Sharon Alfonsi
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Sharyn Alfonsi is an on-air correspondent for ABC News. According to the Tyndall Report, she was one of the most visible American journalists on television. [1]
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[edit] Early life
Alfonsi grew up in McLean, Virginia. She graduated from the University of Mississippi, Oxford in 1994. She studied under authors Willie Morris and John Grisham while at Ole Miss and is believed to be the inspiration for the character of Darby Shaw in Grisham's novel The Pelican Brief.
[edit] Journalism career
Sharyn Alfonsi began her career in broadcast journalism at KHBS-TV in Fort Smith, Arkansas from 1994 to 1995, where she served as a news reporter, weekend weather anchor, photographer and editor. She then became a general assignment reporter for WVEC–TV in Norfolk, Virginia from 1995 to 1997, where she traveled extensively with the military. Between 1998 and 2000, she worked as a reporter and substitute anchor for KIRO-TV in Seattle, Washington, where she covered the World Trade Organization riots. Between 2000 and 2003, Sharyn worked as a reporter and substitute anchor for WBZ-TV, the CBS-owned station in Boston, where she covered the ongoing Catholic church scandal, the Michael Skakel trial and the Rhode Island nightclub fire, among other stories.
Alfonsi was named a CBS News correspondent, based in New York, in July 2004. She has also anchored the CBS Evening News. She has traveled across the globe covering a range of stories, most notably the war in Iraq, Aghanistan, the conflict in Israel, Hurricane Katrina, and the Sago Mine Disaster in West Virginia. Alfonsi had a near-miss in Israel when a missile landed close to her shelter. Alfonsi was the lead reporter for the Network's coverage of the Virginia Tech Massacre.
CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer has told Ed Bark, long-time TV critic of the Dallas Morning News, that "She's smart, funny as hell." Schieffer added in a later article that " She will be a treasure of the Network one day." Alfonsi was one of several promising and popular CBS News correspondents who departed the network after Katie Couric took over the anchor chair from Schieffer. Alfonsi, Trish Regan, Elizabeth Kaledin and Lee Cowan all have departed from CBS since Couric took the reins of the Evening News.
On August 10, 2006, Alfonsi was featured on the CBS Public Eye website. [2]
[edit] 10 Plus 1: Sharyn Alfonsi on Baghdad and Ron Burgundy
(CBS) Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi just returned from covering the Middle East crisis and this week, she took some time to answer our standard 10 questions, plus one from a reader. Read on to find out what happened when Sharyn “skipped” customs at the Baghdad airport, what she’d like to see done differently on the “Evening News,” and why she's not a huge fan of a certain former sitcom star.
What do you do at CBS News? I’m a news correspondent. That means I’m a reporter who has to brush her hair.
What single issue should be covered more at CBS News? I don’t think there's a single issue, but I think we could do a better job at the way we approach stories. Not every story should be two minutes long with an expert interview in the middle. I think sometime we’re just too predictable.
Give us a great behind the scenes story. Here's one I can repeat: Last year, I was traveling to Iraq for the first time. I arrived at Baghdad airport and the electricity was out. The airport was pitch black, my luggage was gone and I was alone. I didn’t know what to do next.
A kind Iraqi man who had been on my flight took pity on me and ushered me through the dark airport and into the office that deals with lost luggage. I was standing in line to fill out my claim when a uniformed man grabbed me by the arm and started pulling me through the airport. I thought I was being kidnapped.
Turns out, I somehow “skipped” customs as I snaked through the dark airport. I spent 45 minutes in a nine-by-nine foot room being screamed at in Arabic by two large men. It felt like three hours. The only English they knew was “jail” and “long time.” One of the guards also sang the theme song of “Friends” to me at one point and I’m still not sure why.
I never got my luggage back. It didn’t seem to matter.
Have you ever been assigned a story you objected to? I have. I spoke up and I was unassigned.
If you were not in news, what would you be doing? I’d like to believe I’d be living in Georgetown, South Carolina, writing a great novel. More likely, I’d be working at Piggly Wiggly.
Do you read blogs? If so, which ones? If not, what do you read on the Internet? I like Drudge, Gawker, and Curbed. I’ll check Public Eye to make sure I haven’t screwed up. I am addicted to the Perez Hilton Web site for celebrity gossip. He's brutal and fantastic.
I read dozens of newspapers on the Internet each morning. I always check the Daily Mississippian to see how the Ole Miss Football team is doing and The Georgetown Times in South Carolina (where my parents live) to see what's going on there. A few weeks ago they had “complete coverage” on the alligator that was “terrorizing” Georgetown. Good stuff.
What's the last really great movie or book you’ve found? I usually think the best book is the one I just read. So, I’ll go with The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. I love it. It's just this stunning, unforgettable, southern novel with these quirky, riveting characters. McCullers published it when she was 23. How unbelievable to have that much talent at that that age!
Also, I just finished Thomas Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem. I love him. He's a great writer and a genius.
The last great movie I saw has to be “Anchorman.” I’m pretty sure I’ve worked with Ron Burgundy.
What is your first memory of TV news? I remember coming home from school and watching the news the day President Reagan was shot. I must have been 8 years old. We were living near Washington, D.C., at the time and my father worked in the District and I was very worried that he was in danger so I watched the news for hours. I was terrified.
If you could change one thing about the profession of journalism, what would it be? You don’t have enough time or space, I promise.
Who is the most fascinating person you've covered and who is the biggest jerk? Most fascinating: I interviewed Bill Clinton a few times. He's a study.
Biggest Jerk: When I working at KHBS/KHOG-TV back in Arkansas, they sent me to interview this teen star who was making an appearance at the mall. His name was Sasha Mitchell. He played “Cousin Cody Lambert” on an ABC show called “Step by Step” and this, of course, made him a big deal.
His “people” kept us waiting for like two hours and then when we finally we went to interview him he complained about the lighting, said he was too exhausted to answer any questions, left to get an Orange Julius and never came back.
I ended up getting yelled at back at the station for not getting the “all-important” interview. (Apparently, my bosses’ daughters loved Cousin Cody.) Last I heard, Sasha was on “E.R.” in the role of NO NAME.
[edit] Alfonsi library of stories on You-Tube
[3] YOU TUBE LINK TO ALFONSI
[edit] Alfonsi leaves CBS, joins ABC
Despite attempts by CBS executives to keep Alfonsi on the CBS Evening News, she decided to leave the network. On January 28, 2008, it was announced that Alfonsi would join ABC News as a New York based correspondent for World News with Charles Gibson and Good Morning America.[1]
