Jane Pauley

Margaret Jane Pauley (born October 31, 1950, in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American television journalist, and has been involved in news reporting since 1975. She is most known for her 13 year tenure on NBC's "Today" program and later 12 years of "Dateline NBC," and has acknowledged publicly her struggle with mental health and bipolar disorder.

Early life and career

Pauley competed in debate and public speaking tournaments while enrolled at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis. Pauley graduated from Warren Central High School in 1968. She subsequently earned a scholarship to Indiana University, where she was involved in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. After college, she worked from 1972 to 1975 at WISH in Indianapolis and from 1975 to 1976 at WMAQ in Chicago; from there she joined network television.

"The Today Show"

From 1976 to 1989 Pauley was the co-host, with Tom Brokaw and later Bryant Gumbel, of NBC's "The Today Show". Following in the footsteps both in career and stylistically of first female anchor of the show, Barbara Walters, she became a symbol for professional women, more specifically female journalists, in the 1980s. NBC briefly experimented with a trio of anchors, Pauley, Gumbel, and Chris Wallace, before returning to a co-anchor format with Gumbel and with Pauley serving in a deferential co-host capacity.

In 1989, following months of speculation on Pauley's publicly reported dislike of the grueling morning assignment, and ambition to work in prime time television, she announced her resignation from "Today." Speculation in the media seemed to imply that NBC executives had eased her out to advance younger NBC newscaster Deborah Norville, who had begun to play a larger role in the two hour morning program. Pauley seemed to encourage speculation that led to accusations of ageism from Pauley supporters, who felt it unfair that the 39-year-old was being sidelined for the younger Norville, rather than the fact that Pauley was leaving voluntarily.

Later NBC career

After leaving "The Today Show", Pauley hosted "Real Life with Jane Pauley" and served as deputy anchor for "NBC Nightly News".

From 1992 to 2003, Pauley co-hosted NBC's "Dateline NBC". In 2004, she returned to television as host of "The Jane Pauley Show", a syndicated daytime talk show. On the show, she discussed, at length, her problems in dealing with bipolar disorder.

Much like her earlier attempt at solo hosting following her "Today" tenure, "The Jane Pauley Show" never gained traction in the ratings, and was cancelled after one season. Since her talk show's cancellation, she has made few appearances on television programs. However, most recently she led a half-hour discussion on PBS' Depression: Out of the Shadows which aired in May of 2008.

Personal

Pauley is known for revealing very little, if anything at all, of her private life, which made the disclosure of her bipolar disorder all the more unusual. The timing of her announcement—which coincided with the release of her autobiography "Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue" (2004) and the launch of her daytime talk show—was viewed by some as a publicity ploy, though no one questioned the truthfulness of her announcement.

In October 2006, Pauley and her lawyers filed a lawsuit against "The New York Times" for allegedly duping her into lending her name and likeness to an advertising supplement popular with drug companies. Pauley maintains she believed she was being interviewed by a Times reporter.

Pauley is married to "Doonesbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau, and they have three children: twins Ross and Rachel, born in 1983, and Thomas, born in 1986.

External links

*imdb name|id=0667111|name=Jane Pauley
* [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1025061pauley1.html Lawsuit filed against the "New York Times" and DeWitt Publishing]
* [http://cronkite.asu.edu/news/pauley-062507.php Jane Pauley Named 2007 Winner of Cronkite Award]