50 Most Influential News Anchors of All Time

TV news anchors have a long history of being relied upon for information on international news and events. The finest news anchors go beyond merely reporting events. They analyze the news and put it into context, frequently having a big impact on politics and public opinion. Decision-making is aided by the fact that it includes legendary American news broadcasters, both current and retired! Based on the Ranker votes from the participants, we rated the news anchors. In light of participant support, the best 50 news anchors of all time will be determined.

1. Walter Cronkite

Name	Walter Leland Cronkite Jr.
Date of birth	November 4, 1916
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist

Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S. on November 4, 1916. He is an American broadcast journalist.

From 1962 through 1981, he was the anchorman for the CBS Evening News for a period of 19 years. He was referred to as “the most trusted guy in America” throughout the 1960s and 1970s after being thus identified in a survey. Several awards, such as two Peabody Awards, a George Polk Award, an Emmy Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter in 1981, were given to Cronkite.

2. Edward R. Murrow

Name	Edward Roscoe Murrow
Date of birth	April 25, 1908
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist and war correspondent

Edward Roscoe Murrow was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, U.S. on April 25, 1908. He is an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent.

Murrow, a pioneer of radio and television news reporting, produced a number of broadcasts for his television program See It Now that contributed to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s being condemned. Distinguished journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, Bill Downs, Dan Rather, and Alexander Kendrick see Edward R. Murrow as one of the most influential personalities in journalism.

3. David Brinkley

Name	David McClure Brinkley
Date of birth	July 10, 1920
Nationality	American
Occupation	Newscaster

David McClure Brinkley was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S. on July 10, 1920. He is an American newscaster.

He and Chet Huntley co-anchored NBC’s top-rated nightly news show, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, from 1956 to 1970. From then, he co-anchored or provided commentary on the program’s successor, NBC Nightly News, during the 1970s. Brinkley served as the anchor of the well-liked Sunday This Week with David Brinkley show and a prominent contributor for ABC News’ coverage of election night in the 1980s and 1990s. Brinkley won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, three George Foster Peabody Awards, and ten Emmy Awards over his career.

4. Peter Jennings

Name	Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings
Date of birth	July 29, 1938
Nationality	Canadian-American
Occupation	Television journalist

Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 29, 1938. He is a Canadian-American television journalist.

From 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005, he was the only anchor of ABC World News Tonight. Despite dropping out of high school, he managed to become one of the most well-known journalists on American television. Along with Tom Brokaw of NBC and Dan Rather of CBS, Jennings was one of the “Big Three” news anchormen who dominated American evening network news from the early 1980s until his death in 2005, which occurred shortly after Brokaw’s retirement from anchoring evening news programs in 2004 and Rather’s retirement from anchoring evening news programs in 2005.

5. Tom Brokaw

Name	Thomas John Brokaw
Date of birth	February 6, 1940
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television journalist and author

Thomas John Brokaw was born in Webster, South Dakota, U.S. on February 6, 1940. He is an American retired network television journalist and author. 

From 1976 to 1981, he co-anchored The Today Show with Jane Pauley. Thereafter, he worked as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News. Together with Dan Rather and Peter Jennings, he was one of the “Big Three anchors” in this capacity. From 1973 to 1976, he worked as the program’s weekend anchor in the preceding ten years. He has hosted The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and briefly Meet the Press, all three of the major NBC News programs. He formerly served as an NBC News special reporter.

6. Harry Reasoner

Name	Harry Reasoner
Date of birth	April 17, 1923
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist

Harry Reasoner was born in Dakota City, Iowa, U.S. on April 17, 1923. He is an American journalist. He worked for CBS and ABC News and was well-known for his deft use of words when commentating on television and as one of the first anchors of the news program 60 Minutes (1968–1970, 1978–1991). Reasoner earned a George Foster Peabody Award in 1967 in addition to three Emmy Awards over his career.

7. Hugh Downs

Name	Hugh Malcolm Downs
Date of birth	February 14, 1921
Nationality	American
Occupation	Radio and television broadcaster, announcer and programmer; television host; news anchor; TV producer; author; game show host; talk show sidekick; and music composer

Hugh Malcolm Downs was born in Akron, Ohio, U.S. on February 14, 1921. He is an American radio and television broadcaster, announcer and programmer; television host; news anchor; TV producer; author; game show host; talk show sidekick; and music composer. 

