Norah O'Donnell

Norah O’Donnell is an award-winning 60 MINUTES correspondent and the former anchor of the CBS Evening News. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of the book, “We the Women: The Hidden Heroes who shaped America.”

O’Donnell is one of the preeminent interviewers in the nation, known for her insightful conversations with the biggest newsmakers in the world, from Pope Francis to every living President of the United States, to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and cultural icons like Dolly Parton. Her interviews and reporting over three decades have won every major recognition in journalism including multiple Emmy awards, Edward R. Murrow awards, Gracie awards, and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award.

She was previously the anchor and manager editor of the “CBS Evening News” for nearly six years, in addition to anchoring election night specials for CBS News. O’Donnell is only the third woman in America to solo anchor an evening news broadcast. In 2024, she co-moderated the Vice Presidential debate.

One of the highlights of O’Donnell’s career was when she spoke with Pope Francis at the Vatican for a historic first-of-its-kind papal interview for an American journalist. The 60 MINUTES story won an Emmy Award for outstanding interview. O’Donnell had been writing to the Holy Father for nearly a decade.

During her tenure as anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” O’Donnell traveled the world to provide viewers with a first-hand look at some of the most important stories of our time. O’Donnell was the first American journalist to travel to the Red Sea to report on the rising tensions in the Middle East; she anchored the broadcast from a deployed aircraft carrier and filed for 60 MINUTES. She also reported from Tel Aviv immediately after the Hamas terror attacks on October 7. In addition, O’Donnell was the first anchor to visit Maui after the deadliest wildfires in the U.S. in over a century.

O’Donnell has sat down with some of the world’s most influential leaders. In September 2019, O’Donnell interviewed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his first interview following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. She also interviewed the Crown Prince for 60 MINUTES in 2018. O’Donnell is the only western television journalist to have interviewed the Saudi Crown Prince twice. She has also interviewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and the Dalai Lama.

Prior to the “CBS Evening News,” O’Donnell anchored CBS News’ flagship morning broadcast for seven years.

O’Donnell has been recognized with multiple honors and awards. In 2023, O’Donnell and the “CBS Evening News” were awarded an Edward R. Murrow Award for the broadcast’s report on the landmark overturning of Roe v. Wade. O’Donnell was awarded a prestigious 2022 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award and the Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Broadcast National/International Coverage in 2021 for her team’s exclusive, year-and-a-half long investigation into sexual assault in the U.S. military. This followed her Emmy Award-winning reporting in 2018 on sexual assaults at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Her reporting on sexual assault at the Air Force Academy was also recognized by the prestigious White House Correspondents’ Association. O’Donnell also received the Headliner Award in Business and Consumer Reporting for her 60 MINUTES report on the front lines of automotive industry factories for Ford and GM as they pivoted from making cars to COVID-19 PPE and ventilators in a rapid changeover not seen since World War II. In 2020, O’Donnell and the “CBS Evening News” were also recognized with an Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast for its on-the-ground and exclusive coverage from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Also of note, O’Donnell anchored for 9 hours straight on January 6, 2021; CBS News received Emmy nominations for its live breaking news coverage of “Assault on the Capitol,” and O’Donnell’s leadership during the tumultuous year of 2021 was recognized in winning the Sol Taishoff Award for Broadcast Journalism, recognized by the National Press Foundation.

O’Donnell received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Breaking News Coverage for her contributions to CBS News’ coverage of George Floyd. O’Donnell was part of the CBS News team that received a duPont-Columbia Award for the network’s coverage of the 2012 Newtown school massacre. She has earned several Gracie Awards, including being named Best On-Air Talent in 2025,  Outstanding News Anchor in 2020, and Best National News On-Air Talent in 2018 and 2016. Additionally, O’Donnell was awarded the Merriman Smith Memorial Award for excellence in presidential news coverage for her exclusive 60 MINUTES interview with then-Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, on his decision not to run for president in 2016.

Prior to joining CBS News, O’Donnell worked for more than a decade at NBC News, where she covered the Pentagon, Congress, and the White House. At NBC, she reported from the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, and received a second Sigma Delta Chi Award for Breaking News Coverage for a “Dateline NBC” story titled “D.C. In Crisis.” In the months following the attacks, she traveled extensively with then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, including on his first trip to Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks.

Prior to covering the White House, O’Donnell was NBC News congressional correspondent, reporting on the lead-up to the Iraq War. She began her career as a print reporter for Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, for which she covered the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and traveled the country covering congressional elections.

A firm believer in empowering women, O’Donnell sits on the board of directors of the International Women’s Media Foundation.

Born into a military family, O’Donnell grew up in San Antonio, Texas; Landstuhl, Germany; Seoul, South Korea and Washington, D.C.

O’Donnell has three degrees from Georgetown University. She is a graduate of Georgetown University’s College of Arts and Sciences and earned her B.A. in philosophy (1995) as well as a Master of Arts (2003). She also received a Doctor of Humane Letters (2024). She is married to Geoff Tracy and is the mother of three children.

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