NBC's "Today" show has hired someone with White House experience as a new
correspondent – former first daughter Jenna Bush.
The daughter of former President George W. Bush has no journalism experience, but
will contribute stories about once a month on issues like education to television's top-
rated morning news show, said Jim Bell, its executive producer.
Bush, a 27-year-old teacher in Baltimore, said she has always wanted to be a teacher
and a writer, and has already authored two books. But she was intrigued by the idea
of getting into television when Bell contacted her.
"It wasn't something I'd always dreamed to do," she said. "But I think one of the most
important things in life is to be open-minded and to be open-minded for change."
She'll essentially work two part-time jobs as a correspondent and in her school, where
she will be a reading coordinator this year.
Bell said he got the idea after seeing Bush in two "Today" appearances. She was on
the program two years ago to promote her book about an HIV-infected single mother,
"Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope," and it went so well that a short interview was stretched
to nearly a half hour. She and her mother, Laura Bush, also co-hosted an hour of "Today"
around the time their picture book came out.
She "just sort of popped to us as a natural presence, comfortable" on the air, Bell said.
Bush will work out of NBC's Washington bureau.
"I think she can handle it," he said. "I think she knows something about pressure and
being under some scrutiny. When she came here for a handful of appearances, she
knocked it out of the park."
He expects her first story, most likely concerning education, to be on sometime next
month.
A first television job on "Today" is, in her father's world, sort of like a run for president
as a first attempt at elective office. Bush said that people on the show "have always
made me, whenever I've been there, feel very comfortable."
Bell said Bush won't be covering politics. He said he didn't consider the job as a down
payment for a future interview with her father, who has been living quietly in Texas since
leaving office earlier this year. Attacks on NBC News by conservatives for the liberal
bent of MSNBC also had nothing to do with it, he said.
"I hope to focus on what I'm passionate about because I think I'd do the best job on
them – education, urban education, women and children's issues and literacy," said
Bush.
Married to Henry Hager in May 2008 at her family's ranch in Texas, she doesn't plan to
do is talk about her experiences as the daughter of a president.
"I don't think it's that interesting," she said. "I'm pretty normal."
(Source: HuffingtonPost.com)
08/31/2009 6:32PM
"Today Show" Hires Jenna Bush
Do you think Jenna Bush is qualified to be a news correspondent?
09/13/2009 10:53PM
Qualified Yes
Why would she not be qualified. That is a rediculous question. She is educated. She is an arthur. What are your qualifications?
