Printable Biography of Jane Pauley

Jane Pauley has been one of the most respected figures in American broadcast journalism for more than thirty years with a television career that spanned morning, daytime and primetime.

In 1972, Pauley began her journalism career as a 'temporary, probationary employee for 90 days' at WISH TV in Indianapolis, her hometown, but within three years became the first woman to anchor a weekday evening newscast in Chicago at NBC's WMAQ-TV. Only one year later, Pauley vaulted to the top of network news as co-host of NBC's 'Today" at the age of 25.

For the next thirteen years she interviewed thousands of newsmakers from every walk of life and locations all over the world - from the Vatican to the Great Wall of China. First teamed with Tom Brokaw and later with Bryant Gumbel, Pauley was on the scene of a dozen presidential nominating conventions. She covered both the royal wedding and the funeral of Princess Diana.

Pauley also anchored the Weekend Edition of NBC News, appeared as a regular substitute for Tom Brokaw on Nightly News, hosted 'Time and Again'- a retrospective news program on MSNBC, and a weekly newsmagazine, 'Real Life with Jane Pauley.' For more than a decade Pauley anchored DATELINE NBC with co-host Stone Phillips, appearing as many as four nights a week on the NBC primetime schedule. Pauley's DATELINE farewell, 'Jane Pauley: Signing Off,' attracted record ratings. In 2004 she returned to television with 'The Jane Pauley Show.'

A member of the Broadcast and Cable Hall of Fame, Pauley has been honored with multiple Emmy Awards, the Edward R Murrow Award for outstanding achievement, the Radio and Television News Directors Association's Paul White Award for lifetime contribution to electronic journalism, the Gracie Allen Award for outstanding achievement by an individual from American Women in Radio and Television, and the first international Matrix Award from the Association for Women in Communication.

Pauley is a former trustee of the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation, and a Fellow of the Society for Professional Journalists under whose auspices she funded the Pauley Task Force on Mass Communication Education, a comprehensive assessment of college journalism curriculums.

Pauley is a former member of the advisory board of Pencil, an organization which fosters civic involvement in public education. She is also a member of the advisory board of the International Council of Freedom from Hunger, and chairman of the advisory board of The Children's Health Fund.

Pauley is recognized as a powerful advocate in the field of mental health. In her memoir, the New York Times bestseller 'Skywriting: A Life out of the Blue,' Pauley wrote candidly about being diagnosed with mental illness at the age of 50 after medical treatment for hives triggered a previously unrecognized vulnerability to bipolar depression. Pauley is a member of the Leadership Board of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT.

A graduate of Indiana University, Pauley is married to Doonesbury cartoonist, Garry Trudeau. They have three children and reside in New York City.