THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Marlene Sanders

January 10, 1931 – July 14, 2015

“As I look back on my career, the women’s movement provided an exceptional point when time, place and position all came together to give me the power and focus to contribute to the country’s awareness of the status of women.”

Television news correspondent, anchor, producer, author, educator.  Joined ABC News as a correspondent, 1964, where she reported on the women’s movement and status of women in the news. Asked by Betty Friedan to help plan publicity strategy to get NOW launched, 1966. Founder of NOW’s first chapter, NY NOW. First woman to anchor an evening news broadcast for a major network. First woman to report on Vietnam War from the field. Promoted to vice president and director of documentaries, ABC, 1976. Began working for CBS News, 1978. Produced and/or reported a series of documentaries on the movement, including “Women’s Liberation,” 1970; “Feminism in the Church,” 1971; “Feminism in the Temple,”  1972; “Women & Catholicism,” 1972; “The Hand that Rocks the Ballot Box,” 1972; “Population: Boom or Doom?” (1973); “Woman’s Place,” 1973; “Women’s Health: A Question of Survival,” 1976. Co-authored with Marcia Rock, Waiting for Prime Time: The Women of Television News, 1988. Adjunct Professor of Journalism at both New York University and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Photo. Marlene Sanders, a correspondent for ABC News, outside the White House in 1965 before the inauguration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. (Credit, ABC)