These 30 TV Newsers Fueled the Industry’s Incredible Evolution Over the Past 15 Years

On Jan. 1, 2004, a Towson University college freshman named Brian Stelter (now chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide and anchor of Reliable Sources) launched a potent little blog about the TV news business. First called CableNewser, then renamed TVNewser that July when it joined the Mediabistro Blog Network, it quickly became the go-to industry site for all things broadcast and cable news. Fifteen years later, the blog, which is now part of the Adweek Network, is as influential as ever. To mark this milestone, Adweek is honoring the 30 most impactful TV newsers during that time frame: spotlighting the personalities and execs who were instrumental in the industry’s incredible decade-and-a-half evolution. Christiane AmanpourMaria BartiromoWolf BlitzerNeil CavutoAnderson CooperKatie CouricJim CramerAnn CurryJosé Díaz-BalartSavannah GuthrieSean HannityLester HoltGayle KingHoda KotbRachel MaddowAndrea MitchellDavid MuirBecky QuickJorge RamosRobin RobertsDiane SawyerJoe Scarborough, Mika BrzezinskiSuzanne ScottBen SherwoodShepard SmithLesley StahlGeorge StephanopoulosDavid WestinBill WhitakerJeff Zucker×Christiane Amanpour > Job now: chief international anchor, CNN; anchor, Amanpour, CNN International; host, Amanpour & Company, PBS Job 15 years ago: chief international correspondent, CNN; correspondent, 60 Minutes, CBS Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “Staying alive. I’ve been in the field for most of my career, and in the most dangerous places in the world, where people are deliberately targeting journalists. Staying alive has been tough, but keeping the truth alive has been very tough as well. Getting people to accept that truth does not mean moral or factual equivalence.” Competitors I most admire: “It’s sort of counterintuitive,” because he’s not a competitor, “but the late Anthony Bourdain, who used his platform and his message of traveling around the world to bring people together over food. I thought that was just brilliant.” —A.J. Katz ×Maria Bartiromo Job now: Global markets editor, Fox Business Network; anchor, Mornings With Maria, Fox Business Network; anchor, Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street, Fox Business Network; anchor, Sunday Morning Futures, Fox News Job 15 years ago: anchor and managing editor, On the Money With Maria Bartiromo, CNBC; anchor, Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo, CNBC Biggest change in TV news since 2004: “There are so many outlets for news and information and it’s so much easier to access that in some ways it’s overload, and in other ways the onus is on the user to listen to and understand what’s news and what’s noise. I wrote a book on news and noise 25 years ago, and it’s only gotten that much more crowded with information.” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “The decision to work a lot, and work hard. That creates an imbalance in terms of time for myself. But I love the content and I love what I’m doing, and I have been lucky enough to say that for my entire career.” —A.J.K. ×Wolf Blitzer Job now: lead political anchor, CNN; anchor, The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer, CNN Job 15 years ago: anchor, Wolf Blitzer Reports, CNN; anchor, Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer, CNN Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: “When we launched The Situation Room in August 2005, it was the first show that took advantage of incoming live video that we would show in multiple boxes. A week or so later, we had Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We hated the Katrina story because of the devastation and death, but it was well-suited for what we were trying to do.” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “Keeping up with this pace, because the news cycle is so intense. You come in in the morning and you think you have a pretty good idea of where the news is going. But by 5 o’clock, when I go on the air, very often at 4:30 or 4:45, all of a sudden there’s a bombshell, that we just throw out the rundown that we worked really hard on during the day to get ready for a bunch of stories.” —Jason Lynch ×Neil Cavuto Job now: svp, anchor and managing editor of business news, Fox Business Network and Fox News Channel; anchor, Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Fox Business Network; host, Your World with Neil Cavuto, Fox News; anchor, Cavuto Live, Fox News Job 15 years ago: anchor, Your World With Neil Cavuto, Fox News Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: “As the chief business nerd here at Fox, hands down it would be the financial crash back in 2008. But that crash had its underpinnings years before, and I take some measure of pride in knowing that we helped point out those signs. I remember Fox Business Network debuting in the fall of 2007, when all this was beginning to hit the fan. In retrospect, our timing couldn’t have been better.” Toughest professional challenge during the past 15 years: “I’d be lying if I didn’t point out the obvious: that I’ve had ample physical challenges [including cancer and multiple sclerosis]. But as weird as this sounds, I’m grateful for all the medical