Out in News: May 2007 Archives

Headline News anchor Thomas Roberts left CNN on May 1, TVNewser has confirmed.
"After five years, he has decided to leave us, with intentions to settle in the Washington, D.C., area," Ken Jautz wrote in a memo on Monday. His final major on-air appearance came last month, as he recounted being sexually abused by a priest for a 360 special hosted by Anderson Cooper.
Jautz's memo said Roberts will be "pursuing new journalistic opportunities." TVNewer wonders: Is it related to this tip/question: "What Headline News anchor has inked a syndication deal?"
Last fall, Roberts did a really brave thing in Miami at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Assn. Convention: he appeared on a panel to discuss what it's like to be a gay anchor. Although he hadn't been in the closet at the cable network, it was a major step toward becoming more public about who he is.
Coincidentally or not, the mid-afternoon Headline News show he anchored was pulled off the air and he never appeared as prominently on the network again, relgated to reporting and weekend anchor shifts.
In Miami, Roberts told us he has spent too many years being "very, very buttoned up."
"I wasted way too much time worrying about this and I didn't want to do it anymore," he said. "There's no more time to lie."
What gave Roberts the courage to be out to be out from the beginning at CNN was a change in priorities and the realization that living a double life, even for a very promising career, isn't really living.
"My personal life is much more important to me than the professional," he said. "It switched for me in my late 20s."
So when he was interviewing at CNN, he asked the recruiter if it was going to be a safe environment for him, a gay man, even though he wasn't asked if he was gay or not during that or any other interview.
"When you hold something back, that's all anybody wants to know...and it becomes bigger than it is."
At CNN, Roberts co-anchored the network's coverage of the Columbia Space Shuttle tragedyin 2003 as well as the war in Iraq. He also reported from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and also covered the 2004 presidential election. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2002, the year after he won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award.
"I do hope that for younger journalists and people coming up, that they can have an example out there of people who have found a safe haven and have had success because he's a scary business," Roberts told me im Miami. "CNN was extremely supportive of me."
Good luck Thomas!