Elizabeth Vargas, ABC News Journalist:
In January 2006, Elizabeth Vargas, a respected 20-year broadcast journalist, began as co-anchor of ABC's World News Tonight, with correspondent Bob Woodruff, who was injured in Iraq later that month.
In May 2006, expecting her second child, Vargas resigned from World News Tonight, and was named co-anchor of ABC's 20/20 newsmagazine. Industry whispers are that she wanted to return to World News Tonight after her child's birth, but ABC brass replaced her with news veteran Charles Gibson.
Personal Data:
Birth - September 6, 1962 in Paterson, NJ, to a Puerto-Rican US Army Captain and his Irish-American wife
Education - In overseas schools for military children. 1980 graduate, Heidelberg American High School in Germany. BA in Journalism, University of Missouri.
Family - Married in 1999 to singer Mark Cohn. Two sons, born in 2003 and 2006.
Faith - Roman Catholic
Cohn was shot in the head in 2005 during an attempted carjacking. He survived with minor injuries.
Elizabeth Vargas' Early Career Years:
- Saturday anchor/reporter at KOMU-TV, an NBC affiliate owned by University of Missouri
- Reporter at KTVN-TV, the CBS affiliate in Reno, NV
- Lead reporter, 1986-89, KTVK-TV, the ABC affiliate in Phoenix, AZ
- Reporter/anchor, 1989-93, WBBM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Chicago, IL
Elizabeth Vargas at NBC and ABC:
- NBC's Today Show, 1993-96, substitute news anchor/co-host
- Dateline NBC, 1993-96, correspondent
- ABC's Good Morning America, 1996-97, news anchor
- ABC's 20/20 news program, 1997-2004, correspondent; co-anchor, 2004
- ABC's 20/20 Downtown, 1999-2002, host
- ABC's World News Tonight, 2005 - 2006
- ABC's 20/20, co anchor [p - She won an Emmy in 1999 for coverage of the Elian Gonzalez story.
Areas of Expertise and Special Interest :
Vargas Stories and One-Hour Specials at ABC:
- One controversial 2003 special was based on bestseller The DaVinci Code. Another was her 2004 Matthew Shepard murder story on 20/20 , which reported that the murder may not have been a gay hate crime. Some dubbed her a "lying homophobe" for her reporting.
- Stories on many issues, including breast cancer research, PETA's war against fur-wearing, and the 1999 Yosemite National Park murders.
The Elizabeth Vargas Persona:
Interesting Personal Notes:
Memorable Quotes:
"You do not get into this business if you're interested in a 40-hour workweek, and want to be home for dinner every night. You won't make it in network news. You really need to love it. It's an enormous commitment."
"My husband is Jewish, my baby son has been baptized a Catholic but we're going to expose him to Judaism as well. My family is already a melting pot: I've got devoutly traditional Catholic parents, I was married by a priest and a rabbi. To do that, you have to be flexible in the way you apply your religion in your life. You can't be so dogmatic about 'my way or the highway.' "
Speaking of an ABC program she produced about two other women who disappeared at the same time as Laci Peterson, the attractive, pregnant Caucasian woman who was killed by her husband in 2003, "One of the other women was black, and the other was Hispanic. The Hispanic woman was not only pregnant, she with her her five-year-old son. But there's no search party going on for them, no media attention, even though they disappeared in the shadow of Laci Peterson. I was really proud of that special...proud that I was able to give these other women their story. "
