Kaity Tong (; born July 23, 1947) is a Chinese-born American broadcast journalist. She has been a television news anchor in New York City since 1981.

Early life

Kaity (pronounced "kite-ee")Tong, Kaity
"What's in a name?"
'' WPIX Blog'', March 4, 2009. Tong was born in

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and arrived in the United States with her family at age four. Her parents anglicized their names to George and Anita Tong. She became a United States citizen in 1985. Growing up in Washington, D.C., she was inspired to become a journalist by her great-uncle, Hollington Tong, an ambassador to the US from China as well as an acclaimed author.Diamond, Edwin
"New-Girl Network: Anchors get Younger and Blonder"
'' New York Magazine'', June 10, 1991, p. 20. Her mother worked for the Voice of America as a broadcaster and producer in Washington, D.C. Kaity attended Bryn Mawr College on an academic scholarship. She graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature. She was accepted to the doctoral program of

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in Chinese and Japanese literature, and she intended to be an instructor in English literature. However, while at Stanford, Tong began her broadcasting career, getting what she thought would be a summer job as morning editor and producer for KPIX-TV All-News Radio in San Francisco. The summer job turned into a year-long stint at the radio station which was the top all-news station in San Francisco.Newton, Kathie
"Women: The new TV set Stars share a mystical 'something'"
'' The Modesto Bee'', March 25, 1980, p. A7. Tong managed to complete her master's degree in Asian studies but was sidetracked by the news business.

Career

Tong's television career began as a reporter for KPIX-TV in San Francisco, where she worked from 1976 to 1979. Originally hired as a writer for the station, Tong was asked to do an on-air test and was immediately promoted to a street reporter, where her first on-air story was a report on the new carts that transported people around the airport. In December 1979, she became co-anchor of the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts on KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California where she soon became number one-rated out of all the television news personalities in Sacramento. Referring to the difficulties of having a family and career, she said at the time: "Anchoring is fun. At one time I wanted to be a network reporter, but now I think that is too difficult a life. One of these days I want to have a baby." In 1981, she moved to WABC-TV in New York City. Within two years, she became co-anchor of the station's 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts, first with Tom Snyder from 1983 to 1984 and later with Ernie Anastos until 1986. She moved to the 6 p.m. newscast, rotating the anchor chair with John Johnson alongside Bill Beutel after Roger Grimsby was fired in 1986, while still co-anchoring the 11 p.m. broadcast with Anastos until he left for WCBS in 1989. Eventually her sole anchor role was the 11 p.m. news, as Beutel became solo anchor of the 6 p.m. broadcast. In 1984, she appeared as herself, reporting on the defection of the Soviet circus performer played by Robin Williams in feature film '' Moscow on the Hudson''. She has also played a newscaster in '' Wolf'', ''

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

'', '' Marci X'', '' Night Falls on Manhattan'', and the 2004 remake of '' The Manchurian Candidate''. Her firing from WABC-TV in 1991 caused considerable outrage. She was replaced by Susan Roesgen, who came from a small Midwestern station and who never adjusted to New York, lasting only a year on WABC-TV. A "Coalition of Asian-American New Yorkers" suggested that Tong's Chinese-American background was the reason. Other supporters of Tong cited her age, which was over 40 at the time, as a main reason for her firing. Station management stated that Tong was released due to her high salary which was $750,000 per year at the time (the equivalent to $1,353,965 in 2017). Capital Cities/ABC chairman Thomas Murphy said it was "strictly a business decision." According to Tong, her direct boss Channel 7 Vice President and General Manager Walter Liss acknowledged that Tong's newscast at 11 p.m. had the highest ranking in that time slot, but he wanted "...a much bigger No. 1", and had a vision of what the ideal look of how television should be in the 1990s. Tong declined to repeat specifically what Liss's vision was, other than to say, "I am trying hard to take the high road in all of this."Diamond, Edwin
"New-Girl Network: Anchors get Younger and Blonder"
''New York Magazine'', June 10, 1991, p. 21. In early 1992, Tong joined WPIX as the station's top female anchor and has been there ever since. She co-anchored the station's 10 p.m. newscast with Marvin Scott from January 1992 to September 1992, with

Jack Cafferty Jack Cafferty (born December 14, 1942) is a former CNN commentator and occasional host of specials. In the summer of 2005, Cafferty joined '' The Situation Room''. He left CNN after November 15, 2012. Career Cafferty started his career in Reno, ...

from September 1992 to October 1998, and with Jim Watkins from October 1998 to 2010, when Watkins was fired. She has since been weekend anchor for the station. Tong was involved in a 2010 lawsuit by former news director Karen Scott against WPIX for age discrimination when Scott and other veteran broadcast personnel lost their jobs, later testifying in court.Huff, Richard
"TV reporters reluctant to reveal age, fearful that experience could be used against them"
''New York Daily News'', Friday, June 25, 2010 In January 2016, Tong returned to weekdays, co-anchoring a new 6:30 p.m. newscast alongside longtime WWOR anchor

Brenda Blackmon Brenda Blackmon is an American anchor based in New York City. Blackmon most recently anchored the PIX11 News weeknights at 6:30 with Kaity Tong. Blackmon joined the station in 2016 as an anchor. She first co-anchored in New York at WWOR-TV with ...

. However, in September 2016, the newscast was cancelled and Tong was moved back to weekends.

Awards

Tong joined Gloria Steinem and Beverly Sills by receiving the Exceptional Achievement Award from The Women's Project. She was the first woman honored by

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...

with its Paul Harris Fellowship. She was also honored with a Star award by the New York Women's Agenda. She has been recognized by the Chinese America Arts Council for her excellence in communication. She received a Distinguished Woman award from the Chinese-American Planning Council and a Champion of Excellence Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans. A

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

citizen, Tong received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her work. In 2018, the New York Chapter of the

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...

awarded Tong the Governor's

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

“for her four decades of presenting the news with integrity and compassion.” Tong has received several Emmy Awards over the years, including Outstanding Event Coverage for "9/11 America Remembers" in 2003 and Outstanding Single Newscast over 35 Minutes for "WB11 News at 10: 9/11 Day of Tribute" in 2004. Her name has inspired many first-generation Chinese-American parents to name their New York-born children after her. However, it is often anglicized as Katie.

Personal life

Tong has a son, Philip Long, from her first marriage to Robert Long, former news director and a vice-president at Los Angeles's KNBC-TV until September 25, 2009."Broadcast veteran to run news operations at KNBC"
'' Los Angeles Business Journal'', August 4, 2003. She later married photographer Patrick Callahan until their divorce. She is also 77th generation descendant of the Chinese philosopher Confucius.Confucius ((2016 (2010)) documentary film, Arte France and CCTV Science &Education, YAN Dong Director and Producer, and Lion TV, MACGREGOR, Hugo, Director

References

External links