Connie Chung biography

Synopsis

Early Years

Journalist Connie Chung was born on August 20, 1946, and raised in Washington, D.C., as one of five surviving daughters of a Chinese diplomat. Chung received her journalism degree from the University of Maryland in 1969 and immediately launched her journalism career at Washington's WTTG-TV, ultimately working her way up to reporter. Two years later, she was hired away by CBS News to work as a Washington-based correspondent. There, Chung scored her first big interview: an exclusive sit-down with President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.

From 1976 to 1983, Chung worked and lived in Los Angeles as the lead news anchor for local CBS affiliate KCBS. It was in L.A. that Chung began a relationship with Maury Povich, a talk show host and old friend from their days as co-workers at WTTG. After seven years of dating, the pair married in 1984. "One day in the autumn of 1984 she called me up and said we could get married now," Povich recalled. "When asked how come, she answered calmly, 'Because I found a dress.'" It would be 18 months before the newlyweds' careers allowed them to live together in the same city. They settled in New York in 1986.

Face to Face With Connie Chung

In 1983, Chung moved to NBC. By the time her contract came up for renewal in 1989, she had become one of the most popular journalists in television news. After a fierce bidding war, Chung signed a three-year deal with CBS. She launched a program called Face to Face With Connie Chung, which mixed hard news with celebrity-friendly feature interviews. The program was popular with viewers, but many media critics questioned whether Chung was focusing on entertainment over information. The New York Times, for example, asked: "The question remains, is this program news? And, if so, what sort of news?"

Just months after starting, Chung quit the program, issuing a statement that she was leaving her grueling work schedule to focus on having a baby. "Time is running out for me when it comes to childbearing," said Chung, then 44. Her efforts to conceive a child proved unsuccessful. Povich and Chung couple adopted their son, Matthew, in June 1995.

CBS Controversy

In June 1993, CBS announced to much fanfare that the network would make Chung co-anchor of the nightly news broadcast, alongside longtime lead Dan Rather. Chung was only the second woman ever (after Barbara Walters) to hold one of the main network anchor chairs. At the same time, she launched a newsmagazine called Eye to Eye with Connie Chung. Like the short-lived Face to Face with Connie Chung before it, the program mixed coverage of serious news like the Israeli/Palestinian peace accords with soft, pop-culture stories.