BREAKING NEWS: MSNBC Investigates With Rita Cosby

By Sally Gilhooley

"I tell everybody my life is a great train ride, I hope you can hop on. I feel very lucky and, even though I work crazy hours, I feel I have a wonderful personal life and get to do a lot of fun things. I take advantage of every hour of the day. I am one of those folks who can pack a lot in," said Rita Cosby, the husky-voiced Emmy award winning anchor and special correspondent for MSNBC.

The indefatigable Rita Cosby, who has for the past year hosted Rita Cosby: Live and Direct, a one-hour live primetime show, is now host of a new program, MSNBC Investigates with Rita Cosby. It is replacing Live and Direct, with an expanded two-hour format at 10 and 11 pm, Monday through Friday.

In an interview with Networking¨ magazine, Cosby said, "I'm really thrilled because my favorite kind of format has always been when we could spend an hour on a really great story and now we have that wonderful long form unit.

"Now we'll be doing more detailed and a wider variety of stories. Also, we'll be doing some Rita Cosby Specials. Plus, whenever breaking news comes in we can blow out the taped show and air a live show. The longer time frame really showcases the three things I love to do which are sinking my teeth into a topic, big interviews and breaking news stories."

Long known in the news business as one who is consistently successful at reaching and interviewing "unreachable" newsmakers, Cosby made her own headlines her first day at MSNBC (June 13, 2005) when she got a world exclusive interview with Jermaine and Tito Jackson as the Michael Jackson verdict broke. The next day, she interviewed Santa Barbara County DA Tom Sneddon, prosecutor, and the following week scored an exclusive interview with Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine.

Her recent interviews have included such diverse personalities as outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox in a lively discussion focused on the heated border issues, Dr. Jack Kevorkian and actor Warren Beatty.

In her signature punchy style, Cosby asks the tough questions targeting the hot topics of the day and digging down past the headlines to get the bigger picture. For instance, on a recent program about the Duke lacrosse team rape scandal when suspect Dave Evans said his polygraph proved his innocence, she brought in polygraph expert James Skeeter, asking him if it was possible to beat a polygraph. His answer? Yes.

She was granted a rare, private meeting with Pope John Paul after receiving an exclusive letter from Timothy McVeigh explaining why he carried out the Oklahoma City bombing. The letter, now a historical document, is in a museum in Washington. McVeigh had been getting thousands of letters a month requesting interviews so Cosby asked his jailer why he picked her to talk to. McVeigh said it was her sheer persistence.

Commenting, Cosby said, "I think a lot of it is tenacity and being nice. I'm persistent but also respectful. I think people know that I will be tough if the situation warrants it but also fair and treat them with respect but will also hold them to the fire to answer the questions."

Before joining MSNBC, Cosby hosted Fox News Channel's highly rated weekend programs, The Big Story Weekend Edition with Rita Cosby and FOX News Live with Rita Cosby. As a senior correspondent, she secured the most sought after interviews while covering U.S. and global breaking news. She joined Fox at its inception from WBTV, the CBS affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. While there she broke numerous stories including that of Susan Smith who drowned her two young sons and the tragedy of the murder of NBA superstar Michael Jordan's father.

Throughout her career, Cosby has gotten exclusive interviews with numerous world leaders, including former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. She secured historic back-to-back interviews with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and conducted an exclusive interview with Arafat when his compound was being shelled by the Israelis in April, 2002.

Cosby said, "I love controversial figures and I like to interview people who are at a turning point. The interviews I enjoy the most are those that are difficult, with people who are hard to get to and difficult to get information out of. I thrive on that challenge. To me, that's exciting. It's rewarding and can make a difference."

Her natural curiosity, courage and "nose for news" led her to become the first journalist on many a scene of breaking news. She was the first to see the suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo in Cuba and witness an actual interrogation. She was also first to interview former POW Thomas Hamill whose escape from his Iraqi captors made international headlines. Years earlier, while broadcasting live from Belgrade, she was the first to report that three American POWs were going to be released.

She has gotten exclusive interviews with U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford and many foreign leaders including King Abdullah of Jordan, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

Cosby's interviews with boxer Mike Tyson, singer Michael Jackson and serial killer, David Berkowitz, "The Son of Sam" convicted in 1978 who wrote to her during the October, 2002 D.C. sniper shootings, made headlines around the country. As the sniper story unfolded, Cosby secured another major first by being the initial journalist to report the names and license plate numbers of the sniper suspects. In a brave move, she worked throughout the night as they were arrested, breaking numerous details about the case and suspects' backgrounds.

Of the experience she said, "That's the reality of the cable news world. You're working constantly 24-7. But, I feel like I have the best job in the business because we do such a great variety. We're calling people up until and into air-time to get the latest."

