Alison Stewart (born July 4, 1966) is an American journalist and author. Stewart first gained widespread visibility as a political correspondent for

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

in the 1990s. She is the host of WNYC's midday show, ''All of It with Alison Stewart''.

Early life and education

Stewart was born in

Glen Ridge, New Jersey Glen Ridge is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,802, an increase of 275 (+3.7%) from the 2010 United St ...

. She is the daughter of the senior vice president for corporate affairs at Squibb Corporation, the pharmaceutical company in

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

. Her mother taught biology at

Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...

Maplewood, New Jersey Maplewood is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is an inner-ring suburban bedroom community of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's popula ...

. She attended

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American literature. She began her broadcasting career there, where she was the music director for the school's radio station,

WBRU WBRU is an internet radio station based in Providence, Rhode Island. The station is owned and operated by Brown Broadcasting Service, an independent Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization, and is primarily staffed by students from Brown ...

Career

20th century

In 1988 Stewart began her career as an assistant at

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. In 1991, she joined MTV News as a segment producer when she was hired by MTV News Director Linda Corradina. She began reporting and producing during MTV's first "Choose or Lose" campaign, which covered the 1992 presidential race. Her role in MTV's campaign coverage earned her a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

. Stewart also contributed segments to other MTV News shows in the 1990s including ''Megadose'' (an alternative health program) and ''MTV News: Unfiltered''. She also hosted specials including '' the Real World Reunion'' in 1995. Following the 1996 "Choose or Lose" campaign, Stewart left MTV and moved to

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

in December 1996. She reported for several of the network's news programs, including ''

CBS News Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (frequently shortened to ''Sunday Morning'') is an American television newsmagazine that has aired on CBS since January 28, 1979. Created by Robert Northshield and E.S. "Bud" Lamoreaux III, and originally hosted by ...

'', '' 48 Hours'', and '' Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel''.

21st century

Moving to

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

, she co-anchored its early morning news program, ''

World News Now ''World News Now'' (or WNN) is an American overnight news broadcast seen on ABC and ABC News Live. Airing during the early morning hours each Monday through Friday, the program features a mix of general news and off-beat stories, along with ...

'' with

Anderson Cooper Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator who anchors the CNN news broadcast show ''Anderson Cooper 360°''. In addition to his duties at CNN, Cooper serves as a correspondent for ''6 ...

, and also contributed reports to ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' and '' 20/20 Downtown''. She earned an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

as part of ABC News' coverage of the

9/11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. In 2003, Stewart moved from ABC News to

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

, where she was a daytime anchor and primary substitute host for ''

Countdown with Keith Olbermann ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' is a weekday podcast that originated as an hour-long weeknight news and political commentary program hosted by Keith Olbermann that aired on MSNBC from 2003 to 2011 and on Current TV from 2011 to 2012. The show ...

'' and ''The Rachel Maddow Show''. She occasionally filled in as a newsreader on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Weekend Today Weekend editions of '' Today'', an American morning news and talk program that airs daily on NBC, began with the launch of the Sunday edition of the program on September 20, 1987. After NBC expanded ''Today'' to seven days a week in the 1990s ...

''. From May 2006 to April 2007, she hosted a daytime news program on MSNBC, ''

The Most with Alison Stewart ''The Most'' is an American television news program on MSNBC. Broadcast live at 12:00 PM ET daily, the program focused on the top news stories of the day people are looking at on MSNBC.com. In addition, the program also aired "the most watched ...

''. Stewart joined

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

in May 2007 to host (along with Luke Burbank) a multi-platform morning drive show, '' The Bryant Park Project'', which targeted an online audience, younger listeners and adults ages 25 to 44. The program premiered October 1, 2007. NPR canceled the program due to budget constraints in July 2008. Stewart returned from maternity leave to host the show's last week, July 21 to 25, 2008. Stewart also served as a panelist on NPR's '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' and as a fill-in host of NPR's ''

Talk of the Nation ''Talk of the Nation'' (''TOTN'') is an American talk radio program based in Washington D.C., produced by National Public Radio ( NPR) that was broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. It focused on current events and controversial ...

'' and ''

Weekend Edition ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio ( NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program ''Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday ...

''. On May 7, 2010, she became the co-host of the new show ''

Need to Know The term "need to know" (alternatively spelled need-to-know), when used by governments and other organizations (particularly those related to military or intelligence), describes the restriction of data which is considered very confidential and ...

'' 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 left the show on September 9, 2011; in her departure announcement she said she would be finishing a book she had "been working on for years."PBS.org
Alison signs off
, pbs.org, September 9, 2011. In late 2011, Stewart returned to CBS News to report a story on cheating on standardized college admissions tests for ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

'' that aired on January 1, 2012. In 2012, she hosted the first season of the '' TED Radio Hour'', a radio program (with podcast) produced by TED and NPR. In 2013, her book ''First Class'', a history of Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.), was published. It was named one of the best books of 2013 by ''Mother Jones'' and ''Essence'' magazines. Her second book, ''Junk: Digging Through America's Love Affair with Stuff'', was published in April 2016. Stewart returned to PBS as a special correspondent in 2016 and served as a fill-in anchor for '' NewsHour Weekend'' and ''

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show ''Charlie Rose (talk show), Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg L.P., Bloombe ...

''. She continues to contribute to PBS and is also a contributor at ''The Atlantic LIVE.'' In September 2018, Stewart was added to the

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

lineup hosting a midday show, '' All of It with Alison Stewart''. She is the host of the book club live event series, ''Get Lit With All Of It''.

Works

References

External links

Official website

"Biography: Alison Stewart"
, PBS ''Need to Know'' website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Alison 1966 births Living people African-American television personalities American broadcast news analysts American radio journalists American television reporters and correspondents NPR personalities Brown University alumni Peabody Award winners People from Glen Ridge, New Jersey African-American women journalists African-American journalists American women radio journalists American women television journalists MSNBC people CBS News people PBS people 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women journalists Journalists from New Jersey Writers from Essex County, New Jersey