Martha Raddatz
Raddatz in an interview
Born (1953-02-14) February 14, 1953 (age 71)
Idaho Falls, Idaho, U.S.
OccupationABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent,
Years active1999–present
Spouses
Children2

Martha Raddatz (/ˈrædɪts/; born February 14, 1953) is an American reporter with ABC News. She is the network's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent reporting for ABC's World News Tonight with David Muir, Nightline, and other network broadcasts. In addition to her work for ABC News, Raddatz has written for The New Republic and is a frequent guest on PBS's Washington Week. Raddatz is the co-anchor and primary fill-in anchor on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Early life

Raddatz was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho.[1] Her family later moved to Salt Lake City. She attended the University of Utah but dropped out to work at a local station.[2]

Career

Raddatz interviewing United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in January 2013

Prior to 1993, Raddatz was the chief correspondent at the ABC News Boston affiliate WCVB-TV. From 1993 to 1998, Raddatz covered the Pentagon for National Public Radio.

Raddatz began her tenure at ABC News in 1999 as the network's State Department correspondent and became ABC's senior national security correspondent in May 2003, reporting extensively from Iraq. On June 8, 2006, Raddatz received a tip that terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been located and killed. This tip allowed Raddatz and ABC News to become the first news organization in the world to break the news shortly after 2:30 a.m. EST.[3][4]

In a March 24, 2008, extended interview with Dick Cheney conducted in Ankara, Turkey, on the fifth anniversary of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Raddatz posed a question about public opinion polls showing that Americans had lost confidence in the war, a question to which Cheney responded by saying "So?"[5] Raddatz appeared taken aback by the response, and Cheney's remark prompted widespread criticism, including a Washington Post op-ed by former Republican Congressman and Cheney friend Mickey Edwards.[6]

Raddatz is also the author of the New York Times bestseller The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family, a book about the Siege of Sadr City, Iraq. A TV mini series based on the book aired on NatGeo in late 2017.

After the national security beat, Raddatz became the network's chief White House correspondent for the last term of the George W. Bush administration.[3] On January 9, 2007, Raddatz's mobile phone went off during a White House press briefing with Tony Snow. Of particular humor was her musical ring tone, Chamillionaire's "Ridin'." The press corps and Tony Snow enjoyed a few moments of laughter.[7]

Raddatz was appointed to her current position as ABC's Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent in November 2008.

Raddatz served as the moderator of the Vice-Presidential debate on October 11, 2012, between Paul Ryan and Joe Biden at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.[8] Raddatz also served alongside Anderson Cooper as co-moderator for the second presidential debate in 2016, between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump at Washington University in St. Louis.[9] Cooper and Raddatz were reviewed and some commentators noted their "no-nonsense approach" and "aggressive style", though Raddatz was criticized for a challenge to one of Trump's statements, which some journalists felt "fell outside of her mandate as moderator".[10]

The Guardian said in 2014 that Raddatz "is known for having well-cultivated sources inside the Defense Department."[11]

Raddatz appeared as a reporter interviewing the President-elect of the United States in the 2017 episode "Imminent Risk" of the Showtime series Homeland.[12][13]

Personal life

Raddatz resides in Arlington, Virginia, with her third husband, journalist Tom Gjelten. She has two children from two previous marriages: a daughter, Greta Bradlee,[14] and a son, Jake Genachowski.[15] Her first husband was Ben Bradlee Jr., a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor for The Boston Globe,[16] biographer, and son of former Washington Post executive editor Benjamin C. Bradlee.[17] Her second husband was Julius Genachowski, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission under the Obama administration.[18] President Barack Obama attended their wedding in 1991, when he and Genachowski were students at Harvard Law School.[19]

References

  1. ^ "Martha Raddatz, 11/13/08 interview on Idaho Public TV at 2:25 "I was born in Idaho Falls,.." Retrieved 10/12/12".
  2. ^ Kurtz, Howard. "Martha Raddatz, Putting Herself in the Thick of Things". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  3. ^ a b "Martha Raddatz". ABCNews.com. February 25, 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-11.
  4. ^ Bauder, David (June 8, 2006). "ABC News scores overnight beat on story of al-Zarqawi's death". San Diego Union Tribune. Associated Press. Retrieved 2011-06-11.
  5. ^ "Full Interview: Dick Cheney on Iraq". ABC News. March 24, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2013.
  6. ^ Edwards, Mickey (March 22, 2008). "Dick Cheney's Error: It's Government By the People". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
  7. ^ Raddatz, Martha (January 9, 2007). "Tone of the Briefing". The World Newser. Retrieved 2011-06-11.
  8. ^ "Martha Raddatz to Moderate VP Debate". ABC News. August 13, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  9. ^ Borchers, Callum (2016-09-29). "Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz drop hints about the second Clinton-Trump debate". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  10. ^ Grinapol, Corinne (October 10, 2016). "How Did Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper Do as Moderators?". Adweek. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  11. ^ Weaver, Matthew; McCarthy, Tom (March 13, 2014). "MH370 search: Pentagon sends destroyer through Malacca Strait – live". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  12. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (March 6, 2017). "Homeland Recap: Dar Adal Works All Angles in Episode 7, 'Imminent Risk'". Variety. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  13. ^ Riccio, Aaron (March 5, 2017). "Homeland Recap: Season 6, Episode 7, 'Imminent Risk'". Slant Magazine. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  14. ^ "Martha Raddatz". Contemporary Authors. Detroit: Gale Biography In Context. 2008. Gale Document Number: GALE|H1000179311. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  15. ^ "Martha Raddatz is Chief White House correspondent for ABC News". TV Newsroom. June 11, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-11.
  16. ^ "Ben Bradlee Jr". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  17. ^ Groer, Annie (February 16, 2010). "Quinn Bradlee to Marry on Greta Bradlee's Long-Planned Wedding Day". Politics Daily.
  18. ^ "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved July 7, 2009
  19. ^ "ABC News defends Martha Raddatz". USA Today. October 10, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2018.

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