Breaking News: An Interview with Liz Cho
By Ji Hyun Lee - October 2004

ABC's Liz Cho.

ABC's Liz Cho gets the Vote as One of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful, but She Doesn't Even Blink an Eye--Not When there's Bombing Going on in Baghdad

At age 32, she has done it all. Liz Cho has reported on Clinton's impeachment trials, the Columbine massacre, the Alaskan airline crash, John F. Kennedy Jr's plane crash, and the Oklahoma tornado-- to name a few. Her reporting has even garnered her Emmy nods: One for an investigative piece on Florida's National Everglades, and the other for a profile on a death row inmate. But Cho's claim to fame really began during her former stint as anchor on ABC's overnight, World News Now, where her late night newscasts brought her the collective attention of lovelorn insomniacs everywhere: She was most recently voted the Sexiest Newscaster by the Daily News. In the stale world of television news, Cho's vibrant demeanor delivers the day's stories with just the right combination of warmth and intelligence.

Before arriving at ABC's six and eleven o'clock news desk, Cho worked on World News Tonight and Weekend and guest-anchored on Good Morning America opposite Diane Sawyer. Now she's in the regular line-up on Channel 7's Eyewitness News team and makes daily appearances on the evening newscasts. Her rapid-fire personality is quick to conjecture and she volunteers many of her responses before this reporter has even finished asking the questions.

On a particularly hectic day where another crisis was just unfolding in Iraq-- the UN headquarters in Baghdad had just been attacked-- Cho spoke about her transplant to New York, her childhood angst over her last name, and her meteoric rise to fame in this highly regarded profession of broadcast journalism.

Liz Cho: It's been such a nice opportunity for me to come back to a local news room and get back into local stories and be part of a community once again. It's very hard to do that when you're working for the network because you're always jumping in and jumping out of stories. You're traveling to stories that are not necessarily in your hometown so it's very difficult to immerse yourself and get to know the people in that community. And here, I'm finally able to lay down some roots and I'm very happy about that.

Ji Hyun Lee: I watch Channel 7 regularly and I remember the day when you started at the six o'clock desk.

LC: Oh do you? I was really nervous. I really wanted to just be myself but you can never really tell because you get those butterflies in your stomach. I was trying to be very loose and relaxed on the air.

JL: You were completely composed. I don't think anybody noticed your butterflies.

LC: (laughing): Oh good. That's nice to hear. It's amazing. That was seven weeks ago now that we've been live. Everyone here has just been absolutely fantastic-- so welcoming and just has made my transition go as good as it possibly could. What's amazing is that it's not only on-camera, it's off-camera too. Everyone just gets along. Bill Ritter and I have become such good friends so quickly-- Sam and Roz and Scotty-- it's just been fantastic.

JL: You're originally from Massachusetts and went to Boston University, so obviously you've been up there for a while. What was your impression of New York when you first got here?

LC: It was incredible. It took me a while to get used to the pace because there is nothing like New York City, on this planet. Every city has its own pace, own beat. When I was first working here, I was flipping the clock and working the overnight, and all of a sudden, I was moving into this great city and it really provided me with an opportunity to see a different side of New York. I was going to work at 10 o'clock at night and going home at seven in the morning. I really got to see an entirely different side to the city.

JL: And now you're seeing something completely different: Rush hour for example.

LC: (laughing): Exactly. And seeing the normal side too, which is nice.

JL: You're parents have to be proud of you for the progress you've thus far made in the business. Can you tell me a little bit about them? Your dad is a surgeon...

LC: He's a transplant surgeon, kidney and liver. My dad is originally from Korea, born and raised there. After he graduated medical school, he immigrated to New York where he did his residency-- that's where he met my mom. My mom was a nurse, originally born and raised in Brooklyn.

JL: No kidding. So she's a New Yorker then.

LC: Yes. And we still have family here.

JL: Your parents are from two very different cultures. Dad being Korean, and I understand your Mom to be Jewish. I wonder how that was like for you growing up.

LC: We were one of very few families that were racially mixed. My brother and I kind of stuck out. I never realized it so much so--I just went about my business thinking, 'You know what? I have my friends, I go to school and that's it.' But I remember as a kid, I hated my last name. Just hated Cho.

JL: You hated Cho?

LC: I couldn't wait until I got married so I could change it. I could not tolerate it. You know because kids would always say things like, dog chow, chow chow. But after I got to high school and college, I learned to appreciate and embrace the difference in the fact that it does stand out. You know you learn a lot from that but at the same time, it's who you are... I grew up in an all-white neighborhood and you just don't realize, you don't think of it, that you're different. Slowly sometimes things pop up here and there.

