NBC News has named Ann Curry as co-anchor of "Dateline NBC." She will serve alongside co-anchor Stone Phillips and also continue to anchor the news for "Today." Her appointment, effective in June, was announced on May 16 by NBC News President Neal Shapiro.
"This announcement is a tribute not only to Ann's strengths as a reporter and anchor, but its also a tribute to 'Dateline's' commitment to covering more breaking news, in-depth reporting and wide ranging investigative pieces than any other newsmagazine," said Shapiro. "These things all take a lot of time and work, and Stone has been great to carry the show alone for the past two years. Having a co-anchor setup - as well as our other contributing anchors - will make it easier to manage."
In addition to Curry and Phillips as co-anchors, Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Tom Brokaw will continue to contribute to "Dateline." Brokaw is scheduled to file an upcoming "Tom Brokaw Reports" on the global war on terror.
Curry was named NBC News correspondent in August 1990, and "Today" news anchor in May 1997. She has extensive experience in national and international reporting. Curry reported live from ground zero every day in the first two weeks after 9-11. When the United States bombed Al Qaeda targets in Afghanistan in November 2001, she reported extensively from the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea, and landed the first exclusive interview the war's military commander, General Tommy Franks. Curry reported from Baghdad in the weeks leading up to the war in Iraq, and then from the USS Constellation as the war began, interviewing fighter pilots who flew the first wave of bombing runs over Iraq. She also filed reports from inside Iraq, from Qatar, and Kuwait during the first weeks of the war.
Curry has distinguished herself in humanitarian reporting. She was the first network news anchor to report from inside the tsunami zone in southeast Asia, filing live and taped reports from Sri Lanka for Dateline, Today and NBC Nightly News. She was also the first network news anchor to report on the humanitarian refugee crisis caused by the genocide in Kosovo, filing live and taped reports from Albania and Macedonia.
Curry's exclusive interviews also include the first highly sought after interview with Thomas Hamill, the truck driver for Halliburton subsidiary KBR, who escaped captivity in Iraq, the first interview with accused spy Wen Ho Lee after he was cleared of all charges of espionage against the United States, and the first interview with the parents of the McCaughey septuplets. Curry has also repeatedly landed the first exclusive interview with Lance Armstrong after his Tour de France wins.
"Ann has contributed significantly to the broadcast in many ways over the years," said "Dateline," executive producer David Corvo. "Her passion for the news, drive to bring forth important stories to our viewers and ability to cover all types of stories, makes Ann a perfect addition to 'Dateline' - for our viewers, and for the staff."
"I am deeply honored to be invited to join the 'Dateline' family," said Curry. "I have long admired Stone's reporting and consider 'Dateline's' writers, producers, correspondents, cameramen and editors among the brightest and most talented in television news. I am passionate about in-depth reporting, investigative journalism and stories that illuminate and bring value to the lives of our viewers. This new assignment, in addition to my work at 'Today,' will give me a chance to bring more of this work to more people."
After Curry first joined NBC News in August 1990, she became NBC News correspondent in Chicago. In 1992 she was named anchor of NBC News at Sunrise. She later helped launch MSNBC and then became news anchor at "Today."
Before coming to NBC, Curry was a reporter for KCBS in Los Angeles. In 1981, she was a reporter and anchor for KGW, the NBC affiliate in Portland, Oregon. She began her broadcasting career as an intern in 1978 at KTVL, in Medford Oregon, near her hometown, rising to become that station's first female news reporter.
Curry has earned two Emmy's, four Golden Mikes, several Associated Press Certificates of Excellence, a Gracie, and an award for Excellence in Reporting from the NAACP. She has been awarded by Americares, the Anti-Defamation League as a Woman of Achievement, and the Asian American Journalists Association, receiving its National Journalism Award in 2003. She has also won numerous awards for her charity work, primarily for breast cancer research.