Amanda Marie Davis (October 17, 1955 – December 27, 2017) was an American broadcast

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and morning anchor of CBS 46 News in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, formerly working for Fox 5 News.

Early life

Davis was born in San Antonio in 1955.

Education

Davis graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' from Clark College in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Career

Early years (1979–1986)

Davis initially worked as a reporter for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

affiliate

WCNC-TV WCNC-TV (channel 36) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc. WCNC-TV's studios are located in the Wood Ridge Center office complex off Billy Graham Parkway (Ch ...

(then known as WRET-TV, before changing to WPCQ-TV in 1980) in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, for about four years. Afterwards, she worked at the short-lived Satellite News Channel. After SNC was bought out and shut down by

Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its ass ...

in 1983, Davis spent the next three years freelancing.

WAGA-TV Atlanta (1986–2013)

In 1986, Davis moved to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, to work as a reporter for the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate

WAGA-TV WAGA-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, serving as the market's Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains st ...

(WAGA-TV would change their affiliation to FOX in December 1994). She was one of the original anchors of Good Day Atlanta when it debuted in 1992, before moving to the prime time newscast team in 1997. During her tenure on the prime time news team, which saw her paired up with fellow reporter Russ Spencer, Davis was well known as the first journalist to host the "Wednesday's Child" segment since its launch by the Freddie Mac Foundation in 2000. She was also noted for covering activist

Coretta Scott King Coretta Scott King ( Scott; April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his assassination in 1968. As an advocate for African-Ameri ...

's funeral and interviewing

President-elect An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Un ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. Following a DUI arrest in November 2012, she retired from the network in 2013 after nearly 27 years. She was replaced by Cynnè Simpson as the host of the 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. broadcasts, while Lisa Rayam replaced Davis as the host of the 6 p.m. broadcast.

WGCL-TV Atlanta (2015–2017)

In 2015, after two years in retirement, Davis signed with Atlanta's CBS affiliate,

WGCL-TV WANF (channel 46) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Media and is co-owned with CW affiliate WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Class A Telem ...

. Before she was scheduled to make a debut on its "Just a Minute" segment in June, she was arrested again for a DUI. Her debut was put on hold, as she received probation and entered rehab. After the stint in rehab, she was the subject of a three-part special about her

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. On January 2, 2017, feeling she had beaten her addiction, she finally debuted with WGCL-TV on its morning and afternoon shows, following an arrest for driving under a suspended license in December.

Personal life

Death

On December 26, 2017, Davis had a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the primary international airport serving Atlanta and its Metro Atlanta, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is located south of the Down ...

while waiting for a flight to San Antonio, Texas, to attend her stepfather's funeral the next day. She was taken to a local hospital, where she died the next night, at the age of 62.

Legacy

In honor of Davis, and to raise stroke awareness, several news anchors and reporters across the country wore red under the hashtag, #RedforAmanda. Davis made a posthumous cameo appearance in the debut episode of

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

series ''

Black Lightning Black Lightning (Jefferson Michael "Jeff" Pierce) is a superhero who appears in American comic book published by DC Comics. The character, created by writer Jenny Blake Isabella with artist Trevor Von Eeden, first appeared in ''Black Lightning'' ...

''. The seventh episode "Equinox: The Book of Fate" is dedicated in her memory.

Accolades

Davis won several awards, including ten

Southeast Emmy Awards Southeast Emmy Awards are a division of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The Atlanta, Georgia division was founded in 1975. In addition to granting the Southeast Emmy Awards, this division awards scholarships, honors industry ...

and an Edward R. Murrow Award.

References

External links

CBS 46 Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Amanda (journalist) 1955 births 2017 deaths American television reporters and correspondents Clark Atlanta University alumni Journalists from Georgia (U.S. state) Television anchors from Atlanta Journalists from San Antonio