Thomas Edwin Jarriel (pronounced "Jair-ell," with a silent "i"; born December 29, 1934) is a retired American television news reporter who worked for the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

network from 1964 to 2002. Jarriel's parents were the late William Lester Jarriel, Sr., and Ella Ruth Jarriel. They had six children, including Tom. In 1947, the family moved to Shreveport, where Jarriel graduated in 1952 from

C.E. Byrd High School C. E. Byrd, a Blue Ribbon School, is a high school in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States. In continuous operation since its establishment in 1925, C. E. Byrd is also the eighth-largest high school in the United States of America as of February ...

. In 1956, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Houston. He first worked at television station KPRC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Houston. In 1965, Jarriel joined ABC, first based at the network's

southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

bureau in Atlanta, Georgia. While there, he attracted national notice for his coverage of the

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

of Martin Luther King Jr. Shortly afterward, he became White House correspondent for ABC, during the administrations of

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

s Richard Nixon and

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

. Later, in 1977, Jarriel co-anchored ABC Evening News on Saturdays for two years, and in 1979, joined the network's newsmagazine ''

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...

,'' as an investigative correspondent. On that show and on several hour-long documentaries, he covered subjects such as the defects in the American criminal justice system, wasteful spending by the United States Department of Defense, and transportation accidents. He received 10

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 ...

s for his work. During most of that time, Jarriel anchored the 15-minute bulletins ABC aired late nights on Saturday and Sunday, until those broadcasts were cancelled in 1991; he was also the most frequent anchor of the daytime ABC News Brief updates that aired during the era. He also served as substitute anchor on '' World News Tonight.'' He retired from broadcasting in 2002.

References

External links

ABC News profile of Tom Jarriel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarriel, Tom 1934 births Living people ABC News personalities American television news anchors American television reporters and correspondents People from LaGrange, Georgia University of Houston alumni C. E. Byrd High School alumni