Cynthia McFadden Jumps From ABC to NBC

By Merrill Knox 

cynthia mcfaddenAfter two decades at ABC News, “Nightline” anchor Cynthia McFadden is jumping to NBC News. She will be senior legal and investigative correspondent, contributing to NBC’s investigative unit across all NBC’s platforms.

“After 20 incredible years at ABC News I’ve decided to take on new challenges at NBC News,” McFadden said in a statement. “While it is not easy leaving the ‘Nightline’ anchor chair, the opportunity NBC offered to make a deep dive into the kind of reporting I am most passionate about— legal and investigative— was just too appealing to resist. I’m grateful to everyone at ABC for a marvelous journey and very much looking forward to joining my new colleagues at NBC.”

McFadden has anchored “Nightline” for the past nine years. She joined ABC News in 1994 as a legal correspondent.

Advertisement

“Cynthia McFadden is a rare talent — passionate about journalism, compassionate in her view of the world, truly gifted in the art of storytelling,” NBC News president Deborah Turness said. “Expert, experienced, and exceptional — NBC News is the perfect place for her, and I personally can’t wait for us to begin our journey together.”

More from NBC after the jump.

NBC NEWS NAMES CYNTHIA MCFADDEN SENIOR LEGAL AND INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT

MARCH 27, 2014 — Award-winning journalist Cynthia McFadden will join NBC News as Senior Legal and Investigative Correspondent, it was announced today by NBC News President Deborah Turness. McFadden spent the past twenty years at ABC News as a highly respected anchor and correspondent known for her diverse portfolio of powerful investigations. Her distinguished work has won many of broadcasting’s most coveted prizes, including Emmy, Peabody, duPont and Foreign Press awards.

Based in New York, McFadden will join the prolific NBC News investigative unit and she will contribute across all broadcasts and platforms of NBC News.

McFadden has established herself as a multi-talented reporter whose wide range of skills include conducting newsmaker interviews, leading groundbreaking investigations and providing incisive legal analysis.

“Cynthia McFadden is a rare talent — passionate about journalism, compassionate in her view of the world, truly gifted in the art of storytelling,” said Turness. “Expert, experienced, and exceptional — NBC News is the perfect place for her, and I personally can’t wait for us to begin our journey together.”

“After 20 incredible years at ABC News I’ve decided to take on new challenges at NBC News,” said McFadden. “While it is not easy leaving the ‘Nightline’ anchor chair, the opportunity NBC offered to make a deep dive into the kind of reporting I am most passionate about— legal and investigative— was just too appealing to resist. I’m grateful to everyone at ABC for a marvelous journey and very much looking forward to joining my new colleagues at NBC.”

McFadden joined ABC News in 1994 as a legal correspondent before being named a correspondent for the network’s late-night news broadcast, “Nightline.” She has served as the program’s co-anchor for the past nine years.

McFadden has focused much of her investigative reporting on social issues and human rights abuses, particularly those faced by women and children, both here in the United States and around the world. She has filed groundbreaking reports on topics ranging from human trafficking and forced sterilization to abuses in mental health systems and the world of Medicaid fraud. Recently, she investigated hate groups in America in her Emmy-nominated report on the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan.

McFadden has interviewed a number of world leaders, including presidents of the United States, Pakistan, Rwanda and Chile. She has reported from a wide variety of international hot spots including Haiti, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Bosnia, El Salvador, Rwanda, South Africa, Pakistan, India, Russia and China. As a senior legal correspondent, McFadden covered numerous high-profile stories out of the Justice Department and the Supreme Court, as well as hundreds of court cases ranging from the O.J. Simpson trial to the Bosnian War Crimes proceedings.

A native of Maine, McFadden graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Bowdoin College, and received her law degree from Columbia University.