Susan Roesgen is an American television reporter. She has worked in radio and television broadcasting for more than two decades, including prime time news anchor positions at several TV stations. She has worked as a general assignment correspondent for CNN from 2005 to 2009, and now works for
WGNO
WGNO (channel 26) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station WNOL-TV (channel 38). Both stations share studios at The Gal ...
(Channel 26), the local
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
television affiliate.
Early life and career
Susan Roesgen is the daughter of William Roesgen, former publisher of several newspapers and editor of the
Billings Gazette
The ''Billings Gazette'' is a daily newspaper based in Billings, Montana that primarily covers issues in southeast Montana and parts of northern Wyoming. Historically it has been known as the largest newspaper in Montana and is geographically one ...
, and sister to Andy Roesgen, a freelance television reporter. Roesgen graduated
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
from
Montana State University
Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...
in 1983, majoring in
English Literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
. Roesgen says she "never planned to be in journalism. I thought I'd be some kind of writer, but not in the media." She started as a copyeditor for the MSU Exponent newspaper, and her first television job was writing commercials. She eventually joined the news department, and worked her way up to anchoring the news at WABC-TV in New York City.
Roesgen's reporting has taken her to an Army barracks in Haiti, the Sea of Galilee, and to the pyramids of Egypt. She and two colleagues at
WDSU-TV
WDSU (channel 6) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Howard Avenue in the city's Central Business District, and its transmit ...
received regional
Emmy award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s for the documentary ''A Grave Injustice'', on the theft of artifacts from New Orleans historic cemeteries. She also won a Louisiana Associated Press Award for her reporting in Israel.National Geographic News July, 2001
Roesgen has worked as an anchor or host for the following stations:
*
WABC-TV
WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neigh ...
Channel 7 (
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 U ...
)
*
KFMB-TV
KFMB-TV (channel 8) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with CBS, The CW, and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tegna Inc., it has studios on Engineer Road in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego, and its transmitt ...
Channel 8 (
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
)
*
WITN-TV
WITN-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Washington, North Carolina, United States, serving Eastern North Carolina as an affiliate of NBC and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Gray Television, the station has primary studio facilities on Ea ...
Channel 7 (
Washington, NC
Washington is a city in Beaufort County, North Carolina, United States, located on the northern bank of the Pamlico River. The population was 9,744 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Beaufort County. It is commonly known as "Original Wa ...
)
*
KATV-TV
KATV (channel 7) is a television station in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located at the former Worthen Bank Building on East 4th and Main Streets in d ...
Channel 7 (
Little Rock
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
)
*
WDSU-TV
WDSU (channel 6) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Howard Avenue in the city's Central Business District, and its transmit ...
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from othe ...
. Roesgen was a classical music disc jockey, worked on the local show ''Getting There'', and filed news stories for NPR's national broadcasts. She was honored by the Press Club of New Orleans with first place awards in the category of general news in 2004, 2005, and 2006 and in series category in 2005.
National Geographic
She joined the
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General ...
in 2000, and co-hosted an international travel show, ''National Geographic Today''.
CNN
Roesgen was hired by CNN as the first news correspondent for their Gulf Coast division in 2005. She was based in New Orleans and covered Hurricane Katrina. Other significant stories she covered for CNN include the
Jena Six
The Jena Six were six black teenagers in Jena, Louisiana, convicted in the 2006 beating of Justin Barker, a white student at the local Jena High School, which they also attended. Barker was injured on December 4, 2006, by the members of the Jena ...
events in Louisiana, the
Drew Peterson
Drew Walter Peterson (born January 5, 1954) is an American convicted murderer and former police sergeant who was found guilty in 2012 of the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, a few months after their 2003 divorce. Peterson first receiv ...
case, and the death of
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 ...
Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo ( /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/) is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 125,990, making it the most populous city in the state and the 219th-most populous city in ...
, in which she "talks to the camera while passing sandbags and riding a forklift" according to one observer, was mocked by
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted '' The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts '' ...
on
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy program ...
's ''
The Daily Show
''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fr ...
''.
She moved to CNN's Chicago bureau in September, 2007. On April 15, 2009, Roesgen interviewed a number of people at a 2009 Tea Party protest in Chicago. The interview attracted a degree of partisan commentary.
In July, 2009, CNN ended Roesgen's contract with the network.