Sharon Alfonsi

Sharyn Alfonsi is an on-air correspondent for ABC News. According to the Tyndall Report, she was one of the most visible American journalists on television. [http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/year_in_review_2005/default.asp]

Early life

Alfonsi grew up in McLean, Virginia. She graduated from the University of Mississippi, Oxford in 1994. She studied under authors Willie Morris and John Grisham while at Ole Miss and is believed to be the inspiration for the character of Darby Shaw in Grisham's novel "The Pelican Brief".

Journalism career

Sharyn Alfonsi began her career in broadcast journalism at KHBS-TV in Fort Smith, Arkansas from 1994 to 1995, where she served as a news reporter, weekend weather anchor, photographer and editor. She then became a general assignment reporter for WVEC–TV in Norfolk, Virginia from 1995 to 1997, where she traveled extensively with the military. Between 1998 and 2000, she worked as a reporter and substitute anchor for KIRO-TV in Seattle, Washington, where she covered the World Trade Organization riots. Between 2000 and 2003, Sharyn worked as a reporter and substitute anchor for WBZ-TV, the CBS-owned station in Boston, where she covered the ongoing Catholic church scandal, the Michael Skakel trial and the Rhode Island nightclub fire, among other stories.

Alfonsi was named a CBS News correspondent, based in New York, in July 2004. She has also anchored the CBS Evening News. She has traveled across the globe covering a range of stories, most notably the war in Iraq, Aghanistan, the conflict in Israel, Hurricane Katrina, and the Sago Mine Disaster in West Virginia. Alfonsi had a near-miss in Israel when a missile landed close to her shelter. Alfonsi was the lead reporter for the Network's coverage of the Virginia Tech Massacre.

CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer has told Ed Bark, long-time TV critic of the "Dallas Morning News", that "She's smart, funny as hell." Schieffer added in a later article that " She will be a treasure of the Network one day." Alfonsi was one of several promising and popular CBS News correspondents who departed the network after Katie Couric took over the anchor chair from Schieffer. Alfonsi, Trish Regan, Elizabeth Kaledin and Lee Cowan all have departed from CBS since Couric took the reins of the Evening News.

On August 10, 2006, Alfonsi was featured on the CBS Public Eye website. [http://www.poynter.org/dg.lts/id.45/aid.105902/column.htm]

Departure from CBS

Despite attempts by CBS executives to keep Alfonsi on the CBS Evening News, she decided to leave the network. On January 28, 2008, it was announced that Alfonsi would join ABC News as a New York based correspondent for World News with Charles Gibson and Good Morning America. [ [http://acquisition.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=291075 Sharyn Alfonsi Joins ABC News - BroadcastNewsroom ] ]

References