John David Roberts is a Canadian-American television journalist currently working for the Fox News Channel, as its chief White House correspondent. He joined Fox News in January 2011. Prior to Fox News, Roberts was at CNN where he was an anchor and Senior National Correspondent. He worked at various radio and television jobs before joining CTV in 1990, CBS News in 1992 and CNN in 2006. On March 12, 2009, Roberts was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame. Prior to becoming their chief White House correspondent, Roberts was a national correspondent for Fox News, based in Atlanta.
Roberts first started working in radio at the local college station, CFRE-FM in Mississauga. His first professional job was as reporter and news anchor with CFOS in Owen Sound, Ontario in 1975. From there, he went to CHYM in Kitchener, where he worked as a newsman and DJ, then worked on-air for radio station CJBK in London, Ontario in 1977, before moving back to Toronto to join top-40 powerhouse CHUM later that year as a weekday evening disc jockey. 1050 CHUM and CITY-TV gave him the on-air name J.D. Roberts.
In 1979, he branched out from his radio work to co-host with Jeanne Beker the music newsmagazine The NewMusic on CITY-TV until 1985. The New Music was a pioneering program that pre-dated MTV. Roberts, Beker and the New Music team won many awards for their work. During that time, Roberts also served as Entertainment reporter for CITY-TV and on occasion filled in for John Majhor and later Brad Giffen on CITY-TV's local music video show Toronto Rocks. In 1984, Roberts was tapped to front Canada's music channel MuchMusic. He and Christopher Ward were the first on-air personalities appearing when the network launched in 1984. At MuchMusic he hosted many programs, including a one-hour heavy metal video show called The Power Hour. In 1987, Roberts left MuchMusic to anchor CITY-TV's CityPulse, and became anchor of the 10 pmCityPulse Tonight when Anne Mroczkowski moved from anchoring that newscast to join Gord Martineau on the 6 pm edition.
WCIX
Between 1989 and 1990 Roberts was an anchor/reporter for WCIX, the CBS-owned and operated television station in Miami, Florida.
CTV
Roberts returned to Canada in September 1990 to co-host the national CTV morning show Canada AM, initially with Deborah McGregor, and later with Pamela Wallin.
In 1992, Roberts moved to CBS News in New York. His initial assignment was anchoring the CBS Morning News with co-anchor Meredith Vieira. Roberts was also the news reader and substitute anchor for Harry Smith on CBS This Morning and The Early Show. From 1994 to 1995 Roberts anchored the 5pm and 11pm newscasts at CBS's flagship station in New York, WCBS-TV. In March 1995, he moved back to the CBS Network as anchor of the CBS Sunday Evening News, remaining in that position for nearly 11 years. He also anchored the CBS Saturday Evening News from February 1999 until he became CBS chief White House Correspondent in August 1999. Roberts served as chief White House Correspondent at CBS from August 1999 to February 2006, and regularly anchored a Sunday-afternoon 3pm ET newscast for the CBS Radio Network. In March 2003, Roberts was embedded with the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion of the U.S. Marines during the initial invasion of Iraq. On July 19, 2005, he introduced CBS's coverage on the announcement of the nomination of John Roberts for the Supreme Court of the United States. He jokingly asked colleagues to refer to him as "Your Honor" because he and Justice Roberts bear the same name. He had been widely considered a potential replacement for CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather after Rather stepped down from the anchor desk in March 2005, but Bob Schieffer was chosen on an interim basis to be the next CBS Evening News anchor, and in subsequent months, it became clear that Roberts was not under consideration for the job.. During his time at CBS, Roberts received three national Emmy awards as well as a Gracie award for his coverage of a groundbreaking surgery to repair neural tube defects.
CNN
In February 2006, Roberts left CBS and joined CNN. In July 2006 and August 2006, Roberts reported from the front lines in the Israel/Hezbollah war and at one point, embedded with an Israeli infantry unit, marching 10 miles into Lebanon. Roberts was recognized with a Headline Award for that embed. CNN's coverage of the war was recognized with an Edward R. Murrow Award. In October 2006, he returned to Iraq as the first anchor of This Week at War and served as the Senior National Correspondent based in Washington. He has also substituted for Anderson Cooper on Anderson Cooper 360°. Roberts was co-anchor of CNN's morning program American Morning from 2007 to 2010. He anchored from New York. In 2010, American Morning was nominated for "best morning program" at the Daytime Emmy Awards, losing to Good Morning America. The New York Post reported on December 7, 2010, that Roberts would depart American Morning and become a national correspondent based out of CNN's headquarters in Atlanta. The Associated Press reported that Roberts' departure was at his request so he could move closer to fiancée and CNN anchor Kyra Phillips.
Fox News
Executives at CNN confirmed on January 3, 2011, that Roberts would be leaving CNN to join Fox News as a national correspondent, based in Atlanta. In an August 2016 sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News, Andrea Tantaros claimed that Roberts, Scott Brown, and Bill O'Reillysexually harassed her. The case was dismissed. In January 2017, Roberts became chief White House correspondent for Fox News.
Personal life
Divorced in 2008, John Roberts announced his engagement to Kyra Phillips on April 25, 2010. They have twin children named Sage Ann and Kellan Clay.
