MIZZOU NEWS

J-School Alumna Grabs
Top Anchor Spot at ABC News

University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism graduate Elizabeth Vargas, BJ ’84, was chosen on Dec. 5 as one of two anchors on ABC’s nightly newscast, World News Tonight. Vargas, 43, joinged Bob Woodruff to replace Peter Jennings, who died of lung cancer in August. Vargas remains co-host of ABC’s news magazine, 20/20.

Growing up, Vargas’ home was void of only one thing — a television. The daughter of military parents, Vargas traveled the world, from Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., to Germany, and learned about the world through her own eyes and local print media. Thus, it was no surprise that she wanted to be a newspaper journalist when she arrived at MU.

The basic news writing course changed Vargas’ mind. Feeling stifled by the inverted pyramid style, she switched her focus to radio and then to broadcast news, reporting and anchoring for KOMU. Vargas says she appreciates the School’s flexibility because it allowed her to explore various aspects of journalism.

As a student, Vargas served as a reporter for KOMU-TV and later as an editor for KBIA radio. The latter position often had her chasing reporters and editors down so they would meet deadlines, recalls Dave Dugan, a former MU journalism professor who served as an adviser to students.

“I’ve never seen somebody with so much energy,” he says. “She was skipping and always moving. She never walked.”

After graduating, Vargas was hired as a reporter at a small television station in Reno, Nev., and quickly moved to the anchor slot. Larger market opportunities in Phoenix and Chicago followed. At each, she heard the same evaluation: You are an excellent reporter but not a very good anchor. Vargas’ solution was to focus on her natural strengths, and she became determined to be the best reporter in her market.

Vargas joined NBC in 1993. After working with shows such as NBC Nightly News and the Today Show, she knew she had found her niche.

“In network news I could be myself, and I had confidence in myself,” Vargas says. She attributes her success to the knowledge she received doing live, local news.

“Working in local television, I always wanted to be the lead story,” Vargas says. “It was that fast-paced, aggressive reporting that prepared me for network news. In live news you have to be agile and adept and be able to think fast and make decisions.”

Vargas realizes that network news is harnessed by trends in the media such as tabloid stories.

“That’s discouraging, but we are a business,” Vargas says. “We have to appeal to viewers. The bottom line rests with how many viewers we are bringing in.”

Although Vargas and her colleagues may be discouraged by the tabloid stories, she says they require the same thorough preparation as any other news story. The dilemma lies in trying to keep the balance between hard news and entertainment news. Being comfortable and confident in your questions, she says, is a good way to start.

Vargas’ newest challenge is her toddler son, Zachary. She says the balance of a career and family has been very hard for her and her husband, but that she really loves being a mother.

“Women in this business all struggle,” she says. “Not a lot of women have figured out how to be both a great mother and a great journalist. Zachary needs ‘Vargas the mommy,’ not ‘Vargas the journalist.’”

Vargas says motherhood has allowed her to connect with stories in ways she didn’t previously, particularly a recent piece about the children from Beslan, Russia, and their experiences with terrorism. Vargas traveled to the town to see how they were coping with the attack. Some of the children were killed, but others survived.

“It was an amazing and difficult and moving story to tell,” she says. “Now that I am a mother, I felt a real connection with the story. One of the surviving children was 21 months old, the same age as my son at the time.”

Dugan says that Vargas’ worldly sophistication has helped her coverage of culturally sensitive issues. Her coverage of Elian Gonzales, a six-year-old Cuban boy rescued from the Florida coast, garnered her an Emmy.

Vargas has some advice for those interested in or working in news: “Read everything you can get your hands on. Be culturally aware, but don’t be afraid to say you don’t know something.” She says to be really smart and never compromise your integrity. Act and dress responsibly and professionally.

Vargas also has some special advice for women. She says women must recognize they are powerful in anchoring and reporting positions, but are underrepresented in key executive decision-making and management positions. Vargas advises women to prepare to work to gain those positions.

Kent Collins, chairman of the radio-television journalism faculty at MU, remembers Vargas’ go-getter personality.

“Elizabeth was especially hard-working and especially aggressive,” Collins says. “She understood news and what were good news stories. She was quick to jump on a news story and get that story at any cost.”

“The most important thing at the end of the day,” Vargas says, “is to love what you do, and remember that it’s the slow and steady pace that wins the race.”

Note: This story was published originally in the spring 2005 issue of J-News, an alumni newsletter published by the MU School of Journalism. Information was added from a Dec. 7, 2005, Columbia Missourian story written by Jemimah Noonoo (with contributing information from the Associated Press).

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Last Update: November 15, 2007