[6] From 1997 to 2014, she was also the creator, executive editor, and moderator of Greater Boston, which was later rebroadcast on the Boston-based WGBH radio station, where she also hosted the Emily Rooney Show.
On May 29, 2014, WGBH announced Emily Rooney would be stepping down from her host position on the Greater Boston TV show to become a special correspondent for the program.
[12] On April 14, a letter was sent to WGBH from a New England group of filmmakers that grew out of the Documentary Producers Alliance-Northeast in solidarity with Beyond Inclusion, also condemning Rooney’s comments.
"[14] In a follow-up letter dated April 16, the regional group now referred to as Filmmakers in Solidarity, pointed out the urgent need to address the lack of diverse voices in public media locally, as well as nationally.
[15] Among other requests, they demanded Rooney apologize for relying on "derision, racist tropes and more ignorance than fact" when discussing the lack of diverse filmmakers on PBS.
In it, Rooney said her remarks were "uninformed, dismissive, and disrespectful" and while her "intention was to offer further balance to the discussion" she acknowledged "my comments did not accomplish that and instead I crossed a line.
She has an identical twin sister, Martha, who is Chief of the Public Services Division at the United States National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.