Wolf Blitzer has been a CNN reporter since 1990, but prior to that, he has had an extensive journalism career, which goes back to the early 1970s. He began his career with Reuters in Tel Aviv, Israel. He was then hired to be the Washington correspondent for Jerusalem Post and was known for his coverage of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace treaty and the arrest and trial of Jonathan Pollard.
When he moved to CNN in 1990, he was hired as a military affairs reporter. Two years after, he was CNN’s White House correspondent. Currently, Blitzer hosts The Situation Room and is the network’s lead political anchor.
Dan Rather – $6m
Dan Rather spent four decades of his career with CBS Evening News. He has covered some of the most important historical events of his time such as the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. In fact, he was on the scene of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, and his report of the assassination promoted him in CBS News. Rather, along with Tim Brokaw and Peter Jennings, are named the “Big Three” news anchors because of their long years with their network’s nightly news program.
Rather worked as a foreign correspondent in London and Vietnam and later, a White House correspondent covering the Nixon presidency including the Watergate scandal. He also contributed to 60 Minutes. He retired from CBS in 2005, but he did not stop working. He hosted Dan Rather Reports, Dan Rather Presents, and The Big Interview with Dan Rather on AXS TV. In 2018, he started hosting an online newscast, The News with Dan Rather on YouTube.
Michelle Beadle – $600k
Michelle Beadle has such a comprehensive resume that it’s no wonder she fetches the kind of salary she has. Beadle started as an intern for the San Antonio Spurs and later served as a reporter. She hosted Fox Sports Net’s Big Game Hunters and then moved to TNN where she covered the Professional Bull Riders’ (PBR) Bud Light Cup tour. Her next stint took was with the Travel Channel where she hosted the show Get Packing.
She had several other hosting jobs on different networks including the YES Network and College Sports Television. Beadle also hosted entertainment-themed and reality-based shows as well as being a Red Carpet reporter for the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, Grammy Awards, and the Tony Awards. She appeared on different shows too including The Early Show, The Today Show, Extra, Access Hollywood, and Entertainment Tonight. Beadle joined ESPN in 2009, left for a year to work at NBC, and returned in 2014. She has since hosted regularly on ESPN.
Paula Faris – $600k
Prior to immersing herself in the broadcasting industry, she had several communications-related jobs including an operations position at Mills/James Productions and a job in radio sales. Eventually, she found the opportunity at WKEF/WRGT and worked as a production assistant and later, as an occasional reporter and anchor. In 2002, she became a weekend, and later weekday, sports anchor at WCPO-TV.
Faris’ break came in 2012 as she joined ABC News and worked on World News Now and America This Morning. She was then promoted to being a New York-based correspondent for all ABC News programs. In 2014, she was a weekend co-anchor of Good Morning America and the year after, she was a co-host of The View for seasons 19 until 21. Faris still reports for Good Morning America and other ABC platforms, but now she is also hosting her faith-based podcast called Journeys of Faith.
Mika Brzezinski – $2m
Mika Brzezinski’s first job in the field of journalism was at ABC’s World News This Morning as an assistant. She then went to a Fox-affiliate station and worked as a general assignments reporter. She moved to CBS-affiliate WFSB-TV/WFSB-DT in 1992 and climbed her way to become its weekday morning anchor. She found her big break when she joined CBS and landed a role as a correspondent and anchor for the Up to the Minute news program. Brzezinski took a short break from CBS News and worked for MSNBC. She co-anchored HomePage with Ashleigh Banfield and Gina Gaston and was dubbed as the “Powerpuff Girls of Journalism.”
Brzezinski went back to CBS in September 2001 and became their principal “Ground Zero” reporter for the September 11 attacks, in which she gained national fame. She also contributed to CBS Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes. Currently, she co-hosts Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough, whom she married in 2018.