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

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and morning anchor of CBS 46 News in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, formerly working for Fox 5 News.

Early life

Davis was born in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

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 So ...

'' from

Clark College Clark College is a public community college in Vancouver, Washington. With 11,500 students, Clark College is the largest institution of higher education in southwest Washington. Founded in 1933 as a private two-year junior college, Clark Colleg ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Career

Early years (1979–1986)

Davis initially worked as a reporter for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

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 ( ...

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

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, for about four years. Afterwards, she worked at the short-lived

Satellite News Channel Satellite News Channel (SNC) was an American short-lived news-based cable television channel that was operated as a joint venture between the ABC Video Enterprises division of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. (a.k.a. ABC) and the Group W S ...

. After SNC was bought out and shut down by

Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...

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 Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, to work as a reporter for the

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

affiliate

WAGA-TV WAGA-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facili ...

(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 married to Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his death. As an advocate for African-American equality, she w ...

'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 Unit ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

. Following a

DUI Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

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 Television and is co-owned with independent station WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Cl ...

. 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, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

. 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 A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport , also known as Atlanta Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport, Atlanta Airport, Hartsfield, Hartsfield–Jackson and, formerly, as the Atlanta Municipal Airport, is the primary internatio ...

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'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

series ''

Black Lightning Black Lightning (Jefferson Pierce) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character, created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Trevor Von Eeden, first appeared in ''Black Lightning'' #1 (April 1977), during ...

''. 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 indust ...

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) Journalists from Texas Television anchors from Atlanta People from San Antonio