Charles Gibson

Charles Gibson Speaker Biography

Veteran Journalist and Former Anchor of ABC World News

Charles Gibson was anchor of ABC’s flagship broadcast “ABC’s World News,” as well as the network’s principal anchor for breaking news, election coverage and special eventsuntil his retirement in 2009. He is one of the most distinguished journalists in television with more than forty years’ experience, thirty-three of those at ABC News.

World News Anchor

Mr. Gibson has reported from around the country and the world. During the 2008 election cycle, he has covered the pivotal primaries and caucuses, reporting from the scene in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Texas. He moderated back-to-back presidential debates in Manchester, NH just days before the first-in-the-nation primary in that state. Prior to Pennsylvania’s highly anticipated primary, Mr. Gibson moderated a Democratic debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which was the most-watched debate of the entire primary cycle. This summer, he reported from the Democratic and Republican National Conventions and has conducted several wide-ranging interviews with the presidential candidates.

Middle East

Domestically, Mr. Gibson has reported from the campus of Virginia Tech following the devastating school shooting; from Southern California when the massive wildfires were burning out of control; and aboard Air Force One, where he conducted a wide-ranging interview with President George Bush. When violence broke out between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, Mr. Gibson traveled to the region and reported from both sides of the conflict. He also reported from Amman, Jordan on the highly anticipated meeting between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Good Morning America (GMA)

Before being named anchor of “World News,” Mr. Gibson was co-anchor of “Good Morning America.” He returned to “GMA” to re-launch the broadcast with Diane Sawyer on January 18, 1999. He previously co-anchored the morning program from 1987 to 1998. In addition, he was also co-anchor of “Primetime Thursday,” now known as “Primetime,” from 1998 to 2004.

At “Good Morning America,” Mr. Gibson reported on many of the pivotal events that have shaped our world. Anchoring the morning broadcast on September 11, 2001, Mr. Gibson, along with Ms. Sawyer, began the network’s award-winning coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In February 2003, he anchored “GMA” from the Johnson Space Center in Houston following the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. In addition to his Columbia tragedy reporting on “GMA,” Mr. Gibson won an Emmy for his hour-long “Primetime Thursday” investigation entitled “Columbia Final Mission.”

Historic Broadcasts

In June 2001, at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Mr. Gibson anchored ABC’s live coverage of the Timothy McVeigh execution. He had reported from the scene when the Murrah Federal Building was bombed in April 1995, and continued to follow the story on multiple return visits to Oklahoma City, including a “Primetime Thursday” hour, “American Terrorist: In His Own Words,” in March 2001. In 2005, Mr. Gibson traveled to Vatican City to report on the death of Pope John Paul II, anchoring the network’s coverage of the Pope’s funeral and the election of Pope Benedict XVI. ABC’s coverage was later recognized with a duPont-Columbia Award.

Primtime Thursday

As co-anchor of “Primetime Thursday,” Mr. Gibson covered a wide-range of other stories. On the tenth anniversary of the Branch Davidian stand-off in Waco, TX, he interviewed young survivors of David Koresh’s cult in a special hour-long “Primetime” report. In 2004 he sat down with major league baseball legend Pete Rose for an interview that made national headlines, as it was the first time Rose admitted that he had bet on baseball.

Presidents

Mr. Gibson has interviewed each of the last seven American presidents, and has also anchored many broadcasts from Republican and Democratic national conventions, as well as presidential inaugurations. In 2004 he was chosen to moderate the 90-minute town hall style debate between President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry that was watched by 47 million people around the country.

World Leaders

Additionally, he has interviewed leaders from around the globe, including Kofi Annan, Tony Blair, the late Yasir Arafat and Nelson Mandela. He traveled to Israel in April 2002 to cover the crisis of suicide bombings, and reported from Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in October 2000 to cover the Middle East peace summit. Just hours after the funeral of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, Mr. Gibson conducted a live interview with widow Leah Rabin in her home in Tel Aviv. In April 1999, he reported from Macedonia’s tent cities for refugees from Kosovo.

Early Career

Mr. Gibson first became familiar to television viewers as a correspondent on “ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings,” as an occasional substitute anchor for Ted Koppel on “Nightline,” and as substitute anchor on “World News This Morning.” He served as chief correspondent at the House of Representatives for ABC News from 1981 to 1987. On Capitol Hill he covered Tip O’Neill and the Democratic handling of President Ronald Reagan’s legislative agenda. On general assignment for ABC News from 1977 to 1981, Mr. Gibson reported on a wide array of national news, including investigations of the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as economic stories. As a White House correspondent for ABC News from 1976 to 1977, he covered Gerald Ford’s presidential campaign.

Television News, Inc. (TVN)

Mr. Gibson came to ABC News in 1975 from a syndicated news service, Television News Inc. (TVN), which he joined in 1974. He covered President Nixon’s resignation and the subsequent Watergate conspiracy trials for TVN. From 1970 to 1973, he was an anchor and reporter for WJLA-TV (then WMAL-TV), the ABC affiliate in Washington, DC. Prior to joining WJLA-TV, he had been news director for WLVA-TV and Radio in Lynchburg, Virginia. His first job in broadcasting was Washington producer for RKO Network in 1966.

Awards and Accolades

The National Endowment for the Humanities named Mr. Gibson a National Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan in 1973, and he has served as a board member of this program, now known as the Knight-Wallace Fellows at Michigan, since 1988. In April of 2006, he was awarded the prestigious Paul White Award from the Radio and Television News Directors of America. He received the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award from Quinnipiac University in June 2008.

Education

Mr. Gibson is a graduate of Princeton University, where he was news director for the University’s radio station, WPRB-FM.