Broadcast News

During her 40-year career in broadcast journalism, Susan Caraher bore witness to watershed moments in American history: the birth of the world’s first known surviving septuplets; the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh; the school shooting at Columbine, and the Gulf War. In 2000, she spent six weeks in Tallahassee, Florida, awaiting the Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore after a contentious vote recount process left the office of president hanging in the balance as the nation held its breath.

Growing up, Caraher watched Nancy Dickerson, a pioneering TV newswoman, report on John F. Kennedy. “I thought, I want to be a part of that,” remembers Caraher. 

Sun City resident Susan Caraher spent forty years in the world of broadcast journalism, covering many of the nation’s most noteworthy moments during her four-decade tenure. (Photo by Tony Pratt/My Sun Day News)

So she headed to New York at the tender age of 22 and landed a job at CBS News. She learned a lot, worked her way up, and over the next several years spent time working in New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C., where she did White House assignments and covered presidential trips.

When a round of layoffs ended her 18 years at CBS, Caraher set her sights on ABC News, starting as a freelancer until they hired her full time. She stayed with ABC for 23 years, doing logistical work and producing.

‘It takes a lot of people to do television news’

Television viewers may only see news anchors reporting the news, but Caraher was one of many who worked tirelessly behind the scenes. For instance, when she traveled to Orlando, Florida to cover the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016, Caraher estimates there were about 50 people on the crew.

“Somebody has to organize the editors, the camera crews. I did a lot of that kind of work in concert with the producer,” she says. Her logistical work included arranging for hotels, transportation, and keeping up with press conference schedules. “ABC News is so big and we had so many broadcasts, from Good Morning America, World News Tonight, then Nightline, then we’d start the day all over again. Somebody has to organize the people who do all that. You can’t miss anything.”

Over time, Caraher watched huge changes to the way people view the media and the ways they consume news. Gone are the days when the airwaves were dominated by three major news networks, and anchorman Walter Cronkite was the “most trusted man in America.” CNN appeared on the scene in 1980, then Fox News came along in 1996. Add in streaming and social media (Pew Research Center reports that 39% of adults 18-29 regularly get their news from TikTok), you get a news landscape that is nearly unrecognizable from its earlier version.

Now that she is enjoying retirement, Caraher has found fellow newshounds in the Sun City Current Events Charter Club. Each Tuesday, they meet to discuss local, national, and international issues. 

“It’s been terrific,” she says. “The group is very mixed politically, but everyone gets along. Nobody’s yelling or screaming at anybody. People make their point and move on. It’s very collegial.”

On Thursday mornings, Caraher hosts a Zoom news show for Lustre, a subscription-based online platform made up of retired career women.

Caraher still misses the adrenaline rush of her fast-paced career. She also misses her colleagues. “I worked with wonderful, very smart people who worked really, really hard to be honest and fair and get both sides of the story,” she says.

“For me personally, it was great,” says Caraher. “I was in and out of the White House a few times, even flew with the president [Ford and Reagan] a couple times. I saw and did a lot of things I never thought I’d see.”

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