Norah O'Donnell Biography

Norah Morahan O"?Donnell (born January 23, 1974) is an American print and television journalist, currently serving as the co-anchor of CBS This Morning, a position she has held since July 2012, when she replaced Erica Hill. Before that, she spent one year as Chief White House Correspondent for CBS News in Washington, D.C., after moving to the network from NBC. She is also the substitute host for CBS' Sunday morning show, Face the Nation.

Early life

O'Donnell was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Francis O'Donnell, a doctor. Her parents are both of Irish descent. When Norah was 3, her family moved to San Antonio, Texas, where she graduated from Douglas MacArthur High School. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and a master's degree in liberal studies from Georgetown University.

Career

O'Donnell initially served as staff writer for Roll Call, where she covered Congress.

A commentator for the Today Show, Chief Washington Correspondent for MSNBC, and from September 2003 to May 2005, the White House correspondent for NBC News, O'Donnell was also a contributing anchor for MSNBC Live, and a rotating news anchor on Weekend Today. O'Donnell has done reports that have appeared on numerous NBC News broadcasts, including NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, Dateline NBC, and MSNBC. O'Donnell has also filled in for Chris Matthews as host of Hardball with Chris Matthews and was a regular pundit for The Chris Matthews Show. She also co-hosted the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade on WNBC since 2007.

Since joining CBS, she has filled in for Scott Pelley on the CBS Evening News multiple times, the first being October 10, 2011.

Washingtonian Magazine has named O'Donnell as one of Washington's 100 most powerful women. O'Donnell has also been named to Irish American Magazine's 2000 "Top 100 Irish Americans" list.

O'Donnell became a co-anchor on CBS This Morning in fall 2012, replacing Erica Hill.

Twice O'Donnell has appeared on the CBS hit series Blue Bloods, both times as herself anchoring CBS This Morning. In 2013, season 4, episode 2, "The City That Never Sleeps," she interviewed fictional actor Russell Berke, played by actor Marc Blucas. In season 5, episode 7, "Shoot the Messenger," she interviewed Frank Reagan and the interim district attorney.

Career timeline

• 1994-1996: Panelist, Youngbloods (show) National Empowerment Television
• 1999-2011: NBC News/MSNBC
  • 1999-2011: Washington Bureau correspondent
  • 1999-2011: Weekend Today rotating news anchor
  • 1999-2011: MSNBC Live fill-in anchor
  • 2000-2011: Dateline NBC contributing correspondent
  • 2003-2011: NBC News White House correspondent
  • 2005-2011: MSNBC Chief White House correspondent
• 2011-present: CBS News
  • 2011-2012: Chief White House correspondent
  • 2011-present: CBS Evening News fill-in anchor
  • 2012-present: CBS This Morning co-anchor
  • 2011-present: Face the Nation fill-in host and correspondent

Personal life

O'Donnell lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, restaurateur Geoff Tracy (owner of D.C. restaurant, Chef Geoff's), whom she married in June 2001. On May 20, 2007, Norah and Geoff became the parents of twins, whom they named Grace and Henry. Their third child, daughter Riley Norah Tracy, was born on July 5, 2008; O'Donnell noted that her daughter's first name had been suggested by Tim Russert, who died three weeks prior to Riley's birth. O'Donnell and her husband Geoff Tracy made a cookbook for parents titled Baby Love: Healthy, Easy, Delicious Meals for Your Baby and Toddler, released on August 31, 2010. O'Donnell is a Roman Catholic.

Awards

O'Donnell won the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Breaking News Coverage for the Dateline NBC story "DC In Crisis," which aired on the night of September 11, 2001.

She also won an Emmy for NBC News' Election Night coverage in 2008.

Criticism

Several conservative hosts and bloggers, most notably Glenn Beck, took issue with O'Donnell's interview of a Sarah Palin supporter during a 2009 book signing. O'Donnell (then with MSNBC) pointed out that Jackie Seal was wearing a shirt against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which Palin actually supported during the 2008 campaign. Beck ridiculed O'Donnell for "singling out a 13-year-old, and catching her off guard"; O'Donnell responded that Seal was 17 years old, and that she simply "walked the line and asked who wanted to talk on camera", and Seal volunteered. Washington Post reporter David Weigel, and others, felt that O'Donnell asked a fair question. "It"?s not O"?Donnell"?s fault," wrote commentator Steve Benen, "[that] the young woman has a limited understanding of her hero"?s record."

In April 2010, O'Donnell was accused of "playing the race card" after Newt Gingrich criticized Barack Obama with a basketball reference. Gingrich said: "What we need is a president, not an athlete. Shooting three-point shots may be clever, but it doesn't put anybody to work." O'Donnell questioned the implication: "What"?s this suggestion about him playing basketball? That he"?s not doing his job?" NBC's Savannah Guthrie added, "I thought [it] was odd ... as though we see him on the basketball court all the time; actually it"?s the golf course where we see him." In response to the criticism, Gingrich said, "The left is becoming a parody of itself ... she immediately said that must be a racist comment. It's relatively hard to go from 'we need somebody who is a good president more than somebody who shoots three-point shots' to 'that must have been racist.'"