Brit Hume

Alexander Britton "Brit" Hume (born June 22, 1943) is an American television journalist and political commentator.

Hume had a 23-year career with ABC News, where he contributed to World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Nightline and This Week.^[2] He served as ABC's chief White House correspondent from 1989 through 1996.^[3]

He then spent 12 years as the Washington, D.C., managing editor of the Fox News Channel and the anchor of Special Report with Brit Hume.^[4] After retiring as the anchor of Special Report in 2008, he became a senior political analyst for Fox News and a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday. In September 2016, he was named the interim anchor of On the Record, after the abrupt resignation of the show's longtime host, Greta Van Susteren, and served in that capacity through the 2016 elections.

Early life and education

He was born in Washington, D.C., the son of George Graham Hume and Virginia Powell (née Minnigerode) Hume. Through his father, Hume is of part Scottish descent, descended from George Home (1698-1760), a son of the 10th Baron of Wedderburn exiled to Virginia in the aftermath of the First Jacobite Rebellion.^[5]

Hume attended St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., at the same time as Al Gore and graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1965.^[6][7]

Career

Print journalism

Hume worked first for The Hartford Times newspaper company, and later for United Press International and the newspaper Baltimore Evening Sun.^[8] He then worked for syndicated columnist Jack Anderson from 1970 to 1972.^[9]

Hume reported a story for Jack Anderson's column "Washington Merry-Go-Round" that after ITT Corporation had contributed $400,000 to the 1972 Republican National Convention, President Richard Nixon's Department of Justice settled the antitrust case against ITT. Anderson published a series of classified documents indicating the Nixon administration, contrary to its public pronouncements, had favored Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. After those revelations, Anderson and his staff, including Hume and his family, were briefly surveilled by the Central Intelligence Agency during 1972.^[10][11] The agents code-named Hume "eggnog" and observed his family going about their daily business. These documents were revealed during President Gerald Ford's administration by congressional hearings, and as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and the so-called 'Family Jewels' revelations.

During 1973, Hume became Washington editor of MORE magazine, a press criticism journal.^[12]

ABC News

In 1973, Hume started working for ABC News during as a consultant, and in 1976 was offered a job as a correspondent, covering the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate for 11 years. In 1979, Hume earned television's first Academy Award nomination for his work for ABC's Close-Up documentary program.^[12]

Hume was assigned to report on Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign, and George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign. In 1989, he became ABC's chief White House correspondent,^[8] covering the administrations of Presidents Bush and Bill Clinton, and working closely with ABC anchors Peter Jennings and Charlie Gibson.^[9]

Fox News

In 1996, Hume left ABC for the fledgling Fox News Network, for which his wife had recently become chief of the Washington bureau.^[8][12] At his last news conference as ABC's chief White House correspondent, President Clinton told him, "I think all of us think you have done an extraordinary, professional job under Republican and Democratic administrations alike."^[9] Hume became Fox News's Washington managing editor.

Special Report w/ Brit Hume

After he began at Fox News, Hume was in discussions about starting a Washington-based television news program for the 6 p.m. timeslot. The Lewinsky scandal began during January 1998, and Hume's wife told him the story was so well known that he should start the show immediately. Special Report with Brit Hume debuted that evening in the 6:00 timeslot.^[9]

Hume said of the start of his time at Fox that "we made some progress and developed some audience and the Lewinsky scandal brought a lot of interest and the 2000 election brought a lot of interest, but what really did it was the Florida recount – that was tremendous for us because the people who were worried about how that would come out wanted some place where they could trust the coverage, people who were conservatives or Republicans or neither but worried. And we really made an effort to cover that story well. And that built our audience."^[13]

The show was the number one cable news program in the 6:00 PM Eastern timeslot for several years.^[14]

In July 2008, it was announced that Hume would retire as anchor of Special Report at the end of the year, but remain on Fox News in a different role.^[15] On December 23, 2008, he hosted his final episode as anchor of Special Report, announcing that Bret Baier, then the chief White House correspondent for Fox News, would be his replacement. Hume also announced that he would remain with Fox News as a senior political analyst and regular panelist for the program Fox News Sunday.

On January 3, 2010, Hume generated some controversy when on Fox News Sunday he advised embattled golfer Tiger Woods to convert to Christianity to attempt to end his problems. Hume's comments were made after the revelation of Woods' habitual adultery and the resulting deterioration of his relationship with his family.^[16]

On the Record

On September 6, 2016, Hume was named the anchor of On the Record after that show's longtime anchor, Greta Van Susteren, abruptly left Fox News. He served as the program's anchor through the end of the 2016 elections.^[17] Hume's first show as host of On the Record drew 2.4 million viewers, a double-digit increase over Van Susteren's average viewing audience in 2016.^[18] On November 4, 2016, it was announced that Tucker Carlson would host a new show in the former On the Record timeslot beginning on November 14, 2016.

Personal life

Hume is a conservative^[19] saying in 2006: "Sure, I'm a conservative, no doubt about it. But I would ask people to look at the work."^[9]

Previously married to and divorced from Clare Jacobs Stoner, Hume is married to Kim Schiller Hume, Fox News vice president and former Washington bureau chief.^[20]

His son, Washington journalist Sandy Hume, was a reporter for the newspaper The Hill and first publicized the story of the aborted 1997 political attempt to replace Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. In February 1998, Sandy Hume committed suicide. The National Press Club honors his memory with its annual Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism.^[21][9]

Hume has said that he committed his life to Jesus Christ "in a way that was very meaningful" to him in the aftermath of his son's death by suicide in 1998.^[22]

Awards

Hume is the recipient of several awards including:^[23][24]

• Emmy Award for coverage of the Gulf War (1991).
• American Journalism Review "Best in the Business" award (twice) for White House coverage.
• Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalist (2003).

Bibliography

• Death and the Mines – Rebellion and Murder in the United Mine Workers. New York: Grossman. 1971. ISBN 0-670-26105-X. Retrieved December 31, 2008. 
• Inside Story (1st ed.). Garden City, New York: Doubleday. 1974. ISBN 0-385-06526-4. Retrieved December 31, 2008.  (a memoir of his days working with columnist Jack Anderson)

References

External links

• Brit Hume at the Internet Movie Database
• Appearances on C-SPAN