JL: For example you would buy barrettes and they wouldn't fit in your hair because your hair is not the same texture as the other girls.

LC: Exactly. I've always wanted to be blonde and blue-eyed.

JL: I read somewhere that early into your broadcasting career, someone asked you to change your last name because it sounded too Asian.

LC: They suggested that if I wanted to be on air, that I would probably benefit more if I changed my last name so that it would kind of fit in where people would sort of wonder, 'what is she?' I would fit into a whole bunch of different little blocks. 'Is she Israeli, Cuban--what is she?' So he was kind of saying to me maybe you could change it to make it more generic so you're not automatically labeled Asian. He didn't realize what he was saying. He was just saying it so that my career would prosper.

JL: I'm surprised though, considering that Connie Chung and Kaity Tong have been in the business for so many years. I'm glad to hear this story though because it makes me realize that this bit of ignorance is still an issue.

LC: It is still out there.

JL: From all the various reporting assignments you've done, is there any particular piece that was especially challenging for you?

LC: There are two stories that kind of stick out in my mind. One was obviously the Columbine massacre. On an emotional level it was so difficult to see so many families affected and the grief that had enveloped this Colorado community was just so overwhelming. I was out there for a week, and it was just surreal. I was there the afternoon it happened and you see the story change. It goes in stages of just shock and into just raw pain. It's so hard to watch people transform from one into the other. It's people you don't know and there's not much you can do other than try to lend a shoulder--it was just very difficult. Another story when I was out in Florida, I covered this story for the state child welfare system. There had been a number of children that had been left by them selves from abuse or just neglected severely. One day we went to the shelter where these kids were taken. I remember walking into the shelter and just all these kids, who had been abandoned or abused-- six kids just come running at me and the photographer I was with, and all they want is to hug you. It was so heartbreaking to see these kids, so innocent, and had been through a world of pain and all they're wanting to do is please you, and wanting to be loved back. And as much as the state welfare agency was trying to help them, it still wasn't enough.

JL: I think that's one of the great things about reporting. Sometimes you find yourself in situations where you would never in your ordinary life ever be in, and you learn so much.

LC: You hope to try to change something and you hope somehow, it helps someone along the way.

JL: Can you walk me through a typical day on the job?

LC: I'm usually up by seven, eight in the morning. In which case, I'll watch the remaining air of Good Morning America, of course. I'll read the paper and find out what's going on. I'm usually in the office by around one o'clock or two o'clock in the afternoon and at that point focus on the stories. We immediately go into an afternoon meeting to find out what the reporters are doing, and the angles of their stories, and what elements we're going to be including. And then just start working on the six o'clock newscast and writing and rewriting some of those stories.

JL: You were in the Daily News recently, voted the Sexiest Newscaster and Best Hair.

LC: (laughing): It was quite a shock. I was very flattered, and very surprised. I was blown away actually.

JL: I can't imagine that. So all this attention, how is it for you?

LC: It's complementary. It's also nice that they [Daily News] included, I think "sincere" and "intelligent" as opposed to just a face. So that to me meant more to me than the other stuff. But overall, I was completely shocked.

JL: You have the most famous hair in broadcast news. Who gets credit for that, Mom or Dad?

LC: (laughs): You know it's kind of a combination of the two--my hair is straight because of my dad but it's thick because of my mom. It's kind of a combination.

JL: That's a very good answer. Safe and good.

LC: : My mom actually has very red hair and so I have some of her highlights, which is nice.

JL: Do you feel any pressure to be a role model?

LC: Oh definitely. So many people helped me when I first started coming up through the ranks and were kind enough to spend time and give me advice so I want to do the same thing for others. I think it's very, very important for young people today to have a role model. When I grew up I played competitive sports, and my coach was my role model. To this day, I still remember some of the things she had told me. There was also this local anchor in Boston who I grew up watching. She was always the consummate professional, always did such a wonderful job so even though I've had the opportunity to work with great people, when I was deciding what I wanted to do, it always came back to this particular anchor.

JL: What was her name?

LC: Natalie Jacobson. She's still there actually. We've never actually met.

JL: You mentioned that you played competitive sports, which I understand to be figure skating. I wonder what made you turn away from that.

LC: (laughing): I wasn't good enough, to be honest with you. If I was able to reach the next level, I would have loved to. I was at a point where I was graduating high school and it was, 'Do I go to college or do I spend more time skating?' It was definitely obvious that I was not gonna make it to the next level in becoming the next Michelle Kwan.

JL: What's next for you?

LC: That's a good a question. For now, I think I'd like to just keep settling roots in New York City. I hope to be at ABC for a very long time. "