Renee Chenault-Fattah (born October 12, 1957) is an American journalist and former co-anchor of the WCAU NBC 10 News at 4 and 6 p.m. on weeknights in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. She worked as a lawyer in New York City in the 1980s. She is married to former U.S. Representative

Chaka Fattah Chaka Fattah (born Arthur Wesley Davenport; November 21, 1956) is an American politician who served as a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House for from 1995 to 2016. The d ...

Biography

Early life and education

Chenault-Fattah majored in political science at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, and went on to earn her J.D. at the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

. She worked at

Hughes Hubbard & Reed Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP is a multinational law firm headquartered in New York City with offices in the United States, France, and Japan. History The firm's history dates back to the late 19th century, when it counted among its partners futur ...

, a law firm in New York, and then clerked for Judge

Damon Keith Damon Jerome Keith (July 4, 1922 – April 28, 2019) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern Dist ...

of the

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of K ...

. She then began her media career, earning a master's degree in journalism at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

Career

Chenault-Fattah joined WCAU, then the Philadelphia CBS TV affiliate, in September 1991, and served as an anchor and a reporter. After a few years anchoring the noon broadcast with

Tim Lake Timothy W. Lake (born December 27, 1959) is a television news anchor and historical narrative nonfiction author, currently at WTEN in Albany, New York. He was formerly the solo anchor of WCAU's NBC 10 News at 6 p.m. and co-anchor of NBC 10 ...

, she was promoted to the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news in March 1995. By then, WCAU had become the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia. In 2003, Lake joined Chenault as co-anchor at 4 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m., after she had spent 8 years co-anchoring newscasts at 6 and 11, first wit
Ken Matz
and then with Larry Mendte. The criminal case involving her husband, Congressman Chaka Fattah, made it increasingly difficult for Chenault-Fattah to continue as an anchor, and she went on leave for seven months following his indictment. Ultimately, she left the station on February 24, 2016. Although she was mentioned in a business dealing of her husband's, Chenault-Fattah was never charged with anything in connection with the activities that ultimately led to his conviction. Chenault-Fattah serves on the board of trustees of Johns Hopkins University. After serving for several years on its board of directors, Chenault-Fattah was named Executive Director of Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity, a non-profit dedicated to assisting low-income Philadelphians in overcoming hurdles caused by past criminal records.

Honors and awards

Chenault-Fattah was named to the

PoliticsPA PoliticsPA.com is a website centered on the politics of Pennsylvania. Content The website reports on political and campaign news in Pennsylvania, from the state legislature up to federal races. The editors write occasional features, like the ...

list of "Sy Snyder's Power 50" list of influential individuals in Pennsylvania politics in 2002. She was also named to the

list of "Pennsylvania's Most Politically Powerful Women" The

Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is a state-chartered, federally recognized, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, devoted to collecting information about and promoting cultural work related to broadcasting and communications in Philadelphia, Pe ...

inducted Chenault-Fattah into their Hall of Fame in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chenault-Fattah, Renee 1957 births Living people Television anchors from Philadelphia Philadelphia television reporters American television journalists American women television journalists African-American television personalities Spouses of Pennsylvania politicians University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni University of Missouri alumni 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women