Ann Compton is now covering a sixth U.S. President for ABC News in a career that has taken her to the White House, Capitol Hill, and through eight presidential campaigns, from the height of the Cold War to the Internet revolution.  In 2007, Ann became president of the White House Correspondents Association.

 

Her career in the national limelight has been awarded a prestigious place at the National Museum of Broadcasting.  Ann was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame at ceremonies in November 2005.

 

On September 11, 2001, Ann’s experience was put to the test as the only broadcast reporter allowed to remain onboard Air Force One during the dramatic hours when President Bush was unable to return to Washington.  Her reports during the crisis were cited as ABC News received the prestigious Silver Baton Alfred I. DuPont Columbia University award for its coverage.  Ann was also on the team that received an Emmy and a Peabody Award for ABC News’ September 11th reporting.

 

Weeks after the Watergate scandal came to an end, Compton became the first woman assigned to cover the White House by a television network, and she was one of the youngest to receive the assignment.

 

She has traveled around the globe and through all 50 states with presidents, vice presidents, and First Ladies, reporting for all ABC News broadcasts.  Twice during campaigns Compton was invited to serve as a panelist for presidential debates (1988 and 1992) and she was assigned as a floor reporter at the 1976 Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

 

As the Internet surged in popularity, Compton became chief Washington correspondent for ABCNews.com where she wrote and anchored a daily political column On Background.  Currently she also holds the title of National Correspondent for ABC Radio News, heard daily on thousands of ABC Radio stations as she covers the White House.

 

In June 2000, the Society of Professional Journalists inducted Ann Compton into the Journalism Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C.  She was chairman of the governing board of the Radio Television Correspondents Association in 1987-88 and served on the advisory board of the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center in New York.  Ann says her most valued award is a golden statuette from the National Mothers’ Day Committee naming her a Mother of the Year in 1988.

 

Ann Compton is married to Dr. William Hughes, a physician in Washington, D.C., and they are the parents of three sons and a daughter.