He was a fixture on television from the middle of the 1940s through the late 1990s, playing a number of well-received parts in the morning, prime time, and late-night hours. Before Regis Philbin overtook him, he held the officially recognized Guinness World Record for the most hours spent on commercial network television.

8. Ted Koppel

Name	Edward James Martin Koppel
Date of birth	February 8, 1940
Nationality	British- American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist

Edward James Martin Koppel was born in Nelson, Lancashire, England on February 8, 1940. He is a British-born American broadcast journalist.

He worked at ABC for 20 years as a television journalist and news anchor prior to Nightline. He gained a reputation as one of the best serious interviewers on American television after taking over Nightline. The program had a nightly viewership of around 7.5 million people five years after its 1980 premiere. He received several honors over his career as a foreign and diplomatic journalist, including 25 Emmy Awards and nine Overseas Press Club Awards.

9. John Chancellor 

Name	John William Chancellor
Date of birth	July 14, 1927
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist

John William Chancellor was born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. on July 14, 1927. He is an American journalist.

Chancellor was admitted to the Television Hall of Fame in 1992. Baseball by Ken Burns featured Chancellor as the documentary’s narrator. Danger and Promise: A Perspective on America, another book he penned, was released in 1990. The Annenberg Public Policy Center oversaw the John Chancellor Prize for Excellence in Journalism from its inception in 1995 until 2004. The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism presently bestows it.

10. Tim Russert

Name	Timothy John Russert
Date of birth	May 7, 1950
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television journalist and lawyer

Timothy John Russert was born in Buffalo, New York, U.S. on May 7, 1950. He is an American television journalist and lawyer.

He served as the Washington bureau head for NBC News and senior vice president. He also presented an interview show on CNBC and MSNBC every weekend. On NBC’s The Today Show and Hardball, he frequently appeared as a guest and correspondent. 2008’s list of the 100 most important persons in the world by Time magazine featured Russert.

11. Chet Huntley

Name	Chester Robert “Chet” Huntley
Date of birth	December 10, 1911
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television journalist and lawyer

Chester Robert “Chet” Huntley was born in Buffalo, New York, U.S. on December 10, 1911. He is an American television newscaster, best known.

With KIRO AM in Seattle as his first radio station, Huntley began his career in radio news casting in 1934. He then worked for radio stations in Portland and Spokane (KHQ). Huntley started hosting a new half-hour program called Outlook in April 1956, ahead of the political conventions that year that made him famous. Outlook was created by Reuven Frank. Alfred I. duPont Award recipient Huntley in 1956. Huntley was honored by the Television Hall of Fame in 1988 following his passing.

12. Eric Sevareid

Name	Arnold Eric Sevareid
Date of birth	November 26, 1912
Nationality	American
Occupation	Author and CBS news journalist

Arnold Eric Sevareid was born in Velva, North Dakota, U.S. on November 26, 1912. He is an American author and CBS news journalist.

He was one of a select group of distinguished war reporters known as “Murrow’s Boys” since they were employed by CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow. The Fall of Paris in 1940, when the city was taken over by Nazi forces during World War II, was originally reported by Sevareid. Sevareid, who followed Murrow’s example by commentating on the CBS Evening News for thirteen years, was honored with Peabody and Emmy Awards for his work.

13. Dan Rather

Name	Daniel Irvin Rather Jr.
Date of birth	October 31, 1931
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor

Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. was born in Wharton, Texas, U.S. on October 31, 1931. He is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor.

After starting his career in Texas, Rather gained national recognition for his reporting during Hurricane Carla in September 1961, which helped save hundreds of lives. Rather also memorably covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in November 1963. He was elevated to CBS News, where he worked as the White House reporter starting in 1964, as a result of his powerful reporting.

14. Diane Sawyer

Name	Lila Diane Sawyer
Date of birth	December 22, 1945
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television broadcast journalist

Lila Diane Sawyer was born in Glasgow, Kentucky on December 22, 1945. She is an American television broadcast journalist. She is well recognized for serving as an anchor for important ABC NEWS programs. 

