Daniel B. Harris (born July 26, 1971) is a retired American journalist for

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 ...

. He was an anchor for ''

Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...

'' and co-anchor of the weekend edition of ''

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 ...

''.

Early life and education

Harris is the son of Nancy Lee Harris and Jay R. Harris. His father is in the chair of the radiation oncology residency program at Harvard University and his mother is a pathologist at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...

in Boston and an expert on

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

s. His younger brother, Matthew Carmichael Harris, is a

venture capitalist Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number ...

. Harris graduated in 1993 from

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, United States. Founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, it was renamed Waterville College in 1821. The donations of Christian philanthropist Gardner ...

Waterville, Maine Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. A college town, the city is home to Colby College, a New England Small College Athletic Conference, NESCAC college, and Thomas College. As ...

Career

Journalism

Harris began his career as an anchor for WLBZ in

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's List of municipalities in Maine, third-most populous city, behind Portland, Maine, Portland ...

. He then worked for two years at

WCSH WCSH (channel 6) is a television station in Portland, Maine, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Congress Square in Downtown Portland, and its transmitter is located on Winn Mountain i ...

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

, as an anchor and political reporter. From 1997 to 2000 he was an anchor at

New England Cable News New England Cable News (NECN) is a regional 24-hour cable news television network owned and operated by NBCUniversal (as part of the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division, both ultimately owned by Comcast) serving the New England reg ...

. He joined ABC News in 2000. He anchored '' World News Sunday'' from 2006 to 2011 and frequently anchored ''

World News World news or international news or even foreign coverage is the news media jargon for news from abroad, about a country or a global subject. For journalism, it is a branch that deals with news either sent by foreign correspondents or news agen ...

'', ''

ABC World News Tonight ''ABC World News Tonight'' (titled ''ABC World News Tonight with David Muir'' for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014) is the flagship daily evening television news program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting ...

'' weekend editions and ''

''. He is also a frequent contributor to ''

''. He also anchored ABC's coverage of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

in September 2005. In October 2010, he was named the new co-anchor for the weekend edition of ''Good Morning America''. In October 2013, he was named a co-anchor for ''

'', succeeding Bill Weir. In August 2021, Harris announced that he would be leaving ABC News to focus on his meditation company. He retired from ABC News on September 26, 2021. In addition to reporting on a range of natural disasters and several mass shootings, and from multiple combat zones, Harris led the network's reporting on religion, especially evangelicalism, and once spent 48 hours in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

for a story on criminal justice.　 On March 1, 2016, it was announced that Harris would become the host of the game show '' 500 Questions'', replacing Richard Quest.

Meditation and authorship

Harris encourages the use of

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

, and he uses a method of watching the breath. His "10% Happier" podcasts are interviews with other meditators. Harris' book, ''10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Really Works – a True Story'', was published in March 2014. Harris has said that his self-examination, abandonment of drugs, and adoption of meditation were prompted by an on-air

panic attack Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and Comfort, discomfort that may include palpitations, otherwise defined as a Tachycardia, rapid, Arrhythmia, irregular Heart rate, heartbeat, Hyperhidrosis, sweating, chest pain or discomfort, s ...

in 2004. In the book, Harris recounts how he resolved the apparent conflict between meditation-induced

equanimity Equanimity is a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by the experience of or exposure to emotions, pain, or other phenomena that may otherwise cause a loss of mental balance. The virtue and value of equanimity is ...

and the aggressive competitiveness required for success as a TV news journalist. A meditation smartphone application was launched in 2015 and rebranded as ''10% Happier'', based on Harris' book.

Personal life

Harris is married to Dr. Bianca Harris; they have a son. Although he refers to himself as "half-Jewish“ and “culturally Jewish", he identifies as a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. In high school Harris played the drums in a band with the bassist for the rock band The Unband.

Awards

Harris received an Edward R. Murrow Award for his reporting on a young Iraqi man who received the help he needed in order to move to America, and in 2009 won 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 ...

for his ''Nightline'' report, "How to Buy a Child in Ten Hours". He has been awarded honorary doctorates by his alma mater Colby College and by the

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) formerly known as North Adams State College (NASC) is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is part of the stat ...

Bibliography

* ''10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works – A True Story'' (2014) * ''Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book'' (2017), co-authored with Jeff Warren and Carlye Adler

References

External links

ABC News Bio

July 1, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Dan 1971 births American Buddhists American game show hosts Jewish American journalists American television reporters and correspondents Colby College alumni Converts to Buddhism Living people News & Documentary Emmy Award winners Mass media people from Newton, Massachusetts 21st-century American Jews