"We'll come up with ideas in the morning and usually it changes completely fluidly during the day. Recently, we planned a show about political issues and then the East Coast flooding occurred and the next thing I knew I was packing my hip waders and heading for Pennsylvania. I ended up doing a special there standing in a couple feet of water. So, I started the day wearing an elegant suit and turned around and put on hip waders all within a half-hour.

"Once, when I was living in Washington, I thought I was going to Israel where there had been a bombing so I went down to the lobby of my building where my doorman saw me in sort of war zone attire. There, I got a call that I would be doing an interview at the Pentagon so I went back upstairs and changed into a silk suit and came down and got another call telling me I would be covering a hurricane. So, my doorman thought I was like a Barbie coming down in three different outfits but that sort of shows my life."

During both the 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns Cosby was a lead reporter. She broke the news that President Clinton was going to be subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury during the Monica Lewinsky investigation. She surprised the President and fellow reporters when, during a live White House press conference, she told President Clinton he would be subpoenaed to testify in the Whitewater trial. She also scored the only interview with the Montana Freeman during their 1996 standoff with the FBI.

A seasoned traveler, she has reported live from some of the most dangerous places in the world including Kosovo when the peace deal was forged. She has interviewed prisoners in a Tijuana penitentiary and on San Quentin's death row. She covered the LA riots, visited the Aryan nation compound and interviewed leaders of the KKK and the Nation of Islam.

If, today, she could talk to anyone in the world, who would be her dream interview? Cosby says, "That's easy. I would pick Bin Laden. I was actually working on Bin Laden years ago and his people basically said he doesn't talk to women."

Cosby has great admiration for the work of her colleagues. She said, "I admire Mike Wallace who is close to ninety years old and still out there asking the tough questions. I love his tenacity and his excitement for getting the story. He's got that great fire in his belly and his thirst for stories still."

She added, "I also love Tom Brokaw. He's been doing some wonderful long formats for NBC. And, of course, as a woman, I'm a big supporter of those who have come before me like Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer.

"Those folks have sort of paved the way for a younger generation of journalists. I love to see them get those big interviews because I know what it takes. To this day I might be in my office at midnight or I'll call someone at one or two in the morning and the person will tell me, 'Oh, Barbara Walters just called me.' To me it shows there is no shortcut to success in TV - it's hard work."

Her advice to those planning careers in journalism? "Get your sleep now because you won't get any in the business. Be prepared for long hours and standing out in hurricanes but also doing a job that is probably the most incredible in the world."

She added, "I love my job. I wish I didn't have to sleep because I always have more calls to make. I tell people my biggest regret is that I have to sleep."

In addition to MSNBC Investigates with Rita Cosby and occasional specials, at present, Cosby intends to continue as a HotShot on Hardball with Chris Matthews. The Friday segment entitled "Hardball HotShots" features various MSNBC personalities including Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson and Cosby who engage in lively debate over the latest politics and hot topics of the day.

Said Cosby, "I love doing Hardball. Chris is terrifically talented and we have really spirited discussions."

For her outstanding journalism, Cosby has received numerous awards and honors, including three Emmy Awards for investigative reporting, the National Foundation for Women Legislators' 2003 Media Award for Excellence, the 2002 Association of Women in Communications Headliner Award, the Matrix Award from the New York Women in Communications, and the Jack Anderson Award, both for journalism distinction.

In May of this year, Cosby received an Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the third highest honor in the country. It is awarded by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO), which serves as an umbrella group for over 250 organizations that celebrate, educate and nurture ethnic pride. Past winners of the Medal of Honor have included U.S. Presidents, Nobel Prize winners and leaders in industry, education, the arts, sports and government.

Of the honor Cosby said, "It was truly the most special moment. I am very proud of my heritage. My mother is Danish and my father, Polish. He was a POW in World War II. He grew up in Warsaw, was captured by the Nazis and escaped from a POW camp so he is a true hero.

"My parents came over on the Queen Mary fifty years ago. Right before the Ellis Island award we reran an interview I had done with my father - my most important interview ever. We talked about what he saw and lived through. When he got out of the POW camp he weighed less than 90 pounds. Now he is 81 years old and running marathons. He's swallowed the fountain of youth. Amazing, considering where he came from."

On her own time Cosby loves to travel. She said, "You would think the last thing I would want to do is get on a plane because I travel so much for work but I have so much curiosity about the world. I'm known for being quite adventurous off air, too. I did a tandem sky dive and I swam with the sharks in Bora Bora and with dolphins in Hawaii. I've done safaris in South Africa."

Cosby earned her bachelors' degrees from the University of South Carolina where she graduated with honors. In 1998, Cosby was presented with the USC Distinguished Alumni Award. She grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut and now lives in New York.