After graduating, she started a profession as a weather forecaster. She traveled to the nation’s capital and spent several years working as US President Richard Nixon’s writing consultant and press secretary in the White House until realizing that this position was uninteresting. 

After taking a host position at CBS broadcasting, she gained notoriety. Her net worth was estimated to be close to $12 million only from her entertainment revenue. She was listed on the “List of The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.”

15. Howard K. Smith

Name	Howard Kingsbury Smith
Date of birth	May 12, 1914
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman, political commentator, and film actor

Howard Kingsbury Smith was born in Ferriday, Louisiana, U.S. on May 12, 1914. He is an American journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman, political commentator, and film actor.

He was one of the original Murrow Boys, a group of combat correspondents. Smith was one of 151 accused Communist supporters included in the Red Channels report published in June 1950 at the start of the Red Scare, essentially placing him on the Hollywood blacklist despite his critiques of Soviet tactics. Smith has received several awards throughout the years, including the American Jewish Congress Award in 1960, the Sigma Delta Chi Prize for radio journalism in 1957, and the DuPont Awards in 1955 and 1963. He received the Paul White Prize from the Radio Television Digital News Association in 1962.

16. Roger Mudd

Name	Roger Harrison Mudd
Date of birth	February 9, 1928
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist

Roger Harrison Mudd was born in Washington, D.C., U.S. on February 9, 1928. He is an American broadcast journalist. With NBC News and CBS News, he worked as an anchor and reporter.

He was The History Channel’s lead anchor as well. Mudd has held previous positions as the co-anchor of the daily NBC Nightly News, weekend and weekday replacement anchor for the CBS Evening News, and host of the NBC-TV Meet the Press and American Almanac TV shows. Mudd won five Emmy Awards, the Joan Shorenstein Award for Outstanding Washington Reporting, the Peabody Award, and both.

17. Jim Lehrer

Name	James Charles Lehrer
Date of birth	May 19, 1934
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright

James Charles Lehrer was born in Wichita, Kansas, U.S. on May 19, 1934. He is an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright.

In addition to serving as the executive editor and news anchor for the PBS NewsHour, Lehrer was well-known for his work as a debate moderator during U.S. presidential election campaigns. From 1988 and 2012, he presided over twelve presidential debates. He wrote a lot of fiction and non-fiction works, drawing on his background as a newsman and his passions for politics and history.

18. Barbara Walters

Name	Barbara Jill Walters
Date of birth	September 25, 1929
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist and television personality

Barbara Jill Walters was born in Wichita, Kansas, U.S. on September 25, 1929. She is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. 

She hosted a number of television shows, including Today, the ABC Evening News, 20/20, and The View. She was well known for her interviewing skills and popularity with viewers. Walters was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the NATAS in 2000, and induction into the Television Hall of Fame in 1989. From Richard and Pat Nixon to Barack and Michelle Obama, Walters spoke with every sitting president and first lady of the United States during her tenure. She also spoke with Joe Biden and Donald Trump, albeit not when they were both president.

19. Sam Donaldson

Name	Samuel Andrew Donaldson Jr.
Date of birth	March 11, 1934
Nationality	American
Occupation	Reporter and news anchor

Samuel Andrew Donaldson Jr. was born in El Paso, Texas, U.S. on March 11, 1934. He is an American reporter and news anchor. 

He worked with ABC News from 1967 and 2009. His most well-known roles include co-anchoring the network’s Sunday program This Week as well as serving as the network’s White House Correspondent from 1977 to 1989 and 1998 to 1999. Donaldson reported on the Vietnam War for ABC News in 1971. In 1973–1974 he served as ABC’s top Watergate correspondent, covering the Watergate burglars’ trial, the Senate Watergate hearings, and the House Judiciary Committee’s inquiry into President Nixon’s impeachment.

20. Brit Hume

Name	Alexander Britton Hume
Date of birth	June 22, 1943
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist and political commentator

Alexander Britton Hume was born in El Paso, Texas, U.S. on June 22, 1943. He is an American journalist and political commentator.

