Martha Raddatz

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Martha Raddatz
Martha Raddatz.png
Martha sits down for an interview with Vice Adm. John W. Miller, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet, Combined Maritime Forces.
Born (1953-02-14) February 14, 1953 (age 71)
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Residence Arlington, Virginia
Occupation ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent
Years active 1999-present
Home town Salt Lake City[1][2]
Spouse(s) Ben Bradlee, Jr.
Julius Genachowski (div. 1997)
Tom Gjelten (m. 1997)

Martha Raddatz (/ˈrædts/; born February 14, 1953) is an American reporter with ABC News. She is the network's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent. She reports 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. The Guardian said Raddatz "is known for having well-cultivated sources inside the defense department."[3] Martha is the primary fill-in anchor on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

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.[4][5]

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?"[6] video 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.[7]

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 war in Sadr City, Iraq.

After the national security beat, Raddatz become the network's chief White House correspondent for the last term of George W. Bush administration.[4] 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.[8]

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.[9] The debate was later parodied on Saturday Night Live where Raddatz was played by Kate McKinnon.

Personal life

Raddatz was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho.[10] She resides in Arlington, Virginia, with her third husband, journalist Tom Gjelten. She has two children from two previous marriages: a daughter, Greta Bradlee,[11] and a son, Jake Genachowski.[12] Her first husband was Ben Bradlee Jr., a Pulitzer prize-winning editor for The Boston Globe,[13] biographer, and son of former Washington Post executive editor Benjamin C. Bradlee.[14] Her second husband was Julius Genachowski, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission under the Obama Administration.[15]

References

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  2. "Profile: Martha Raddatz", NNDB
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  11. http://www.nndb.com/people/499/000109172/
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  15. "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved July 7, 2009

External links

Media offices
Preceded by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent
November 2005 – January 2009
Succeeded by
Jake Tapper