Contessa Brewer
Encyclopedia
Contessa Brewer is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
host for the MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
weekend program Caught on Camera.
Biography
Parsonsfield, Maine
Parsonsfield is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,584 at the 2000 census. Parsonsfield includes the villages of Kezar Falls, Parsonsfield, and North, East and South Parsonsfield...
, and graduated from Sacopee Valley High School
Sacopee Valley High School
Sacopee Valley High School, founded 1967, is the public school for Maine School Administration District 55 . It is located in Hiram, Maine. It was built to replace Porter High School, which is now the Porter Town Hall...
in Hiram, Maine
Hiram, Maine
Hiram is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,423 at the 2000 census. It includes the villages of Hiram, East Hiram, South Hiram and Durgintown...
in 1992. She graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
's Newhouse School of Public Communications with a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism in 1996, as well as a Certificate of Contemporary Europe following her political studies in Strasbourg, France.
Career
Brewer joined MSNBC in September 2003, after working for WTMJ-TVWTMJ-TV
WTMJ-TV, digital channel 28 ; branded as "Today's TMJ4", is the NBC-affiliated television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the flagship station of the Journal Broadcast Group. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin and parts of northeastern Illinois, including Racine, Kenosha,...
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
as a weekend anchor and general assignment reporter. She has also worked for KMIR-TV
KMIR-TV
KMIR-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Southern California's Coachella Valley. Licensed to Palm Springs, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 46 from a transmitter on Edom Hill in Cathedral City north of I-10/Redlands Freeway...
in Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
from 1997 to 1999, and KRNV-TV in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
. KMIR and WTMJ-TV
WTMJ-TV
WTMJ-TV, digital channel 28 ; branded as "Today's TMJ4", is the NBC-affiliated television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the flagship station of the Journal Broadcast Group. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin and parts of northeastern Illinois, including Racine, Kenosha,...
are both owned by Journal Communications
Journal Communications
Journal Communications, Inc. is a publicly traded media company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It publishes the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a daily newspaper, and it also owns television stations, radio stations and weekly newspapers, among other businesses.-History:The Milwaukee Journal was...
.
In spring 2005, Brewer served briefly as a news reader on the Imus in the Morning
Imus in the Morning
Imus in the Morning is an American radio show hosted by Don Imus on Cumulus Media Networks , and simulcast for television on Fox Business Network....
radio show, which was syndicated nationally. Her tenure was brief; she became embroiled in a public feud with Don Imus
Don Imus
John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.-Personal life:Imus was born in...
after the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
published a gossip item in which she was allegedly overheard disparaging the radio personality. Imus replied, on air, with his own disparaging remarks directed at Brewer. She later appeared as the news reader on Verdict with Dan Abrams
Verdict with Dan Abrams
Verdict with Dan Abrams was a newscast on MSNBC, hosted by former MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams. It aired Monday-Friday at 9 p.m. Eastern.-Timeline:...
before its cancellation in 2008. She and Dan Abrams would discuss the "Winners and Losers" of the day, as well as reading responses from readers. She hosts MSNBC Live
MSNBC Live
msnbc Live is an American news / talk television program on MSNBC hosted by Thomas Roberts.Focusing on live news coverage, the program also consists of guest analysis and interviews around the stories of the day, in addition to feature-like stories, in-depth special reports, and The Weather Channel...
weekdays at noon.
In January 2010, New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg
Judd Gregg
Judd Alan Gregg is a former Governor of New Hampshire and former United States Senator from New Hampshire, who served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He is a member of the Republican Party and was a businessman and attorney in Nashua before entering politics...
, a guest on It's the Economy, hosted by Brewer and Melissa Francis, called for cuts in the federal budget. When Gregg failed to respond to Francis' questions concerning the specific cuts he supported, Brewer pressed him, asking "Which programs are you willing to cut? Are you willing to tell schools, no money for you?" Gregg reacted by saying Brewer was "absurd", "fundamentally dishonest", "irresponsible" and lacked "integrity" for her handling of interviews, and incorrectly stated "in your introduction to me, you said that, that education funding would be cut."
In August 2009, Brewer was criticized by conservative blogs for a story about a man carrying an AR-15 assault rifle at an Obama appearance in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, on August 17. MSNBC was accused of editing the video to conceal the race of the man, who was black, and Brewer commented "you have a man of color in the presidency and white people showing up with guns strapped to their waists or to their legs."
In May 2010, Brewer received criticism for her comments about the Times Square car bomb attempt:
On April 15, 2011, Martin Bashir publicly announced Brewer's pregnancy on her program. Brewer later confirmed Bashir's announcement on her Facebook page. On June 16, Brewer announced on her Facebook page that she had a miscarriage, six months into the pregnancy.
On July 20, 2011, while interviewing Representative Mo Brooks
Mo Brooks
Morris Jackson "Mo" Brooks, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for . He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life:Brooks was born in 1954 in Charleston, South Carolina,and moved to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1963...
(R-AL) on MSNBC regarding the debt crisis, Brewer asserted: "We were looking at going ... reverting a depression at that point." When Brooks said he disagreed, Brewer challenged, "Do you have a degree in economics?" Brooks replied "Yes ma'am, I do. Highest honors." According to his Congressional web site, "Mo graduated from Duke University in three years with a double major in political science and economics, with highest honors in economics. In 1978, he graduated from the University of Alabama Law School." After the interview, Brewer commented on her Facebook page that she "just learned why lawyers are told never to ask a question they don't know the answer to."
On August 26, 2011, Brewer announced at the conclusion of her regular anchoring hour on MSNBC that she would no longer be serving as an anchor for the network. Brewer stated that she would continue hosting Caught on Camera and filing reports for NBC news but that she would be pursuing other opportunities in the future.