Brit Hume served as the host of Special Report with Brit Hume and the Fox News Channel’s managing editor for Washington, D.C., for 12 years. After leaving his position as Special Report’s host in 2008, he joined Fox News as a senior political analyst and a frequent commentator on Fox News Sunday. With the sudden departure of Greta Van Susteren, the show’s long standing host, he was chosen the temporary anchor of On the Record in September 2016. He held that position through the 2016 presidential election.

21. Frank Reynolds

Name	Frank James Reynolds
Date of birth	November 29, 1923
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television journalist

Frank James Reynolds was born in East Chicago, Indiana, U.S. on November 29, 1923. He is an American television journalist.

From 1968 to 1970, Reynolds hosted the ABC Evening News from New York, and from 1978 until his passing in 1983, he served as the show’s co-anchor from Washington, D.C. He launched the 30-minute late-night show America Held Hostage during the Iran hostage crisis, which was eventually renamed Nightline and later taken over by Ted Koppel. Reynolds’ final broadcast was on April 20, 1983, and despite assurances from replacement anchormen that he would return, he never did. He passed away at Sibley Memorial Hospital on July 20, 1983, at the age of 59, from liver failure brought on by hepatitis.

22. Cokie Roberts

Name	Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne “Cokie” Roberts
Date of birth	December 27, 1943
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist and author

Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne “Cokie” Roberts was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. on December 27, 1943. She is an American journalist and author.

She worked for National Public Radio, PBS, and ABC News for decades as a political reporter and analyst, holding significant positions on shows including This Week, World News Tonight, Morning Edition, and The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. Together with Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, and Nina Totenberg, she was regarded as one of NPR’s “Founding Moms”.

23. Jessica Savitch

Name	Jessica Beth Savitch
Date of birth	February 1, 1947
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television journalist

Jessica Beth Savitch was born in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. on February 1, 1947. She is an American television journalist.’

Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, she read the daily news for NBC News and served as the weekend anchor of NBC Nightly News. Savitch, who preceded Marlene Sanders of ABC News and Catherine Mackin of NBC News as one of the first female anchors of an evening network newscast, made history. In addition, she served as the anchor of Frontline on PBS from its premiere in January 1983 until her passing as a passenger in a car accident later that year.

24. Bernard Shaw

Name	Bernard Shaw
Date of birth	May 22, 1940
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist and news anchor

Bernard Shaw was born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. on May 22, 1940. He is an American journalist and lead news anchor.

In 1964, Shaw started working as a reporter and anchor for WNUS in Chicago. Before becoming the Senior Capitol Hill Correspondent, he joined ABC News in 1977 as a Latin American journalist and bureau head. He is especially recalled for his coverage of the Gulf War in 1991. He took cover beneath a desk as he reported cruise missiles going through his window while reporting from the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad with CNN journalists John Holliman and Peter Arnett.

25. Lester Holt

Name	Lester Don Holt Jr.
Date of birth	March 8, 1959
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist

Lester Don Holt Jr. was born in Hamilton Air Force Base, California, U.S. on March 8, 1959. He is an American journalist.

After Brian Williams was demoted, Holt was appointed as NBC Nightly News’ permanent anchor on June 18, 2015. Max Robinson, an evening co-anchor for ABC News, served as a career model for Holt, who went on to become the first African-American to solo-anchor a weekday network broadcast. As Holt took over as anchor, NBC Nightly News’ ratings fell to second place, falling from first place for more than 30 years during the Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams eras.

26. Garrick Utley

Name	Clifton Garrick Utley
Date of birth	November 19, 1939
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television journalist

Clifton Garrick Utley was born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. on November 19, 1939. He is an American television journalist.

As a researcher in Europe for The Huntley-Brinkley Report, Utley joined NBC News in 1963. He later rose to the position of Foreign and Senior reporter. Alongside reporting the Vietnam War, Utley reported from numerous other places including periods as bureau chief in London and Paris. He also covered news from the United States. Utley taught broadcasting and journalism at the State University of New York at Oswego after quitting network television. He also served as a senior fellow at the SUNY Levin Center in Manhattan, where he left as director in December 2011.

