George roberts abc biography book

The extraordinary life and legacy of legendary journalist Cokie Roberts--a trailblazer for women--remembered by her friends and family.

Through her visibility and celebrity, Cokie Roberts was an inspiration and a role model for innumerable women and girls. A fixture on national television and radio for more than 40 years, she also wrote five bestselling books focusing on the role of women in American history. She was portrayed on Saturday Night Live, name checked on the West Wing, and featured on magazine covers. She joked with Jay Leno, balanced a pencil on her nose for David Letterman, and was the answer to numerous crossword puzzle clues. Many dogs, and at least one dairy cow, were named for her. When the legendary 1980s Spy Magazine ran a diagram documenting all her connections with the headline "Cokie Roberts - Moderately Well-Known Broadcast Journalist or Center of the Universe?" they were only half-joking.

Cokie had many roles in her lifetime: Daughter. Wife. Mother. Journalist. Advocate. Historian. Reflecting on her life, those closest to her remember her impressive mind, impish wit, infectious laugh, and the tenacity that sent her career skyrocketing through glass ceilings at NPR and ABC. They marvel at how she often put others before herself and cared deeply about the world around her. When faced with daily decisions and dilemmas, many still ask themselves the question, 'What Would Cokie Do?'

In this loving tribute, Cokie's husband of 53 years and bestselling-coauthor Steve Roberts reflects not only on her many accomplishments, but on how she lived each day with a devotion to helping others. For Steve, Cokie's private life was as significant and inspirational as her public one. Her commitment to celebrating and supporting other women was evident in everything she did, and her generosity and passion drove her personal and professional endeavors. In Cokie, he has a simple goal: "To tell stories. Some will make you cheer or laugh or cry. And some, I hop

George Roberts has been the ABC's Indonesia correspondent in Jakarta for more than three years, running a bureau of up to 14 staff.

In that time, he has covered the most significant tensions in the country's relationship with Australia since the conflict over East Timor's independence.

From responding to asylum seeker boat tragedies, to covering the fallout from revelations of Australian spying, as well as a presidential election and the execution of two Australian drug smugglers, it has been a busy posting.

As he prepares to leave Jakarta, Roberts reflects on his time living in and covering events in the world's third largest democracy.

Sifting through the stifling city one last time

In my last few days living in Jakarta I decided to take a night-time walk through the stifling humidity of the bustling streets, and soak up the atmosphere of this hectic city.

Dodging scooters that jump onto the footpath to overtake the stagnant traffic, there are certainly plenty of hazards to avoid.

Tiles laid in an attempt to create pavements occasionally crack, and nearly give way to the sewers below — it always pays to look where you're walking in Jakarta.

The pungent wafts of sewage are thankfully overpowered when I pass street sellers frying up tofu, boiling Soto Ayam and fanning coals to cook sate.

My saunter along the street is faster than the pace of the barely moving traffic.

Jakarta was ranked the worst city in the world for traffic gridlock in a study that used GPS data to calculate the frequency of stop-start driving among motorists across the globe.

Traffic will choke the city more before it gets better.

Despite the pollution, the traffic, rampant corruption and the millions of people, there is something wonderful about this country.

The people are friendly and happy despite many struggling to l

Cokie Roberts is the chief congressional analyst and a political commentator for ABC News. She covers politics, Congress and public policy for ABC News, reporting for “World News Tonight” and other ABC News broadcasts. From 1996 – September, 2002 she was the co-anchor of “This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts.” In addition to her work for ABC, Ms. Roberts serves as a senior news analyst for National Public Radio, where she was the congressional correspondent for more than ten years.

Before joining ABC News in 1988, Ms. Roberts was a contributor to PBS-TV’s “MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour.” Her coverage of the Iran/Contra affair for that program won her the Weintal Award in 1987. She has won the highest honor in public radio, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and was the first broadcast journalist to win the highly prestigious Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for coverage of Congress. She won a 1991 Emmy for her contribution to the ABC News special, “Who is Ross Perot?”

Ms. Roberts and her husband, Steven V. Roberts, a professor at George Washington University and contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report, write a weekly column syndicated by United Media in major newspapers around the country. In February 2000 they published “From This Day Forward,” an account of their more than 30-year marriage, as well as other marriages in American history. Ms. Roberts is the author of the 1998 national best-seller, “We Are Our Mother’s Daughters.” She is currently at work on a book, “Founding Mothers,” which will be published by William Morrow early next year.

Prior to joining NPR, Ms. Roberts was a reporter for CBS News in Athens, Greece. She also produced and hosted a public affairs program on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. She is former president of the Radio and Television Correspondent’s Association.

A 1964 graduate in political science from Wellesley College, she is the recipient of 15 honorary degrees. Ms. Roberts and her husband are

American television broadcast journalist (born 1945)

Lila Diane Sawyer (; born December 22, 1945) is an American television broadcast journalist known for anchoring major programs on two networks including ABC World News Tonight, Good Morning America, 20/20, and Primetimenewsmagazine while at ABC News. During her tenure at CBS News, she hosted CBS Morning and was the first woman correspondent on 60 Minutes. Prior to her journalism career, she was a member of U.S. President Richard Nixon's White House staff and assisted in his post-presidency memoirs. Presently she works for ABC News producing documentaries and interview specials.

Early life

Sawyer was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, to Jean W. (née Dunagan), an elementary school teacher, and Erbon Powers "Tom" Sawyer, a county judge. Her ancestry includes English, Irish, Scots-Irish, and German. She has an older sister, Linda. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Louisville, where her father rose to local prominence as a Republican politician and community leader. He was Kentucky's Jefferson County Judge/Executive when he was killed in a car accident on Louisville's Interstate 64 in 1969. E. P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park, in the Frey's Hill area of Louisville, is named in his honor.

Sawyer attended Seneca High School in the Buechel area of Louisville. She served as an editor-in-chief for her school yearbook, The Arrow, and participated in many artistic activities. She always felt, however, that she was in the shadow of her sister, Linda. Insecure and something of a loner as a teen, Diane found happiness, she later said, going off by herself or with a group of friends that called themselves "reincarnated transcendentalists" and read Emerson and Thoreau down by a creek. In her senior year of high school in 1963, she won the annual America's Juni