Bios - Panel 2: The Sunday Show Producers
Jon Banner, This Week, ABC News
Jon Banner was named executive producer of the ABC News Sunday morning program “This Week” in June 2002. Mr. Banner has held a number of senior editorial positions with the network, most recently serving as a senior producer of “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.” In that capacity, he was second-in-command to the executive producer, in addition to being responsible for overseeing White House and political coverage. From 1999-2000 he was the senior producer in charge of the “Good Morning America” news segments. Prior to that he was a senior producer with “World News Tonight Saturday and Sunday” from 1997-1999.
Mr. Banner was the producer in charge of the ABC News Dallas bureau from 1995-1999. During that time, he covered the Oklahoma City bombing, the federal investigation that followed, and the trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. He also covered the political campaigns of Steve Forbes and Sen. Bob Dole. While based in the Atlanta bureau from 1994-1995, Mr. Banner spent four months in Haiti covering the U.S. intervention there, for which he received a duPont award.
Mr. Banner spent four years in the Washington bureau of ABC News from 1989-1993. He was an operations producer for “This Week with David Brinkley” where he coordinated several road shows during the 1992 presidential campaign, as well as an associate producer for “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.” Mr. Banner began his career in 1989 as a desk assistant for “World News Tonight” in New York. Mr. Banner was a member of the ABC News team recognized with the 2001 Peabody Award for the network’s coverage of the events of September 11th. He is also the recipient of two Emmy Awards. A native of Hastings-on-Hudson NY, he is a graduate of Boston University. Mr. Banner is married to an ABC News producer. They have a 17-month-old daughter.
Betsy Fischer, Meet the Press, NBC News
Veteran journalist and producer Betsy Fischer has been executive producer of NBC’s number-one rated Sunday morning public affairs program, “Meet the Press with Tim Russert,” since July 2002.
Ms. Fischer’s senatorial debate series for the 2002 midterm elections was praised by critics and pundits alike for the most in-depth look at the shift in power from the Democrats to the Republicans in Congress.
Prior to being promoted to executive producer, Ms. Fischer was the senior producer of “Meet the Press” and the NBC News Political/Polling Unit. As senior producer, she served as Tim Russert’s producer for NBC News’ coverage of the 2000 presidential election, including the presidential primaries, party conventions, debates, election night coverage and the Bush inauguration. She also produced NBC’s “Decision 2000” highly acclaimed New York senatorial debate between former First Lady Hillary Clinton and Rep. Rick Lazio. Ms. Fischer came to “Meet the Press” in 1992, starting as a researcher. She also contributed to the production and political research for NBC News’ 1992, 1994 and 1996 election coverage. Her career at NBC News began with an internship at “Meet the Press” while in college.
A native of New Orleans, Ms. Fischer is a Cum Laude graduate of American University in Washington, D.C. She holds an M.A. degree in Broadcast Journalism and Public Affairs from American University. Ms. Fischer lives in Falls Church, Virginia with her husband Gene Raineri and daughter Ella Elizabeth.
Tammy Haddad, media consultant
Tammy Haddad is a veteran executive producer of network news and entertainment programs. Best known as the creator and longtime executive producer of “Larry King Live,” she brought Larry King to television in 1985. By the early nineties, the show became the most watched and most talked about talk show in the history of cable television. During the 1992 election, the show became the first stop for any presidential candidate trying to reach directly over the heads of the Washington press corps to talk to the citizenry.
Ms. Haddad left CNN in 1993 for NBC’s “Today” show. As senior broadcast producer, Ms. Haddad helped launch the new street-front studio at Rockefeller Center. With the hiring of Matt Lauer, the show moved to first place for the first time in five years. She then moved to David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants to launch the late night chat show, “The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder,” for the CBS network.
In addition to her extensive showrunner experience, she has a variety of start-up experiences including the Fox News Channel, “Larry King TNT Extra” for TNT, “The McLaughlin Group,” and the re-launch of the daytime show, “Maury Povich.” For the past three years, she has served as a consultant to People magazine for television development as well as magazine story development. She serves as a media consultant to the non-profit organization, The Vaccine Fund.
Ms. Haddad’s on-air career includes hosting “The First Producer’s Club,” a weekly look inside the television industry, on the America’s Voice cable channel as well as a replacement host on the network radio show, “The Beltway Broads.” Ms. Haddad started her career in Pittsburgh at KDKA Radio. She moved to Washington to produce the late night radio show, “The Larry King Show.” Ms. Haddad is the recipient of numerous awards including two John Foster Peabody awards, and five Cable Ace awards. She lives in Washington with her husband, Ted Greenberg, special counsel for International Money-Laundering at the U.S. Department of Justice and her children, Rachel and David.
Suzanne L. Nelson, Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, CNN
Suzanne Nelson is the senior producer for “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” on CNN. For the past 3 years, she has worked as a floating senior producer on all CNN public affairs programs including “Late Edition,” “Crossfire,” “Novak, Hunt & Shields,” “Capital Gang,” and “Saturday Edition.” Nelson has worked at the Washington, D.C. bureau of CNN for 6 years. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in journalism from University of Maryland at College Park.
Carin Pratt, Face the Nation, CBS News
Carin Pratt has been executive producer of Face The Nation with Bob Schieffer, the CBS News Sunday public affairs broadcast, since December 1993. She had served as a senior producer of the program since 1987, having joined the broadcast as an assistant producer in February 1984. Pratt has also been a CBS Special Events Producer, covering elections, inaugurations, and other major news events. She joined CBS News from The Washington Post, where she was an editor. Prior to that, she had been a researcher in Washington and an assistant to the Texas bureau chief in Austin (1981-83). She also has worked at the Texas Railroad Commission (1979-80) and for the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University (1977-79). Pratt was born August 22, 1956, in Marshfield, Massachusetts. She graduated from Harvard University in 1978.
Vaughn Ververs, The Hotline
Vaughn Ververs is the editor of The Hotline, Washington’s premier daily online source on American politics. In his eight-plus years of covering politics in both print and television, Mr. Ververs has become one of Washington’s leading experts on campaigns and the media.
In addition to managing the daily publication of The Hotline, Mr. Ververs also displays his expertise and knowledge of broadcast media in a weekly column called “Talking Heads,” in which he explores and explains how TV covers Washington. And Mr. Ververs creates and oversees The Hotline’s growing use of video products on the Internet, including the popular feature “Play of the Day.” This year, Mr. Ververs designed The Hotline’s state-of-the-art, in-house television studio used to produce The Hotline’s unique webcasts.
From 1997 through 1998, Mr. Ververs was an associate producer for the Sunday public affairs show, “FOX News Sunday,” and for the FOX News Channel where he produced political segments and assisted in research for the Washington bureau. From 1995 through 1997, Mr. Ververs worked as an associate producer for the CBS News Election and Survey unit where he assisted in the CBS News coverage of the 1996 presidential campaign and the network’s Election Night broadcast.
A native of Colorado, Mr. Ververs studied history at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He now resides in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Lisa and their two children.
_____________________________________________
Copyright © 2003 U.Va. Center for Politics. All rights reserved.