27. Douglas Edwards

Name	Douglas Edwards
Date of birth	July 14, 1917
Nationality	American
Occupation	Radio and television newscaster and correspondent

Douglas Edwards was born in Ada, Oklahoma, U.S. on July 14, 1917. He is  an American radio and television newscaster and correspondent.

For 15 years, from March 20, 1947, to April 16, 1962, Edwards broadcast news on CBS television every weekday. The CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite’s newscast after Edwards’ departure, grew to a 30-minute format in 1963. The show debuted as a 15-minute episode under the title CBS Television News. Although leaving the nightly news in 1962, Edwards remained employed by CBS for a further 25 years, reporting news on radio and daytime television, editing news features, and retiring from the network in 1988.

28. Chris Wallace

Name	Christopher Wallace
Date of birth	October 12, 1947
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist

Christopher Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. on October 12, 1947. He is an American broadcast journalist.

He frequently receives comparisons to his father, journalist Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes, for his frank and in-depth interviews. He has worked in media for 50 years, serving as a journalist, moderator, or anchor for CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox News, and now CNN. He was listed among the top TV news anchors in America in terms of viewer trust in 2018. Wallace has received a Peabody Award, a George Polk Award, a duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Award, and a Paul White lifetime achievement award in addition to three Emmy Awards.

29. Christiane Amanpour

Name	Christiane Maria Heideh Amanpour
Date of birth	January 12, 1958
Nationality	British-Iranian
Occupation	Journalist and television host

Christiane Maria Heideh Amanpour was born in Ealing, Middlesex, England on January 12, 1958. She is a British-Iranian journalist and television host.

She started off as a desk assistant for CNN’s international desk in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1983. Amanpour’s first significant assignment as a journalist was to cover the Iran-Iraq War in her early years. This led to her being relocated to Eastern Europe in 1986 to cover the fall of European communism. Don Hewitt, the man behind 60 Minutes, hired her from 1996 to 2005 as a special contributor to file four to five in-depth foreign news segments a year. She won a Peabody Award in 1998 as a result of her reports.

30. Connie Chung

Name	Constance Yu-Hwa Chung
Date of birth	August 20, 1946
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist

Constance Yu-Hwa Chung was born in Washington, D.C., U.S. on August 20, 1946. She is an American journalist.

On the American television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC, she has worked as an anchor and reporter. Claus von Bülow, U.S. Congressman Gary Condit, who Chung spoke with following the abduction of Chandra Levy, and basketball icon Magic Johnson when he came up with his HIV status are some of her most well-known interview topics. She joined CBS Evening News as a co-anchor in 1993, making history as the second woman to co-anchor a network broadcast.

31. Ann Curry

Name	Ann Curry
Date of birth	November 19, 1956
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist and photojournalist

Ann Curry was born in Agaña, Guam, U.S. on November 19, 1956. She is an American journalist and photojournalist.

For almost 30 years, she has covered natural catastrophes and conflict zones with an emphasis on the suffering of people there. Curry covered the conflicts in Kosovo, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan, Darfur, the Congo, and the Central African Republic. Curry has covered a number of catastrophes, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and the 2010 Haitian Earthquake, when her Twitter appeal was credited for accelerating the arrival of relief planes after topping Twitter’s list of “most impactful” tweets.

32. Bill Hemmer

Name	William G. Hemmer
Date of birth	November 14, 1964
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist

William G. Hemmer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. on November 14, 1964. He is an American journalist. 

Midway through the 1980s, he began working in sports production at WLWT-TV, when he discovered his love for live television. From 1995 through 2005, Hemmer hosted many shows for CNN, including American Morning (initially with Paula Zahn, then with Soledad O’Brien), CNN Tonight, CNN Early Edition, CNN Morning News, and CNN Live Today with co-anchor Daryn Kagan. Hemmer was reinstated to America’s Newsroom in 2021 as part of a revised roster for the network’s weekday programming, with co-anchor Dana Perino.

33. Linda Ellerbee

Name	Linda Jane Smith
Date of birth	August 15, 1944
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist, anchor, producer, reporter, author, speaker and commentator

Linda Jane Smith was born in Bryan, Texas, U.S. on August 15, 1944. She is an American journalist, anchor, producer, reporter, author, speaker and commentator.

