdalene, helped fuel a nationwide religious debate. Vargas stated that for centuries Mary Magdalene has been portrayed as a prostitute by the church, despite evidence to the contrary. She went on to question the strictly limited role of women within the church. In 1999 she won an Emmy Award for her coverage of the Elian Gonzalez story and in 1998 was nominated for an Emmy Award for her 20/20 investigation into the wrongful conviction of Betty Tyson.
In April 2005, as Peter Jennings was receiving chemotherapy for his lung cancer, she and Charles Gibson temporarily filled in for him on World News Tonight until his death in August. After a period of mourning and indecision, she and Woodruff were chosen as co-anchors on December 05, 2005.
Despite Katie Couric being the first woman named to anchor an evening newscast solo, Vargas can be considered the first de facto solo woman evening news anchor given that, after Bob Woodruff's injury, she anchored almost every broadcast alone (although there was a brief period after Woodruff's injury where Vargas co-anchored WNT with either Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer) during her short tenture as "co-anchor" of WNT.
Elizabeth Vargas is married to Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, whom she met at the 1999 U.S. Open after being introduced by Andre Agassi. In 2003, the couple had their first child, son Zachary. In February 2006, the couple announced that Vargas is pregnant and expecting their second son, due in late summer. Cohn has two children, Max and Emily, from a previous marriage.
On May 23, 2006, Vargas announced her resignation from WNT. Gibson was then named sole anchor of the show, effective May 29, 2006, replacing Vargas and her injured co-anchor Bob Woodruff[1]. To explain the sudden change, Vargas cited her doctors' recommendation to cut back her schedule considerably due to a difficult pregnancy and her wish to spend more time with her new baby when he arrives. Most "inside accounts", however, claim she fully expected and wished to return to the anchor chair soon after giving birth, but Gibson threatened to quit the network if he wasn't made sole permanent anchor [1]. According to these sources, his gambit succeeded and she was left embittered, although not enough to sever ties with the network. She is slated to return as co-anchor of 20/20 and primary presenter of ABC News specials.
Preceded by:
Peter Jennings |
ABC World News Tonight Anchor
Anchor
(herself with Bob Woodruff)
January 3, 2006- May 26, 2006
2006 – 2006
|
Succeeded by:
Charles Gibson |
Preceded by:
Barbara Walters and John Stossel |
20/20 Host
John Stossel and Herself
2004 – present |
Succeeded by:
Incumbent |
| Co-Anchors of 20/20 |
| Hayes • Hughes • Downs • Walters • Miller • Stossel • Vargas |
| Anchors of ABC Evening News/World News Tonight |
| Daly • Young • Reynolds • Smith • Reasoner • Walters • Robinson • Jennings • Woodruff/Vargas • Gibson |
References
- ^ "Charlie the Conqueror". New York Magazine, June 19, 2006.
See also
- List of famous Puerto Ricans
- List of Irish-Americans
External links
- About.com Profile of Elizabeth Vargas, ABC World News Tonight Co-Anchor
- ABC News bio
Categories: Puerto Rican journalists | Irish-Americans | ABC News | 1962 births | Living people | American journalists | Chicago television anchors | Television journalists | University of Missouri-Columbia alumni
