Book Review: Connie

           

Connie: A Memoir by Connie Chung is an interesting and inspirational read about the first woman to break into the overwhelmingly white, male-dominated television news industry.

In China, Connie’s mother was twelve and her father fourteen when they were engaged. They didn’t know one another and in fact, didn’t meet until five years later on their wedding day. The family eventually moved to Washington D.C. where her father worked at the Chinese Embassy. Connie, their tenth child, was born in America in 1946, the only child in the family born in the United States.

In her early school years, Connie was a quiet, shy girl. In college she morphed from shy and quiet to fearless, ambitious, even driven. At the time, most working women’s occupations were as teachers, nurses, or secretaries. If they did work in media, it was behind the scenes, or in fashion or culinary arts. Connie insisted on working with real news, but had to fight the attitude or belief that there are certain things a woman cannot do or understand. Connie proved that to be untrue. She quickly became a household name when she co-anchored the CBS Evening News. In the following years she also worked at ABC and CNN. right up there with Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and Peter Jennings. In all her various roles as journalist she worked hard, earned respect, but also at times received harsh criticism, mostly, it seems, criticism that would not have occurred had she been a man.

Connie conducted many interesting interviews, traveled extensively, and was tenacious in pursuit of stories, always demanding excellence of herself. She learned to eat a big breakfast, knowing that it might be the only meal she’d have that day. She talked to some big names, political personalities, and covered scandals such as Watergate.

Connie, a ground-breaker in many respects, has fought to be seriously judged on her work as a journalist, not as a woman. She was often given assignments that a male reporter would not be asked to do, jobs that irked her, but that she fulfilled to the best of her ability. Connie fought the “good ole boy” syndrome—men often flirted, even made inappropriate remarks—things they would never do to a man reporter.

In 1984 Connie married a Caucasian, Maury Povich, a popular talk-show host, and later they adopted a baby boy, Matthew.

Connie, A Memoir is well written, witty, and touching. She often ends a chapter with air-time comments such as, “More to come,” or “Don’t go away,” or “That’s next.” I enjoyed this memoir. The book is witty, personable, and loaded with plenty of sharp insights into the world of TV News.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *