by Phlegm » Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:57 pm
Rita Crosby on MSNBC:
Rita Cosby serves as an anchor and special correspondent for MSNBC, and beginning August 8, 2005, she will host “Rita Cosby: Live and Direct,” a one-hour live primetime show, which will air Monday through Friday at 9 p.m. (ET).
Cosby made headlines her first day at MSNBC (June 13, 2005) by scoring a world exclusive interview with Jermaine and Tito Jackson when the Michael Jackson verdict broke. The following day, she interviewed Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon who was prosecuting the case, and in her second week, she got an exclusive interview with Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine.
Prior to joining MSNBC, Cosby hosted Fox News Channel's highly rated weekend programs, The Big Story Weekend Edition with Rita Cosby and FOX News Live with Rita Cosby. As a senior correspondent for the network, Cosby secured the most sought after interviews while covering U.S. and global breaking news.
Cosby has obtained exclusive interviews with numerous world leaders, including one with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic from The Hague. She secured historic back-to-back interviews with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and conducted an exclusive interview with Arafat when his compound was under siege in April 2002. Cosby was the first journalist to see the suspected terrorists being held at Guantanamo and witness an actual interrogation. In addition, she was the first to interview former POW Thomas Hamill, whose escape from his Iraqi captors made international headlines. Cosby also was granted a rare, private meeting with the Pope after receiving an exclusive letter from Timothy McVeigh explaining why he carried out the Oklahoma City bombing. Years earlier, while broadcasting live from Belgrade, she was the first to report that three American POWs were going to be released. Additionally, she has interviewed many U.S. leaders exclusively including President George H.W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, President Ronald Reagan and President Gerald Ford, as well as many foreign leaders including King Abdullah of Jordan, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Cosby made national headlines for her interviews with boxer Mike Tyson, singer Michael Jackson and convicted serial killer, David Berkowitz, "The Son of Sam," who wrote to her during the October 2002 D.C. sniper shootings. As that story unfolded, Cosby secured another major first by being the initial journalist to report the names and license plate numbers of the sniper suspects. She worked throughout the night as they were arrested, breaking numerous details about the case and their backgrounds. In 2001, Cosby's interview with flight attendant Anne Marie Smith led to a U.S. Attorney's Office investigation of Rep. Gary Condit for obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
Cosby served as a lead reporter during the 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns and during the Monica Lewinsky investigation, she broke the news that President Clinton was going to be subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. It was Cosby again who surprised the President as well as fellow reporters when, during a live White House press conference, she informed him that he would be subpoenaed to testify in the Whitewater trial. Cosby also scored the only interview with the Montana Freeman during their 1996 standoff with the FBI.
Cosby has traveled to some of the most dangerous places in the world including Kosovo when the peace deal was forged, and she interviewed people inside a Tijuana penitentiary and San Quentin’s death row. She also covered the LA riots, visited the Aryan Nation compound and interviewed leaders of the KKK and the Nation of Islam.
Cosby joined Fox News Channel at its inception from WBTV, the CBS affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. During her tenure there, she broke numerous stories, reporting that Susan Smith drowned her two young sons and that the father of NBA superstar Michael Jordan was murdered.
Cosby has received numerous awards and honors for her reporting, including three Emmy Awards for investigative reporting, the National Foundation for Women Legislators' 2003 Media Award for Excellence, the 2002 Association of Women in Communications Headliner Award, the Matrix Award and the Jack Anderson Award, both for journalism distinction.
Cosby earned her bachelors' degrees from the University of South Carolina, graduating with honors. In 1998, Cosby was presented with the USC Distinguished Alumni Award. She grew up in Greenwich, Conn., and currently resides in the New York area.
Last edited by
Phlegm on Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.