Cynthia McFadden (born May 27, 1956) is an American television journalist who is currently the senior legal and investigative correspondent for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

. She was an

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄ� ...

and correspondent for

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

who co-anchored '' Nightline'', and occasionally appeared on ABC News special '' Primetime''. She was with ABC News from 1994 to 2014 and joined NBC News in March 2014.

Biography

Education

Born in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, the state's capital, and Portland, the state's most populous ci ...

, McFadden graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

and summa cum laude from Bowdoin College in

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

, in 1978. Afterward, she received her Juris Doctor degree from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1984.

Career

Early career and time as ABC News correspondent

From 1984 to 1991, McFadden was the executive producer of

Fred Friendly Fred W. Friendly (born Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer, October 30, 1915 – March 3, 1998) was a president of CBS News and the creator, along with Edward R. Murrow, of the documentary television program '' See It Now''. He originated the concep ...

's Media and Society seminars based at Columbia, many of which were broadcast on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. She then joined the Courtroom Television Network as an anchor and producer in 1991, its inaugural year. After working there for several years, she joined ABC News in 1994 as the network's legal correspondent, covering amongst other subjects the O. J. Simpson trial.

Promotion to anchor

McFadden became an anchor of ''Primetime'' in 2004 and, having previously substituted for

Ted Koppel Edward James Martin Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is a British-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for ''Nightline'', from the program's inception in 1980 until 2005. Before ''Nightline'', he spent 20 years as a broadc ...

on several occasions, an anchor of ''Nightline'' on November 28, 2005, along with

Martin Bashir Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's ''Panorama'' programme, for which he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales in 1995. Although the intervie ...

and Terry Moran, following the longtime anchor's final broadcast. Bashir left the program due to fallout from credibility problems from the disputed and controversial reports on singer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

and was replaced by Bill Weir in 2010. The three tended to anchor in shifts, leading the show by themselves every third night. While ''Nightline'' was threatened with cancellation in 2002 under Koppel's long-form journalism format, it saw a resurgence in its ratings and prominence after switching to more celebrity topics, pop culture and entertainment news, often competing for higher numbers with the '' Late Show with David Letterman''. As anchor, McFadden conducted a number of significant interviews including ones with celebrities such as Clint Eastwood,

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and

Judge Judy Sheindlin Judith Susan Sheindlin (''née'' Blum; born October 21, 1942), known professionally as Judge Judy, is an American court show arbitrator, media personality, television producer, author, women's advancement philanthropist and former prosecutor an ...

, past and present world leaders such as

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

and

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

, and five with Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

Move from ABC to NBC

On March 29, 2014, after two decades with ABC News, with the last nine years as a ''Nightline'' anchor, McFadden left and joined

. She serves as the senior legal and investigative correspondent, contributing to NBC's investigative unit across all NBC News platforms.

Other work

McFadden is a contributor for

wowOwow wowOwow was a U.S.-based website publication run by Joni Evans. History The website was launched by chief executive officer Joni Evans, Mary Wells Lawrence Mary Wells Lawrence (born Mary Georgene Berg on May 25, 1928) is an American retir ...

.com, a web site launched in 2008 for women to discuss culture, politics and gossip. She has additionally hosted or co-hosted a number of documentaries and specials on ABC. She is co-chair of the board of IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation).

Personal life

McFadden married Michael John Davies, editor and publisher of the '' Hartford Courant'', on September 9, 1989; they were divorced in 1996. She has a son with ''Foreign Affairs'' editor James Hoge, Spencer Graham McFadden Hoge, who was born in 1998 and named after the actor

Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...

. She is the executrix of the estate of longtime friend actress Katharine Hepburn. She has Crohn's disease and has done public service announcements to raise awareness of the condition. McFadden practices

Transcendental Meditation Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes ...

and has supported the work of the

David Lynch Foundation The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace (or simply DLF) is a global charitable foundation with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Fairfield, Iowa. It was founded by film director and Transcendental Me ...

. In October 2020 ''

Town and Country magazine ''Town and Country Magazine'' was an 18th-century London-based publication that featured tales of scandals and affairs between members of London's upper classes. History ''Town and Country Magazine'' was founded by Archibald Hamilton in 1769. ...

'' published an account McFadden and her son Spencer wrote about their road trip from New York City to California, where he was a student. The account described the accommodations they had to take due to the Covid 19 virus. Spencer, having grown up in New York City, had not learned to drive, until he moved to California. McFadden encouraged him to earn a

driver's license A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public ...

by promising him a new car.

Awards

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

(1985) *Cine Golden Eagles (2) *Ohio State Award *Silver Gavels (2) from the American Bar Association *Grand Award of the New York Festival *Blue Ribbon of the American Film Festival *Earned an Emmy in 2020 * Gerald Loeb Award for Video in 2020

References

External links

*
Biography at abcnews.comCynthia McFadden
a
wowOwow
{{DEFAULTSORT:McFadden, Cynthia 1956 births Living people ABC News personalities American television news anchors American television reporters and correspondents Bowdoin College alumni Columbia Law School alumni Columbia University alumni People from Lewiston, Maine American women television journalists Gerald Loeb Award winners for Audio and Video 21st-century American women