Ellerbee was a correspondent for Today at NBC. Weekend’s prime-time edition was where she got her first position as an anchor. As Weekend transitioned from its late-night time slot (where it cycled with Saturday Night Live, typically one Saturday night per month) into direct prime time competition with CBS’s 60 Minutes, Ellerbee joined Lloyd Dobyns as co-host. And Thus It Goes, her autobiography, was released in 1986. In 1991, Move On: Adventures in the Real World, a second memoir, and in 2005, Take Large Bites: Adventures Across the Globe and Across the Table, a third memoir, were both released.

34. Frank McGee

Name	Linda Jane Smith
Date of birth	September 12, 1921
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist, anchor, producer, reporter, author, speaker and commentator

Frank McGee was born in Monroe, Louisiana, U.S. on September 12, 1921. He is an American television journalist.

As one of the “Four Horsemen,” which also comprised NBC newsmen John Chancellor, Edwin Newman, and Sander Vanocur, McGee covered the floor of the national conventions of both major parties in 1960, 1964, and 1968. McGee had a gift for using vivid words to describe events, frequently painting a clear picture for viewers of the day’s happenings. As Huntley’s departure put an end to the Huntley-Brinkley Report in 1970, McGee joined David Brinkley and Chancellor as hosts of the newly titled NBC Nightly News.

35. Judy Woodruff

Name	Judy Carline Woodruff
Date of birth	November 20, 1946
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist

Judy Carline Woodruff was born in Monroe, Louisiana, U.S. on November 20, 1946. She  is an American broadcast journalist.

Since 1976, she has been a news reporter for network, cable, and public television. By the end of 2022, she served as the managing editor and host of the PBS NewsHour. Since 1976, Woodruff has covered each presidential election and convention. She has moderated US presidential debates and conducted interviews with a number of leaders of state. Woodruff stated in May 2022 that she will leave her position as the NewsHour’s anchor at the end of the year, and her last broadcast was on December 30, 2022.

36. Jane Pauley

Name	Margaret Jane Pauley
Date of birth	October 31, 1950
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television host and author

Margaret Jane Pauley was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. on October 31, 1950. She  is an American television host and author.

Pauley first gained notoriety when she took over for Barbara Walters on the NBC morning program Today at the age of 25. She co-anchored the program from 1976 to 1989, first with Tom Brokaw and then with Bryant Gumbel; for a brief period in the late 1980s, she and Gumbel also collaborated with Deborah Norville.

She requested to be freed from her contract in 1989, believing that Norville’s inclusion in the program was endangering her work. Nevertheless, her request was refused. She collaborated with Stone Phillips in her subsequent regular anchor role at the network’s newsmagazine Dateline NBC from 1992 until 2003.

37. Brian Williams

Name	Brian Douglas Williams
Date of birth	May 5, 1959
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist and television news anchor

Brian Douglas Williams was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S. on May 5, 1959. He  is an American journalist and television news anchor.

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months by NBC for “misrepresent[ing] events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003”. Four months after the incident came to light, the network removed him from NBC Nightly News and reassigned him as the breaking news anchor for MSNBC. In September 2016, he became the host of MSNBC’s political news show, The 11th Hour. Williams announced in November 2021 that he would be leaving MSNBC and NBC News at the completion of his contract the following month, when he hosted his final episode of The 11th Hour.

38. Anderson Cooper

Name	Anderson Hays Cooper
Date of birth	June 3, 1967
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist and political commentator

Anderson Hays Cooper was born in New York City, U.S. on June 3, 1967. He is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator.

Cooper works for CNN as well as for CBS News’ 60 Minutes as a correspondent. He started traversing the world and filming war-torn areas for Channel One News in 1989, the year he received his Bachelor of Arts from Yale University. Cooper joined ABC News in 1995 as a journalist, but he quickly accepted other positions throughout the network, serving briefly as a co-anchor, host of a reality game program, and stand-in for a morning talk show host.

39. Robin Roberts

Name	Robin Roberts
Date of birth	November 23, 1960
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist and political commentator

Robin Roberts was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S. on November 23, 1960. She is an American television broadcaster.

