Katie Couric went through several reporting positions before becoming the renowned anchor that she is today. Her first job was at the ABC News Bureau and later at CNN where she worked as an assignment editor. In her early years as a reporter, she already earned an Associated Press and an Emmy. In 1989, she was hired by NBC News as Deputy Pentagon Correspondent as well as an anchor substitute. She initially joined Today as a national political correspondent and substitute co-host for Deborah Norville, but Norville did not return, and Couric became permanent co-anchor for 15 years.
Couric has worked for all big three television networks—NBC News (1989-2006), CBS News (2006-2011), and ABC News (2011-2014). She also hosted her own daytime talk show, Katie. Throughout her career, Couric has won several television reporting awards including the Peabody Award, and in 2004, she was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
Gio Benitez – $750k
Gio Benitez was already in the news industry when he worked as an assistant at CBS4, WFOR Television when he was 17. He started his tenure with ABC in 2013 and has appeared as a correspondent on several news programs including World News Tonight, Good Morning America, 20/20, and Nightline. He also hosts the Fusion channel’s version of Nightline. Benitez may be new in the broadcasting industry, but he has already been nominated for 8 Emmy awards and won two of them.
Born to Cuban parents, Benitez is fluent in both English and Spanish. He earned his degree in Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology from Florida International University in 2008.
George Stephanopoulos – $10m
This illustrious anchor did not start out as a journalist, and as a young man, his father wanted George Stephanopoulos to be a lawyer or a priest. He earned a degree in Political Science and graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University in New York. During this time, he was a sports broadcaster for the university’s radio station. He also received a Masters of Arts in Theology at Balliol College at the University of Oxford in England.
After working for a few politicians, Stephanopoulos became known as the Communications Direction for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. He later became the White House Communications Director and then the senior advisor for policy and strategy. He resigned after Clinton was re-elected in 1996 and begun his career in journalism. He is now the chief anchor and the chief political correspondent for ABC News as well as the co-anchor of Good Morning America. He is also the host of ABC’s Sunday morning This Week.
Robin Roberts – $14 Million
Robin Roberts graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University as a cum laude with a degree in communication. Right after her graduation in 1983, she worked at a small station as a sports anchor and reporter, first in Mississippi and later in Tennessee. She also worked as a radio host for a radio station in Atlanta. While working her way to bigger markets, she got hired by ESPN in 1990 as a sportscaster and remained with them for 15 years.
In 1995, she moved to ABC News and was hired as a featured reporter for Good Morning America where she still currently works. Roberts was presented with the Mel Greenberg Media Award in 2001 and a 2012 Peabody Award for her coverage on her treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome.
Josh Elliott – $4m
Josh Elliott’s first major onscreen television work was with ESPN in 2004 as a panelist for Around the Horn and Jim Rome Is Burning. He was also a guest co-host on Cold Pizza on ESPN2. He quickly went up the ranks and became a co-anchor on ESPNNews and reporter for SportsCenter. In 2011, he joined ABC’s Good Morning America and was a substitute anchor on the weekend edition of ABC World News. He then moved to NBC for about a year where he was mainly relegated to NBC Sports programming.
Elliott was hired by CBS in 2016 to be the lead anchor for its digital news service CBSN. However, in an on-air announcement in 2017, he said that he would be leaving his position because he would be placed in a larger role. Network executives were surprised about the announcement and the supposed plans and got him fired. After the incident, Elliott was seen on National Geographic Channel as a co-host of Yellowstone Live with wildlife expert Chris Packham.