Connie Chung has been bringing you the headlines since the late 1960s. As the first Asian American to anchor any news program in the US and the first woman to coanchor the CBS Evening News, she has made an indelible mark on broadcast journalism—and even inspired a younger generation of Connies.
Now she reflects on her life with her memoir, Connie (Grand Central Publishing, September), which traces her family’s immigration to the US, the stories she broke, and the legacy she hopes to leave behind. American Libraries talked with Chung after her appearance at the American Library Association’s 2024 Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego about her forthcoming book, the state of journalism, and her childhood library.
Your memoir, Connie, dives right into the sexism and racism of the white male–dominated world of broadcast news, showing the many ways in which women were pitted against each other or assigned to less serious stories. Do you think the industry has improved for women?
Television news has improved in terms of racism and sexism, but we haven’t reached any level of parity, truly. I see minorities relegated to the weekend news, and the C-suite is still pretty much dominated by men. Not completely—and I’m very proud and happy to see women in those executive positions—but we do have a ways to go, [especially at] corporations, the White House, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the State Department. Women run the country, so why isn’t a woman running the country?
Your book describes many career-making headlines, from George McGovern’s presidential campaign to Watergate to the Oklahoma City bombing. Is there a story or beat that stands out to you?
My favorite beat was covering Vice President Nelson Rockefeller [in the 1970s]. Prior to that, I had to be the second or third banana. When I covered Rockefeller, he was all mine, which I relished, because I knew everything about him, what he had said, what he hadn’t said.
There were some outrageous moments during his vice presidency—one time he gave a crowd the finger, and I thought I was going to have a coronary—but he was my favorite because he understood the relationship between the press and a politician. He did not hold it against me that I asked pointed questions, because he always knew that he could come back with an aggressive answer. He respected the fourth estate.
What role have libraries played in your life?
My father worked in the diplomatic service in China, so when he came to the United States, he had to find a new profession. Libraries were critical to me throughout my childhood because we didn’t have a lot of money.
My sister and I never had wheels to go to the library, so the two of us would beg anyone who came to see my parents to take us. I really believe that getting a library card was better than getting a driver’s license. When we became old enough, my sister and I would walk there—it was the Petworth Neighborhood Library [a branch of DC Public Library]—and that’s where I was able to read Little Women. I was crazy about Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins. Without libraries, my sister and I would not have been able to do our homework.
What do you make of this wave of book bans that is currently sweeping the nation? Having covered different cultural movements in our country’s history, do you think this moment will pass?
I’m horrified with the banning of books. My husband [TV host Maury Povich] started a newspaper in Montana, where we have had a home for more than 25 years. And that newspaper, [the Flathead Beacon, based in Kalispell], told of the anguish that the community was going through, particularly for the librarians and those who worked at the library. I shudder to think that this surreptitious effort will succeed in any way.
Libraries should not be attacked the way they have been. Books should not be burned. It’s just a terrible trend that must reverse.
