Margaret Jane Pauley (born October 31, 1950) is an American television host and author, active in news reporting since 1972.
A speech and debate champion at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, Pauley placed first in the Girls' Extemporaneous Speaking division of the National Forensic League in Indiana.
After graduating from high school in 1968, Pauley attended Indiana University Bloomington, majoring in political science.
1989 brought big changes to Today when news reader Deborah Norville was given a larger role in the two hour broadcast.
As Tom Shales of The Washington Post wrote at the time, watching Ms. Pauley, Ms. Norville, and co-anchor Bryant Gumbel on the set together "is like looking at a broken marriage with the home-wrecker right there on the premises.
"[8] Pauley, who had been contemplating a change, hoping to spend more time with her three children,[9] asked to settle her contract, but NBC declined.
In October 1989, after prolonged negotiations, Pauley announced that, after 13 years, she would leave the Today show in December, but would soon begin working on other projects at NBC.
As The New York Times reported on February 26, 1990, in the three weeks since January 26, the Today show lost 10 percent of its audience.
[11] After Pauley announced she was leaving Today, she received more than 4000 letters of support, including one from Michael Kinsley, then of The New Republic, which anointed her "heroine of my generation.
According to The Washington Post, the one-hour broadcast won its Tuesday 10 pm time slot with a 13.3 national Nielsen rating and a 24 percent audience share.
In 1990, Pauley co-hosted the 42nd Primetime Emmy Awards, alongside Candice Bergen and Jay Leno,[14] and began to serve as substitute anchor for NBC Nightly News.
The success of Changes launched five one-hour specials in the summer of 1990 called Real Life with Jane Pauley.
They were also ratings hits, and in January 1991 NBC launched the half hour series Real Life with Jane Pauley on Sunday nights.
[15][16] Neither Pauley nor Phillips had any connection to the segment; an internal investigation resulted in the resignation of the NBC News president, along with the dismissal of Dateline's executive producer and others involved with the GM story.
"[19] The same year Pauley launched her talk show, she published her bestselling memoir, Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue, in which she made public her diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
"[20] Following the show's cancellation, Pauley's appearances on television included leading a half-hour discussion on PBS's Depression: Out of the Shadows, which aired in May 2008.
[21] She also campaigned publicly for President Obama in her home state of Indiana in 2008, a year when she was not affiliated with any network news organization.
In March 2009, Pauley returned to the Today show as a contributor hosting a weekly segment, "Your Life Calling," sponsored by AARP, which profiled people throughout the country age 50+ who were reinventing their lives in new and different ways.
[23] On April 27, 2014, following an appearance during a "where are they now" segment and interview on CBS Sunday Morning, Pauley began contributing to the show as a correspondent and occasional substitute host.
The center serves local communities, including students and their families, regardless of insurance or income, with an emphasis on integrating medical, dental and behavioral health.