Deborah Roberts
{{short description|American television journalist (born 1960)}}
{{About|the American television journalist|the American artist|Deborah Roberts (visual artist)|the British singer|Deborah Roberts (soprano)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Deborah Roberts
| image = Deborah Roberts (51912695624) (cropped).jpg
| caption = Roberts in March 2022
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|9|20}}
| birth_place = Perry, Georgia, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = University of Georgia (BA)
| occupation = Journalist
| spouse = Al Roker (m. 1995)
| years_active = 1982–present
| domestic_partner =
| children = 2
| credits = 20/20 co-anchor
Dateline NBC correspondent
Lifetime Live host
| website = [https://abcnews.go.com/News/deborah-roberts-abc-news-official-biography/story?id=126352 Deborah Roberts ABC News profile]
}}
Deborah Ann Roberts (born September 20, 1960) is an American television journalist for the ABC News division of the ABC broadcast television network.{{cite journal|last=Simmons |first=Kelly |date=December 2006 |volume=86 |issue=1 |url=http://www.uga.edu/gm/artman/publish/0612roberts.html |title=Alumni Profile: 20/20 Vision — ABC Correspondent Deborah Roberts (ABJ '82) Is at the Top of Her Game in Network News |journal=Georgia |publisher=University of Georgia |access-date=December 20, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606060729/http://www.uga.edu/gm/artman/publish/0612roberts.html |archive-date=June 6, 2011 |df=mdy }}
Early life and education
Roberts was born in Perry, Georgia to Benjamin Roberts, a business owner, and Ruth Roberts, a housewife. She graduated from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 1982. In 1992, Roberts was awarded the University of Georgia Distinguished Alumnus Award for her rapid success as a journalist.{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/2020/abc-news-correspondent-deborah-roberts/story?id=123929|title=Deborah Roberts: ABC News Correspondent|date=October 14, 2016|website=ABC News|access-date=March 24, 2017}}
Career
In 1982, Roberts began her career at WTVM, a local television station in Columbus, Georgia, and then she moved on to work at WBIR, a local television station in Knoxville, Tennessee.{{cite news|last1=Leonard|first1=Chuck|title=WTVM 60th Anniversary: A familiar face on ABC News 20/20|url=http://www.wtvm.com/story/23661174/wtvm-60th-anniversary-a-familiar-face-on-abc-news-2020|access-date=May 18, 2016|publisher=WTVM|date=October 10, 2013}}{{cite news|title=Deborah Roberts|url=https://abcnews.go.com/News/deborah-roberts-abc-news-official-biography/story?id=126352|access-date=May 18, 2016|work=ABC News|date=April 9, 2012}}
From 1987 to 1990, she was bureau chief/NASA field reporter/weekend news co-anchor at WFTV, a local television station in Orlando, Florida. In 1990, she joined NBC News as a general-assignment reporter and later was a correspondent for Dateline NBC, an NBC News newsmagazine program.
Roberts moved to ABC News in 1995 as a correspondent for 20/20, a newsmagazine program, as well as an anchor for World News Tonight Weekend, the weekend evening news program, and for Good Morning America, the morning news program. In July and September 2006, she was a guest host on The View, a talk show produced by ABC Daytime, a division of ABC.{{cite news|title=Bio: Deborah Roberts|url=https://www.bet.com/article/e7dkrc/bio-deborah-roberts|access-date=May 18, 2016|publisher=BET|date=October 6, 2010}}
Roberts has won an Emmy Award and a Clarion Award for her reporting.{{cite web |title=Deborah Roberts |url=https://abcnews.go.com/News/deborah-roberts-abc-news-official-biography/story?id=126352 |website=abcnews.go.com |publisher=ABC NEWS |access-date=5 June 2019}}
Roberts has contributed to other of the network's platforms, including Good Morning America, Primetime, Nightline, and The Katie Couric Show.
Roberts hosts Lifetime Live on Lifetime Television, a cable and satellite television channel.{{cite news|last1=Oxman|first1=Steven|title=Review: 'Lifetime Live'|url=https://variety.com/2000/tv/reviews/lifetime-live-1200461287/|access-date=May 18, 2016|work=Variety|date=March 8, 2000}}
In 2016, the non-fiction book, Been There, Done That: Family Wisdom for Modern Times, written by Roberts and husband Al Roker, was published.{{cite web|work=USA Today|title=Al Roker, Deborah Roberts write about their marriage|last=McClurg|first=Jocelyn|date=January 5, 2016|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2016/01/05/al-roker-deborah-roberts-book-been-there-done-that/78276688/}}
In 2021, Roberts received a Peabody Award for the 20/20 special report, "Say Her Name: Breonna Taylor."{{Cite web |date=2023-09-26 |title=Deborah Roberts to co-anchor '20/20′ |url=https://news.yahoo.com/deborah-roberts-co-anchor-20-214816842.html |access-date=2024-03-18 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US}}
Personal life
Roberts resides in Manhattan with her husband Al Roker, whom she married in September 1995;{{cite news|title=Al Roker and Deborah Roberts|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/17/style/al-roker-and-deborah-roberts.html|access-date=May 18, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=September 17, 1995}} they have a daughter and a son. Roberts has a stepdaughter from her husband's prior marriage.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|731008}}
- Staff writer (April 25, 2007). [https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=126352 "Deborah Roberts — ABC News Correspondent"]. ABC News. Accessed December 20, 2009.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Deborah}}
Category:African-American journalists
Category:African-American television personalities
Category:African-American women journalists
Category:American television reporters and correspondents
Category:Mass media people from Manhattan
Category:People from Perry, Georgia
Category:Television anchors from Orlando, Florida
Category:University of Georgia alumni
Category:American women television journalists
Category:21st-century African-American people
Category:21st-century African-American women