hardships. They’ve made me a better person and, I like to think, a better journalist. They’ve taught me that life is short, but that’s no reason for me to be.” —A.J.K. ×Anderson Cooper ABC Job now: anchor, Anderson Cooper 360, CNN; correspondent, 60 Minutes, CBS Job 15 years ago: anchor, Anderson Cooper 360, CNN What I know now about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “I know how easy it is to get killed. I know how easy it is to make a mistake. I know how important it is to admit your mistakes and learn from them. I know how easy it is to get fired. I know how important it is to be yourself, and most of all, I know how important it is not to think of this as a business. It doesn’t help you become a better storyteller, so leave the business stuff to the businesspeople. Just focus on your own writing and getting better and better every day.” Toughest professional moment of the past 15 years: “Dealing with some of the attention that comes with being on television. I overcame it by choosing to ignore it. I don’t read about myself, and I don’t think of myself as someone who is well known. I find I’m happier that way.” —J.L. ×Katie Couric Job now: founder, Katie Couric Media production company; host, Katie Couric podcast Job 15 years ago: co-anchor, Today, NBC (later anchored CBS Evening News, was an ABC News special correspondent, hosted syndicated daytime talk show Katie and was Yahoo News global anchor) Biggest change in TV news since 2004: “Social media. I’ll never forget when Paul Friedman, the No. 2 at CBS News, said to one of my colleagues, ‘I think it’s beneath the dignity of the anchor of the CBS Evening News to be on ‘the Twitter.’” Who I’ve learned the most from: “[The late] Tim Russert. You can disagree without being disagreeable. You can challenge somebody and yet be respectful. You can listen and be open-minded, but also call somebody out on their you-know-what whenever necessary. And you can be who you are and be successful: You don’t have to fit into a mold.” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “My early time at CBS, when I was under such a microscope. But luckily, the attention abated, and I was able to do my job.” —J.L. ×Jim Cramer NBCUniversal Job now: host, Mad Money With Jim Cramer, CNBC; co-anchor, Squawk on the Street, CNBC; founder, TheStreet Job 15 years ago: co-host, Kudlow & Cramer, CNBC; host, Real Money (radio); founder, TheStreet Who I’ve learned the most from: “[New York Times columnist] Jim Stewart. He said, ‘Tell stories.’ If you don’t tell stories, you will not have any viewers or listeners. If you tell news, that’s a commodity. But good stories are proprietary and can always hold up, no matter what the circumstances are.” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “Jon Stewart tried to derail me [when I appeared on The Daily Show in 2009]. It was very painful for me and my family, and professionally, what he did to me. But what you had to do was say, ‘OK, I’m just going to go out there and do my best. And the next day and the next day.’ You don’t let someone else make you quit. And I wasn’t going to let anyone, no matter how serious or funny or smart they think they are, stop me.” —J.L. ×Ann Curry Courtesy of Stephanie Berger Job now: reporter and executive producer, We’ll Meet Again, PBS Job 15 years ago: news anchor, Today (she later served as co-anchor from 2011-2012); began co-anchoring Dateline NBC in 2005 Who I’ve learned the most from: “One of the greatest teachers I had was an old journalist named Spud. He said to me, ‘Ann, don’t trust anybody. Not even your family. Because even they have an agenda. So you should ask questions of everyone before you tell anyone else this information as fact.’ I was a young, brand-new journalist when he said that, and it marked me forever.” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “I think that may be pretty obvious,” she says, laughing, referencing her controversial Today exit in 2012. “It was devastating, because journalism for me is church. And you forced me out of my church for a period of time, and that hurt. But ultimately, one of the great lessons for any journalist is that it’s not about you, it’s not about your feelings; it’s about the work. So that’s where I focused, on finding ways to do the work and reach people with impactful stories that tell them something about our world and what we’re made of.” —J.L. ×José Díaz-Balart NBCUniversal Job now: anchor, Noticiero Telemundo and Enfoque con José Díaz-Balart, both Telemundo; anchor, NBC Nightly News Saturday Job 15 years ago: anchor, Hoy en el Mundo, Telemundo; anchor, NBC’s Miami 5 p.m. newscast What I know now about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “That consistency matters and that truth matters. And that ‘first be best, then be first.’” