Former TV news anchor Connie Chung makes a number of startling claims in her memoir, including the alleged contemptuous treatment she received from her colleague Dan Rather when the two worked together in the 1990s.
Chung was only the second woman after Barbara Walters and the first Asian American to be a network anchor when she began co-anchoring”CBS Evening Newswith Rather in 1993 as an attempt to help the show’s declining ratings.
“This was not only a personal milestone, but also a milestone for women and minorities, as I would be the first of both groups to co-anchor CBS News’ flagship broadcast,” Chung writes in “Connie.” “I felt incredibly lucky to be the one riding at the top.”
Although her tenure broke some glass ceilings and she even called it her “dream job,” Chung claimed her position did not protect her from sexist comments from colleagues.
CONNIE CHUNG CLAIMS SHE WAS SEXUALLY CHARGED ‘EVERY DAY’
Veteran journalist Connie Chung’s new memoir, ‘Connie’. (Fox News Digital/Cortney O’Brien)
“Although Liever welcomed Chung publicly, he privately put her in her place and told her, ‘Now you’re going to have to read the newspaper.'” The Boston Sphere reported on Chung’s new book, “Connie.”
“I had a hard time swallowing,” she wrote about the incident. “Was this his idea of how to start a partnership? I was forty-seven and had spent half my life in the news business – did he think I’d read the comics? We were just out of the gate in what I hoped would happen. ” It will take a long time. My answer: silence.”
Chung also wrote that Liever told her, “I’ll discuss the stories out there in the field, and you read the teleprompter.” Her co-host, she added, was “tightly wound and had no sense of humor” and had “an inherent bias against women.”
She went further, claiming Liever tried to undermine her and questioned her journalistic abilities among their colleagues.
DISGRACED CBS NEWS ANCHOR THEN RETURNS TO NETWORK AFTER 18 YEARS FOR INTERVIEW
Journalist Dan Liever attends The Independent Filmmaker Project’s 25th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Rather, he would later step down from his role as CBS evening news anchor in 2005, eventually leaving the network the following year after reporting a discredited story about then-President George W. Bush’s Vietnam-era service in the National Guard . On the contrary, who at the age of 92 is still a strong left-wing presence on social media, was interviewed by CBS earlier this year about his time at the network and his career in journalism.
Chung had additional revelations about the behavior of male TV news anchors, including Bryant Gumbel.
“In her book, Chung writes about how so many men in TV news, especially the anchors, suffer from a disease she calls ‘big shot-itis,’” the Globe reported. “For example, Bryant Gumbel had it in his NBC contract that ‘Today Show’ co-host Jane Pauley could never say ‘Good morning’ first nor say ‘Have a good day’ at the end of the show. “
Chung described her dismissal from CBS in 2005 as “devastating,” but she never wanted any sympathy.
“That wasn’t my attitude when I was working,” she said. “I never ran to the ladies room to cry because I always believed there was no crying in baseball.”
Previously denied having anything to do with her departure and reportedly told The Washington Post at the time, “no one heard a critical comment from me about Connie” and her removal “came as a surprise to us.”
New York, NY – 1998: (L-R) Charles Gibson, Sam Donaldson, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Hugh Downs, Connie Chung promotional photo for the ABC TV series “20/20.” (Photo by Michael O’Neill/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has contacted Chung, Rather and Gumbel for further comment.
Chung would later join ABC News as co-anchor and correspondent of the popular show “20/20” alongside Walters and Diane Sawyer.
Now she says several women have thanked her for breaking some glass ceilings and some Asian American parents even named their daughters Connie after her.
Chung scored some major interviews during her career, including with NBA star Magic Johnson after his HIV-positive diagnosis in 1991.
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Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood and Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