Roberts worked as a sports anchor for neighborhood TV and radio stations after growing up in Mississippi and enrolling at Southeastern Louisiana University. For fifteen years, Roberts covered sports for ESPN (1990–2005). In 2005, she was made a co-anchor on Good Morning America. In 2012, Roberts was admitted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The show tracked her myelodysplastic syndrome therapy, and for its reporting on it, it received a 2012 Peabody Award.

40. Katie Couric

Name	Katherine Anne Couric
Date of birth	January 7, 1957
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist and presenter

Katherine Anne Couric was born in Arlington, Virginia on January 7, 1957. She is an American journalist and presenter. 

She is the creator of the multimedia news and production company Katie Couric Media. Additionally, Wake Up Call, her daily newsletter, is published. She served as Yahoo’s Global News Anchor from 2013 to 2017. All three of the Big Three American television networks have featured Couric as a host; earlier in her career, she worked as an assignment editor for CNN. Her most significant on-air roles as a presenter have included co-hosting Today, anchoring the CBS Evening News, and serving as a correspondent for 60 Minutes. 

41. Lesley Stahl

Name	Lesley Rene Stahl
Date of birth	December 16, 1941
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television journalist

Lesley Rene Stahl was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, U.S. on December 16, 1941. She is an American television journalist.

As a producer and on-air reporter, Stahl started her career in television news at Boston’s first Channel 5, WHDH-TV. From September 1983 through May 1991, Stahl presided as Face the Nation’s moderator. In the episode “Desperately Seeking Closure” of the NBC comedy Frasier from1998, she made an appearance as herself. She also served as the 2002–2004 host of 48 Hours Investigates. When Al Gore went on 60 Minutes and announced for the first time that he would not run for president again in2004, Stahl gained notoriety.

42. Max Robinson

Name	Maxie Cleveland “Max” Robinson, Jr.
Date of birth	May 1, 1939
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist

Maxie Cleveland “Max” Robinson, Jr. was born in Richmond, Virginia, U.S. on May 1, 1939. He is an American broadcast journalist.

His most notable role was that of co-anchoring ABC World News Tonight from 1978 to 1983 with Frank Reynolds and Peter Jennings. As the country’s first African-American television network news anchor, Robinson is well-known. Initiator of the National Organization of Black Journalists, Robinson.

He left ABC in 1983 and started working for WMAQ-TV in Chicago in March 1984. He was the first black anchor at the station. Yet, he had tumultuous relations with several of his coworkers throughout his time at the station. He was missing a lot, too. Robinson hung up his hat in 1985.

43. Charles Collingwood

Name	Charles Collingwood
Date of birth	June 4, 1917
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist and war correspondent

Charles Collingwood was born in Three Rivers, Michigan, U.S. on June 4, 1917. He is an American journalist and war correspondent.

He was a founding member of the “Murrow Boys,” a group of international reporters led by Edward R. Murrow. He reported for CBS News during World War II in Europe and North Africa. Together with Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid, and Edward R. Murrow himself, Collingwood was a pioneering television journalist.

He was the first American journalist permitted entry into North Vietnam in 1968. This trip was as a major source of inspiration for Collingwood’s 1970 espionage book The Defector. The thriller’s strengths and its insights into the difficulties of the Vietnam War won the book plaudits from critics.

44. Elizabeth Vargas

Name	Elizabeth Anne Vargas
Date of birth	September 6, 1962
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television journalist

Elizabeth Anne Vargas was born in Paterson, New Jersey, U.S. on September 6, 1962. She is an American television journalist. 

She serves as Fox’s America’s Most Wanted host and A&E Networks’ chief investigative reporter/documentary anchor. After serving as an anchor for ABC News specials and the television newsmagazine 20/20 for the preceding 14 years, she started in her new role on May 28. With ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff, Vargas co-anchored World News Tonight in 2006. Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction, Vargas’ memoir, was published in 2016. On September 13, Grand Central Publishing released it, and it quickly shot to the top of The New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists.

45. Greta Van Susteren

Name	Greta Conway Van Susteren
Date of birth	June 11, 1954
Nationality	American
Occupation	Commentator, lawyer, and television news anchor

Greta Conway Van Susteren was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S. on June 11, 1954. She is an American commentator, lawyer, and television news anchor. 