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “Having a seven-day-a-week schedule. I anchor Noticiero Telemundo Monday through Friday, and Saturday on NBC Nightly News in New York, and then Sunday is the Enfoque television show out of South Florida for Telemundo. It’s also been the biggest privilege of my life. I don’t even want to say it’s been a challenge … other than the challenge of knowing where I am and what language I’m speaking in!” —J.L. ×Savannah Guthrie NBCUniversal Job now: co-anchor, Today, NBC Job 15 years ago: national trial correspondent, Court TV Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: “When I first came to Today as the anchor of the 9 a.m. hour and chief legal correspondent. It was 2011, and I had been working day and night as the White House correspondent and co-hosting a daily cable news show in Washington. Moving to New York, starting something so new at Today but also returning to my roots in the law, it felt like everything was clicking at the right time.” Competitors I most admire: “Anderson Cooper. I think he is a really gifted and fair interviewer. Also Shepard Smith. He is fearless, clear and a great broadcaster. He can make even the most boring story sound like a thriller.” —A.J.K. ×Sean Hannity Job now: host, Hannity, Fox News Job 15 years ago: host, Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “I’ve done four on-air hours a day since October 1996. For me, it’s to stay disciplined and to accept and absorb the grind of all of it. The news comes at us faster than the speed of light today. The toughest challenge is sustaining that daily momentum and not allowing yourself to get distracted. I never get too high or too low. I’m a real believer in: ‘If you build it, they will come.’ And you have to build a great show.” What I know now about the business that I didn’t know in 2004: “I came to this as a novice, and I was very lucky to get in on the ground floor because in this day and age, you’re going to get a show, and that show’s first-night ratings are going to be everywhere. That wasn’t the case when we first went on the air, and I had the time to grow. Credit to Roger [Ailes, the late Fox News CEO], who gave me the opportunity to develop. I often asked him: ‘Why didn’t you fire me? I was terrible!’ He said, ‘Because I knew you’d get there.’ Having that time to get there doesn’t exist anymore, which is tough for younger people that are coming in.” —A.J.K. ×Lester Holt NBCUniversal Job now: anchor, NBC Nightly News; anchor, Dateline NBC Job 15 years ago: anchor, Weekend Today, NBC; anchor, MSNBC Biggest way TV news has changed since 2004: “The growing reliance on outside video sources, from cellphone surveillance video to police body and dash cams. The ubiquity of video sources has impacted what we cover and how we cover it. It also underscores the importance of applying our journalistic due diligence and framing sometimes incomplete snippets of video in their proper context.” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “My biggest challenge, besides moderating the first 2016 presidential debate, was being named interim anchor of NBC Nightly News [in 2015]. Anyone who has been an interim anything can appreciate the conundrum: Am I the caretaker, or do I fully assume the role in the time given? In the end, I followed the advice of a senior executive who said, ‘Act like you own it.’ That’s what I tried to do, while not concerning myself with where it would or wouldn’t lead.” —A.J.K. ×Gayle King NBCUniversal Job now: co-host, CBS This Morning; editor at large, O, The Oprah Magazine Job 15 years ago: editor at large, O, The Oprah Magazine (the only time during her career when she wasn’t in TV news) Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: “I was very proud, both personally and professionally, when the Museum of African American History and Culture opened in D.C., and they allowed us to go inside for the first time and do our show live from there. The same thing happened at the [One] World Observatory tower. I like it when CBS This Morning is allowed to do something in a very unique space and place, where they haven’t allowed others to come.” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “It was that Newtown story [the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012]. That’s one of those stories that ripped anybody up that had a beating heart. That still stays with me, because I’d anchored the news in the state of Connecticut for 18 years, so I felt I knew that state. And it’s disappointing that that didn’t really change the game when it came to the gun laws in this country.” —J.L. ×Hoda Kotb Getty Images Job now: co-anchor, Today; co-host, Today’s fourth hour Job 15 years ago: correspondent, Dateline NBC Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “I was terrible at live shots. Terrible. I couldn’t remember things. I used to write down basic details of where I was so I’d be more prepared, but it was still really hard. Now I do live TV for hours. What? What happened? Nobody knows.” What I know about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “That all your little mistakes don’t really matter that much. I thought every time I tripped, which was often, that it was fatal. I remember thinking, How will I ever recover? Also, when you’re younger in your career, you think about deadlines and scoops. When you get older in your career, you realize you are telling stories about people. I have learned that it’s about the people and not about the process.” —A.J.K. ×Rachel Maddow Job now: host, The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC Job 15 years ago: radio host, The Big Breakfast, WRSI Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: “One Friday night a few years ago, I was making a drink live at the end of the show for a segment we called the ‘Cocktail Moment.’ The drink called for an egg white, but I accidentally dropped the yolk in, too—live on the air, with all the other ingredients already in the cocktail shaker! My partner, Susan, was in the studio that night, and she stage-whispered to me, ‘Scoop it out!’ Panicking, I grabbed the bar spoon, fished around and—what?!—ladled out the egg yolk intact. Which is completely impossible. I’ve never been able to do it again, ever. But that night it saved the f block.” What I know about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “You can wear the same darn thing on TV every single night. No one really cares.” —A.J.K. ×Andrea Mitchell Job now: chief foreign affairs correspondent, NBC News; anchor, Andrea Mitchell Reports, MSNBC Job 15 years ago: chief foreign affairs correspondent, NBC News Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: “On July 4, 2004, I broke the news that John Edwards would be [John] Kerry’s running mate while the New York Post front-page headline that day was: ‘Kerry’s Choice: Dem Picks Gephardt as VP Candidate.’ We had worked around the clock that holiday weekend to try to nail the scoop and avoid making any mistakes and had good intel it was Edwards, but needed a solid second source. It was a good reminder of the importance of taking your time to get it right.” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “Being a woman in a profession dominated for generations by men. It has changed somewhat, but there is still work to be done.” —A.J.K. ×David Muir ABC Job now: anchor, ABC World News Tonight With David Muir; anchor, 20/20, ABC Job 15 years ago: anchor, ABC World News Now; anchor, World News This Morning (now called America This Morning) Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: “Our [2015] town hall with Pope Francis remains one of the most challenging and rewarding moments of these past 15 years. Part of our pitch to the Vatican was my willingness to conduct the entire town hall in Spanish, and they said yes. But then I had to conduct the town hall in Spanish. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was equal parts historic and terrifying.” Who I’ve learned the most from: “There was a moment with Charlie Gibson while I was covering the Israeli war with Hezbollah, and the Avid [editing system] crashed right before air. Charlie got into my ear right before air as I was standing near the border ready to go live and told me we were just going to have a conversation instead. It was his calm, fatherly demeanor that allowed me to take a deep breath and ignore the fact [that] the lead piece had crashed in edit. It made for better television. If you take a quiet, deep breath before most high-pressure moments, it most often helps.” —A.J.K. ×Becky Quick NBCUniversal Job now: co-anchor, Squawk Box, CNBC Job 15 years ago: correspondent, CNBC; also appeared on Bullseye, CNBC What I know about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “It’s such a small world, and you’re going to come back against the same people that you’ve worked with in different places, the same people that you’ve competed against, the same people who you are sourcing, again and again. So don’t be a jerk, don’t be underhanded; just treat people the way you want to be treated, and do the right thing.” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “Trying to figure out how to make the transition from print to television. I almost quit in the first couple months I was here, a little over 15 years ago, because I wasn’t sure I could handle it all. It’s a visual medium, so you have to figure out how to present the news differently. Coming in early and going through makeup, and doing your sourcing and the rest of it, that’s a pretty tough transition. Now it seems easy, but at the time, I almost quit.” —J.L. ×Jorge Ramos Job now: anchor, Noticiero Univision; host, Al Punto, Univision; host, Real America With Jorge Ramos, Facebook Watch Job 15 years ago: anchor, Noticiero Univision Biggest way TV news has changed since 2004: “The biggest way is that I’m disappearing. The role of the anchor is almost gone. I go to talk to students very often, and I say, ‘Look at me, I am a dinosaur.’ Without social media, I would not have a job. I’m absolutely convinced that my job now depends as much on what I do on TV as on what I do on social media. You have to be moving throughout all platforms in order to survive.” What I know about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “The role of journalism is changing. With Donald Trump, the most important social responsibility that we have as journalists is to question those who are in power. When you have a president who made racist, xenophobic and sexist remarks, our role is to challenge him.” —J.L. ×Robin Roberts Job now: anchor, Good Morning America (ABC) Job 15 years ago: anchor, SportsCenter (ESPN); contributor, Good Morning America (ABC) Biggest way TV news has changed since 2004: Good storytelling is good storytelling. How it is consumed, that is different. Are there people that are actually sitting at home at 7 o’clock watching? Not as much, but they’re going to still see us. I always watch us and so I remember, I used to set my VCR, and then I used to set the DVR. And now I go online and watch segments. So I even watch it differently. But the bottom line is, if you don’t have the good storytelling, that’s something that will not change. Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: The [GMA] bus tours. I remember with the bus tour down in Mississippi, it was on my local affiliate where I started in television. And my mother and father and sister had one of those cheesy GMA signs. They were the audience, and the local news replayed that show forever. I’m saying, “How can you replay a news show?” but they did. —J.L. and A.J.K. ×Diane Sawyer Job now: anchor, ABC News Job 15 years ago: anchor, Good Morning America (ABC) (later anchored ABC World News With Diane Sawyer from 2009-2014) Biggest way TV news has changed since 2004: Velocity, acceleration. But I love that all the conventional wisdom that attention spans had so attrited that it was forever going to be like Vine, which was six seconds. And now, we savor documentaries. We were all coming in the next day and talking about [Won’t You Be My Neighbor?] or Free Solo. Long-form has proven again that we want to sink into a story, at the same time that we love our quick hits. So we can do both. Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: I know this sounds simple, but it’s always someone you meet out in the field who says something impossibly eloquent or in the moment where you’ve come and you want to do something to help them, and they actually say, “What can I do for you?” Just to be reminded always of the generosity of people. —J.L. and A.J.K. ×Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski Joe Scarborough job now: co-host, Morning Joe, MSNBC Job 15 years ago: host, Scarborough Country, MSNBC Mika Brzezinski job now: co-host, Morning Joe, MSNBC Job 15 years ago: CBS News correspondent What I know about the business that I didn’t in 2004: Mika: “That I would still be working at 51, and looking ahead to working into my 50s. It feels like I am defying gravity. Also, this business is beginning to appreciate maturity in women.” Toughest professional challenge during the past 15 years: Joe: “Dragging myself out of bed at 4 a.m. continues to be a great challenge, but by 4:05 every morning, I’m thanking God for having a job to get out of bed for. I’m very lucky and very blessed.” Who I’ve learned the most from: Mika: “Joe. He taught me to stop preparing before we go on stage. To just go with it and trust that you will be fabulous. Women prepare too much, and we spoil the moment.” —A.J.K. ×Suzanne Scott Job now: CEO, Fox News and Fox Business Network Job 15 years ago: senior producer, On the Record With Greta Van Susteren, Fox News Who I’ve learned the most from: “[Former Fox News programming head] Chet Collier. He taught me everything I know about talent, programming, managing a crisis and dogs.” Competitors I most admire: “Nancy Dubuc, CEO of Vice Media. She is a tremendous executive role model, embraces change and has great taste in what works.” Toughest professional challenge during the past 15 years: “The nonstop 24/7 news cycle. I try to overcome it by making good use of my time.” —A.J.K. ×Ben Sherwood Job now: co-chairman, Disney Media Networks; president, Disney-ABC Television Job 15 years ago: named executive producer, Good Morning America, in April 2004; elevated to president, ABC News, in 2010 Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: “No question about it: 7 a.m., Feb. 20, 2013. Surrounded by her co-hosts, Robin Roberts looks into the camera five long months after a bone marrow transplant for a rare and deadly blood disorder. ‘I have been waiting 174 days to say this: Good morning, America!’ I still get chills thinking about Robin’s extraordinary resilience and the impact on her family, everyone at ABC News and millions of viewers across the country.” What I know about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “While everything feels like it has changed, the most important things really haven’t. A great story well told and carefully reported means everything. Just look at the last couple years of extraordinary journalism being done in the U.S. and around the world.” —J.L. ×Shepard Smith Job now: chief news anchor, Fox News; anchor, Shepard Smith Reporting, Fox News Job 15 years ago: anchor, The Fox Report With Shepard Smith Favorite professional moment of the past 15 years: “There is no singular moment. There is only the daily effort of trying to tell the stories that most matter. Those that educate us, that inspire us, that explain common truths or reveal hypocrisy. No day is the same. No story is the same. And that is why we all wake up every day and do the work we do.” What I know about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “I would often hear complaints like, ‘Why is the news always so depressing? Why aren’t there more happy stories?’ For a long time, my internal response would be, ‘Well, there’s a lot of tough news out there.’ But over the years, I’ve come to find it’s important to look for points of hope, even during the darkest days. Find those who sacrificed, seek out those who were selfless. Everybody needs reason for hope. But sometimes, also, they just need to spend an hour or two watching a couple of llamas run through the streets.” —A.J.K. ×Lesley Stahl Job now: correspondent, 60 Minutes, CBS Job 15 years ago: correspondent, 60 Minutes Biggest change in TV news since 2004: “For most of TV news, the changes have been monumental and granular. Technology has facilitated instant, on-the-spot reporting where there’s no time to reflect or make a phone call for insights. Opinion ‘journalism’—is it even journalism?—is rife, blogs where there’s no fact checking have sprouted like kudzu, social media is the vehicle. The public does not trust our profession. One reason is that all the above are tossed in the same salad bowl called ‘media.’ It’s a tragedy.” Who I’ve learned the most from: “I was hired by CBS News in 1972 because of affirmative action, along with Connie Chung and Bernie Shaw. We were not thrown on the air to sink or swim, as so many are today. We were apprentices, brought along—mainly by observation—by the senior correspondents and producers. We spent our days following them, watching and listening as they developed sources and put their stories together. We did a lot of radio at first, then the Morning News, and eventually we got to play on the big field. All three of us went on to have lasting careers.” —A.J.K. ×George Stephanopoulos ABC Job now: anchor, Good Morning America and This Week With George Stephanopoulos, ABC; chief anchor, ABC News Job 15 years ago: host, This Week, ABC Robin Roberts on what he brings to GMA: “He’s earnest, but what I really learned to appreciate about him is that what you see is not necessarily what you get. People feel that he is completely buttoned-up, or he’s this political expert. I have seen this man, when talking with his daughters, tears come to his eyes. When I was ill, the same thing. What I’ve learned is you can feel like you know somebody, but you really don’t. Especially in this political world that we’re in right now, [it’s great] to have someone like George sitting there to be our captain. We can’t get him to dance, but that’s OK!” —A.J.K. ×David Westin Job now: co-anchor, Bloomberg Daybreak Americas, Bloomberg News; co-anchor, Bloomberg Markets: Balance of Power Job 15 years ago: president, ABC News Who I’ve learned the most from: “I learned as much from my anchors as I did from anyone. For example, one of the things that Peter Jennings taught me, that I fear we are losing to some extent, is that the story is not about us. Peter would say, ‘You turn the camera over there, not on me, because that’s where the story is.’ He had a very strong sense of that.” What I know about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “I was president of ABC News for just under 14 years, and I spent a lot of time in control rooms and on sets, dealing with people who were on the air. I thought I had a good sense of what it was like, and the moment that I stepped in front of a camera as an anchor, I realized I had no idea. If I had to do it all over again, I would have assigned myself to do the overnight news, something that was fairly harmless, for a week or two at the very beginning of my tenure. And I would have been a better news president if I had done that, because I would have understood some of the pressures and difficulties placed on those people who are in front of the camera.” —J.L. ×Bill Whitaker Job now: correspondent, 60 Minutes, CBS Job 15 years ago: correspondent, CBS Evening News What I know about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “That television is more than the sum of its parts. When I first started out as a reporter, I thought it was all about my words, my presentation, the facts, the deadlines. As a younger reporter, I didn’t truly realize the power of the picture. Now, when possible, I try to say less and let the pictures say more.” Biggest change in TV news since 2004: “The technology. When I first started with CBS News, our cellphones were the size of a small briefcase. When we would cover a big story, we’d sometimes team up with dozens of correspondents, producers, photographers, editors and technicians. Not long ago, CBS News did a live shot from the deck of a ship full of migrants at a Mediterranean seaport using a smartphone. I must admit I miss the teamwork and camaraderie of the old days, but I marvel at the technological leaps.” —A.J.K. ×Jeff Zucker < Getty Images Job now: president, CNN Worldwide Job 15 years ago: president, NBC Entertainment (elevated in 2007 to president and CEO, NBCUniversal) Who I’ve learned the most from: “[Former NBC Sports chairman] Dick Ebersol. Most importantly, he advised me to never stray far from live television. Nothing is more exciting and enduring than the draw of live news and sports.” What I know about the business that I didn’t in 2004: “That the internet would, literally, change everything.” Toughest professional challenge of the past 15 years: “Enduring constant accusations from the leader of the free world that the work my colleagues at CNN and across the news media do is fake news. To the credit of so many journalists around the world, we continue to do our jobs and tell the truth, every day.” —J.L.

These 30 TV Newsers Fueled the Industry’s Incredible Evolution Over the Past 15 Years

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