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She joined ABC News in February 1994 as the network's legal correspondent. Two years later, she was named a correspondent for "PrimeTime Live" and last year was named a co-anchor of "Primetime." Ms. McFadden will continue to co-anchor and report for the program.
Most recently on "Primetime," McFadden reported and anchored two hours on the lives of children in America. The first was a ground-breaking documentary ("Family Lost, Family Found" June, 2005) following three children being raised by their grandmothers in Newark, New Jersey. The documentary was shot over a four year period and provided intimate portraits of these children and their grandmothers' lives.
The second hour ("The War Over Kids "July, 2005) was the first time network cameras were allowed inside family court for an extended look at the children whose lives are forever changed by what happens there. In Louisville, Kentucky two children were followed over nine months as their parents, social workers and judges struggled with where the children should live.
McFadden occasionally substituted for Ted Koppel at "Nightline" and has also reported for that broadcast prior to assuming co-anchor duties. In July, 2005 in the wake of the London bombings, McFadden went to Pakistan for an exclusive interview with President Pervez Musharraf. The "Nightline" report also provided rare access to the Pakistan's Security Counsel.
In October, 2005 McFadden provided two exclusive reports for "Nightline" on the U.S. government's attempts to secure loose nuclear materials and weapons both domestically and abroad.
In her role as ABC News' senior legal correspondent, McFadden covered a wide range of stories from the Justice Department and the Supreme Court. She also reported on legal cases from O.J. Simpson to Martha Stewart, Kobe Bryant, Elizabeth Smart, Laci Peterson and Michael Jackson breaking numerous stories on this beat.
In 2004, McFadden served as the legal editor and narrator of the ground-breaking ABC News documentary series "In the Jury Room," which chronicled six homicide trials from a unique, "fly-on-the-wall" perspective. The series made television history by becoming the first program to show jury deliberations in a death penalty case. McFadden was also the narrator of the precursor to "In the Jury Room," the 2002 documentary series "State v."
Also in 2004, she co-anchored and reported (with Robin Roberts) an hour long documentary on school integration 50 years after Brown v. School Board. The program has won several awards including the first place documentary from the N.Y. Association of Black Journalists.
As part of ABC's 9/11 reporting team she received a 2001-2002 Dupont Award. For ABC's Millennium coverage —- she reported from Cuba and was part of the team which was awarded the 1999-2000 Emmy.
McFadden's other "Primetime" reports have included an exclusive interview with Osama bin Laden's pilot; a ground-breaking report on gays in the military; an in-depth analysis of physicians serving as HMO providers despite having been disciplined for wrong-doing; an exclusive investigation and interview with the man who claims to be the sole attacker in the Central Park Jogger rape case; and an explosive hour-long investigation into a Massachusetts facility that routinely and voluntarily released violent sexual predators who preyed on children after getting out.
McFadden led the first investigation by a major news organization into one of America's darkest secrets: the forced sterilization of 60,000 to 100,000 American citizens; provided two award-winning, exclusive reports on the trafficking of women into sexual slavery — one in Israel and the other in India where children are sold; provided a disturbing look at the horrifying conditions inside two Mexican government institutions for the mentally ill and retarded (which led to a nation-wide over-haul of the system); she tracked five accused murderers to their hiding places in El Salvador where she interviewed two of them and investigated the use of female contraceptives to treat convicted rapists.
In addition to many important newsmakers, McFadden has interviewed such celebrities as Madonna, Cher, George Clooney, Tony Bennett and Alicia Keys.
Her 1996 one-hour special "Judgment at Midnight" was the first time cameras were ever allowed on any death row cell block to document the final weeks of one inmate's life. The broadcast was accorded tremendous critical acclaim and numerous awards.
In January of 1999, McFadden anchored the award winning ABC News special, "Target America: The Terrorist War," in which she reported on the African Embassy bombings.
Previously, McFadden had been an anchor and senior producer at the Courtroom Television Network, beginning with the network's inception in 1991 where she anchored live coverage of more than 200 trials, among them the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, the Menendez brothers' murder trial and the Rodney King trial.
From 1984 to 1991, McFadden was the executive producer of Fred Friendly's Media and Society seminars based at ColumbiaUniversity. More than 30 of her programs were broadcast on PBS, including series on ethics, the military, terrorism and the Presidency.
McFadden's other awards include: the George Foster Peabody Award, an Oversees Press Club Award, six Cine Golden Eagles, the Ohio State Award, two Silver Gavels from the American Bar Association, the Grand Award of the New York Festival, and the Blue Ribbon of the American Film Festival. While at Court TV, she was twice nominated for the CableACE's Anchor of the Year.
A native of Maine, McFadden graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Bowdoin College. She received her law degree from Columbia University.
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