Josh Elliott is an American television
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 ...
who most recently worked for
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
. He has previously worked as the news anchor for
ABC's ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...
'', a sports anchor for
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...
and ''
Today'', and was a co-anchor for the live telecast of
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
's morning edition of ''
SportsCenter
''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...
''.
Early life and education
Elliott was born to Susan, who gave Elliott up for adoption.
He was adopted by Charles Elliott and Toni Jordan and grew up in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. When he was 13, his father
came out as gay at the time of his parents' divorce. His father died when Elliott was 15.
After graduating from
Loyola High School of Los Angeles, Elliott attended the
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
. He originally enrolled at UC Santa Barbara in hopes of joining the
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's water polo team,
but instead ended up working at the university paper, ''
The Daily Nexus''. He graduated from UCSB in 1993 with a B.A. degree in English literature.
Elliot worked as a
stringer for the ''
Santa Barbara News-Press
The ''Santa Barbara News-Press'' was a broadsheet newspaper based in Santa Barbara, California. It was founded in 1868 as the ''Post'' and merged with the rival ''News'' to form the ''News-Press'' in 1932. On July 21, 2023, it filed for bankrupt ...
''.
He then moved on to graduate school at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
's
Graduate School of Journalism, where he earned a
Master of Science
A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...
degree in 1999. He worked in television as a producer for Galaxy Productions before moving onto
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
. He began there in development and later worked in production. After graduating from Columbia, Elliott worked for ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'' for six years, covering events in most major sports.
Career
ESPN

Elliott first joined ESPN in 2004 as a panelist for ''
Around the Horn'' and ''
Jim Rome Is Burning'', as well as serving as guest co-host for ''
Cold Pizza
''Cold Pizza'' was an American television sports morning talk show that aired weekdays on ESPN2 from 2003 to 2007. The show's style was more akin to ''Good Morning America'' than ''SportsCenter''s straight news and highlights format. It included ...
'' on
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially ...
. On
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television television network, network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which controlled an 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which had 20%).
The channel was ...
, Elliott hosted the short-lived ''
Classic Now'', which aired from June 2005 to March 2006. He also started appearing as a co-anchor on
ESPNEWS
ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News," stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hear ...
and reporting for ''
SportsCenter
''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...
''. After ''Classic Now'' was canceled, Elliott began contributing to ''
ESPN the Magazine
''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue, with the cover line "NEXT.," was published on March 11, 1998 (cover date March 23, 1998), and featured K ...
'' and
ESPN.com.
When ESPN began airing ''
SportsCenter
''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...
'' live every weekday morning on August 11, 2008, Elliott was paired as an
anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek ().
Anch ...
with
Hannah Storm for the first three hours of the programming block beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET.
Good Morning America
In May 2011, Elliott joined the team at
ABC's ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...
'' following the departure of previous news anchor
Juju Chang. He also started as a substitute anchor on the weekend edition of ''
ABC World News'', debuting on May 21, 2011. Joined by
Lara Spencer, he also anchored ''Good Afternoon America'', an afternoon spin-off broadcast from July 9 to September 7, 2012, as a temporary replacement for ABC's canceled talk show ''
The Revolution''.
NBC
On March 30, 2014, it was announced by
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to:
* ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
* ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company
ABC News may a ...
President Ben Sherwood that Elliott had signed a contract with
NBC, and would depart ABC News and ''Good Morning America''.
Amy Robach was announced as his immediate replacement. With NBC, Elliott made $4 million per year, but a six-month non-compete clause prohibited him from appearing on news-related programming, relegating him primarily to
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...
programming such as the
2014 Kentucky Derby—where he made his on-air debut. Upon his hiring, it was believed that NBC was contemplating Elliott to serve as a future host of ''
Today''; in response, he told the press that he "
opedMatt Lauer
Matthew Todd Lauer (; born December 30, 1957) is a former American television news personality, best known for his work with NBC News. After serving as a local news personality in New York City on WNBC, his first national exposure was as the ne ...
is here when I step away from this gig 30 years down the road. I can tell you that the only discussions I have had, as they relate to news,
reways to supply sports content to them." Elliott would, eventually, serve as a sports correspondent for the program.
In December 2015, it was reported that Elliott had left NBC.
CBS
On March 1, 2016,
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
announced that it had hired Elliott to serve as the lead anchor for its digital news service
CBSN. Of the hiring, CBS News president
David Rhodes explained that Elliott needed an "outlet", going on to say that "we're going to need from him as much as he can bring in these different areas of reporting and anchoring. It's another reason it's the perfect place for him because it's kind of unlimited. We have some really hard-working people at CBSN, but we don't have enough of them."
On February 10, 2017, Elliott announced on-air that he would be leaving CBSN, but stated "knowing how things work around here, I may see you again on Monday morning". Elliott had been told by an executive that CBS had desired to place him in a larger role as a field correspondent, under which he would have filed reports for CBS's television news programs. However, CBS executives were caught off-guard by the abrupt announcement, and were unaware of any plans for him to be promoted from CBSN.
On February 13, 2017, Elliott was fired.
Other work
Elliott received a local
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in 2005 for writing and contributing to ''Angles'' on
MSG Network and served as one of the co-hosts for
Super Bowl XL
Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2005 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season, Pittsburgh S ...
for
Westwood One Sports. In 2018, Elliott co-hosted ''Yellowstone Live'' on
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...
with wildlife expert
Chris Packham, a four-night event showcasing the
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with feeds from dozens of live cameras and seven camera crews.
Personal life
On July 11, 2015, Elliott married news anchor
Liz Cho.
References
External links
Creative Artists Agency biographyABC News biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Josh
NFL announcers
1971 births
Living people
American television news anchors
American television sports announcers
News & Documentary Emmy Award winners
Journalists from Greater Los Angeles
University of California, Santa Barbara alumni
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni
American adoptees
CBS News people
ESPN people
Jewish American sports journalists
Loyola High School (Los Angeles) alumni