After a widely publicized contract bidding war, Van Susteren made the jump to the Fox News Channel in 2002. She served as the host of the news program On the Record with Greta Van Susteren. She left Fox News on September 6, 2016. She was unable to say farewell on-air because Brit Hume, the network’s new On the Record host, took the position right away. Van Susteren is on the National Institute for Civic Discourse’s Board of Directors (NICD). The University of Arizona established the program in the wake of the shooting, which left six people dead and 13 wounded, including U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords.

46. Shepard Smith

Name	David Shepard Smith Jr.
Date of birth	January 14, 1964
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist

David Shepard Smith Jr. was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, U.S. on January 14, 1964. He is an American broadcast journalist.

He hosted The News with Shepard Smith, a daily evening broadcast that debuted on CNBC in late September 2020 as the lead general news anchor. His program was canceled in November 2022. Smith is most known for his 23-year tenure at Fox News Channel, where he served as managing editor of the breaking news section and lead anchor during the channel’s founding in 1996. During his time at Fox News, Smith presented a number of shows, including Fox Report, Studio B, and Shepard Smith Reporting.

47. Wolf Blitzer

Name	Wolf Isaac Blitzer
Date of birth	March 22, 1948
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist, television news anchor, and author

Wolf Isaac Blitzer was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany on March 22, 1948. He is an American journalist, television news anchor, and author.

Early in the 1970s, Blitzer started a career in journalism at the Reuters news agency’s Tel Aviv office. Blitzer has received several honors, including the 2004 Journalist Pillar of Justice Award from the Respect for Law Coalition and the 2003 Daniel Pearl Award from the Chicago Press Veterans Association. He was given the Ernie Pyle Journalism Award for military reporting by the American Veteran Awards in November 2002. 

48. Stone Phillips

Name	Stone Stockton Phillips
Date of birth	December 2, 1954
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television reporter and correspondent

Stone Stockton Phillips was born in Texas City, Texas, U.S. on December 2, 1954. He is an American television reporter and correspondent.

He is most recognized for his time as a co-anchor on the news magazine TV program Dateline NBC. Also, he has served as a stand-in anchor for NBC Nightly News, Today, and Meet the Press. He worked as an ABC News correspondent for 20/20 and World News Tonight before joining NBC. In May 2013, Phillips produced and served as the host of the PBS documentary Moving with Grace, which followed his and his siblings’ efforts to care for their elderly parents. It also looked at a number of problems experienced by other baby boomers in a similar situation.

49. Martha Raddatz

Name	Stone Stockton Phillips
Date of birth	February 14, 1953
Nationality	American
Occupation	Reporter

Martha Raddatz was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho, U.S. on February 14, 1953. She is an American reporter.

Prior to 1993, Raddatz served as the head correspondent for WCVB-TV, an ABC News station in Boston. Raddatz covered the Pentagon for National Public Radio from 1993 to 1998. The Long Way Home: A Tale of War and Family, a book about the siege of Sadr City, Iraq, is another work by Raddatz that has achieved New York Times best-seller status.

Late in 2017, NatGeo aired a TV miniseries based on the book. In November 2008, Raddatz was assigned to her present role as Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent for ABC. Moreover, Raddatz co-moderated the second presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016 at Washington University in St. Louis with Anderson Cooper.

50. Marlene Sanders

Name	Marlene Sanders
Date of birth	January 10, 1931
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television news correspondent, anchor, producer and executive

Marlene Sanders was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio on January 10, 1931. She is an American television news correspondent, anchor, producer and executive.

In the then-male-dominated industry of television news, she was the first woman to accomplish a number of landmarks. Sanders was the first woman to lead an evening newscast for a major network shortly after joining ABC News as a journalist in 1964 when she filled in for the regularly scheduled anchor, Ron Cochran, who fell unwell. She was also the first woman to provide field reports on the Vietnam War. One of the first women to reach senior management in the industry, ABC elevated her to vice president and director of documentaries in 1976. Also, she received three Emmy Awards for the documentaries she created for CBS.