Diane Sawyer
Vorlage:Infobox Celebrity Diane Sawyer is a television journalist for the U.S. network ABC News and co-anchor of ABC's Good Morning America, along with with Robin Roberts. According to recent surveys, Sawyer is among the most popular U.S. broadcasters.Vorlage:Fact
Background
Lila Diana Sawyer was born December 22, 1945 in Glasgow, Kentucky. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Louisville, where her father, Erbon Powers "Tom" Sawyer, rose to local prominence as a politician and community leader, and E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park, located in the Frey's Hill area of Louisville, is named in his honor. In 1963, she won the "America's Junior Miss" scholarship pageant as a representative from the State of Kentucky. In 1967 she received her English degree at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
After finishing her education, Sawyer served as a local TV news reporter for WLKY-TV in Louisville, Kentucky until 1970, when she was hired by White House press secretary Ron Ziegler to serve in the administration of President Richard Nixon, staying on through his resignation in 1974, and working on the transition team between Nixon and Gerald Ford in 1975, and assisting Nixon with his memoirs. Years later, Sawyer would be suspected as the source of leaks of classified information to Bob Woodward (nicknamed "Deep Throat" by Woodward) during the Watergate scandal. However, she was one of six people to request and receive a public denial from Bob Woodward[1].
In 1978, Sawyer became a political correspondent for CBS, becoming a co-anchor with Bill Kurtis of the CBS Morning News in 1981. In 1984, she became a correspondent for 60 Minutes, where she stayed for five years. In 1989, she moved to ABC to co-anchor Primetime Live with Sam Donaldson. In 1999, Sawyer returned to morning news under a lucrative contract to became the co-anchor of Good Morning America, along with Charles Gibson. The assignment was putatively temporary, but her success in the position, measured by a close in the gap with front-runner Today Show, has resulted in her staying in the position longer than anticipated.
Sawyer has long been rumored to covet an anchor desk in a evening network news broadcast. Most recently, on May 23 2006 it was announced that Charlie Gibson would assume the anchor chair for "World News Tonight," scotching the "Sawyer WNT hosting" rumors for the time being, if not for good. Charles Gibson departed from "GMA" on June 28 2006.
It has been rumored that Sawyer will leave the show in spring 2007. While she has been popular with viewers, her contract is over in 2009. Controversy and negative response from viewers have been generated by Sawyer's undercover investigative news reports about child abuse and the specific instances in which Sawyer and the investigative team failed to report the documented abuse to child welfare authorities.Vorlage:Factmaggie
Awards, memberships
- Sawyer and segment producer Robbie Gordon received the 2004 George Polk Award for Television Reporting, given annually by Long Island University to honor contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting,[2] for “Fighting for Care,” an exposé on the disgraceful conditions, inadequate care and gross mismanagement that have persisted for years in Veterans Administration hospitals around the country. The report prompted hospital inspections as well as new supervision and training efforts.
- Sawyer is a member of the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations).maggie loves Diane Sawyer so much and wants to be just like her!
Personal life
Sawyer has been married to film director Mike Nichols since April 29, 1988.
Cultural references
- In the comic strip Bloom County, a central character, Opus the penguin, had a long-time crush on Diane Sawyer.
- In the movie Drop Dead Gorgeous, Kirsten Dunst's character repeatedly says that she aspires to win a beauty pageant and become a news anchor, "just like Diane Sawyer."
- In the movie Something's Gotta Give, Jack Nicholson's character was at one time in his past engaged to Diane Sawyer.
- In the movie Little Black Book, Brittany Murphy's character has the career goal of working for Diane Sawyer, and ended up achieving the goal at the end of the movie.
- Diane was often mentioned as a rival of fictional news-magazine anchor Murphy Brown on the popular sitcom of the same name.
- MADtv had a skit where Diane Sawyer interviewed Whitney Houston. Sawyer did conduct a well publicized interview with Houston in 2002.
- SNL had a skit where Sam Donaldson calls Diane Sawyer a bitch on Primetime Live to prove that the show was live.
- In America (The Book), it is said that "There is no valid reason to appear with Diane Sawyer."
- During the Animaniacs cartoon 'Broadcast Nuisance', a caricature of Diane named DuAnne Sewer makes a brief appearance as co-anchor of NewsTime Live with the cartoon's central (non-Warner) character, Dan Anchorman (a caricature of Sam Donaldson).
Famous interviews
- U.S. President George W. Bush
- Former U.S. President and First Lady Bill and Hillary Clinton— first interview after the former's 1992 election to the U.S. Presidency[3]
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad— February 12, 2007, one of the first interviews granted to an American
- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), First Female Speaker of the House
- Cuban President Fidel Castro
- Former Panama General Manuel Noriega
- Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara
- Former First Lady Nancy Reagan
- Singers Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson
- Actor Michael J. Fox
- Heiress Athina Roussel (granddaughter of Aristotle Onassis)[4]
- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
- Maggie her #1 fan