Chris Jansing

Christine 'Chris' Jansing (born Christine Kapostasy, January 30, 1957) is an American television news correspondent. She currently works for NBC News as a dayside anchor on MSNBC.

Jansing was born in Fairport Harbor, Ohio and is the youngest of twelve children of Joseph and Tilly Kapostasy, of Hungarian and Slovakian descent.

Career

Kapostasy first was exposed to journalism while doing college radio in Ohio. Originally a political science major, Kapostasy became hooked on journalism and switched majors to broadcast journalism and graduated from Otterbein College in Ohio in 1978.

Pre-1981

• Kapostasy began her career in AM radio anchor positions during the late 1970s, at WOKO (now WDDY) in Albany, New York and WIPS-AM in Ticonderoga, New York. In 1980 and 1981, she worked at WTRY-AM (now WOFX (AM)) in Troy, New York.

1981

• Kapostasy is hired as a general assignment reporter by WNYT in Albany, New York. Subsequently, Kapostasy is promoted to anchor, eventually teaming up with local news anchor Ed Dague. For over a decade the Dague/Kapostasy anchor team ruled Albany television.

1996

• Kapostasy receives an Emmy Award for her coverage of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing at the Olympic Games in Atlanta.
• Kapostasy receives a "Best Person" award from the New York State Broadcasters Association for her report on hunger in New York State.

1998

• An NBC News executive, vacationing in upstate New York, sees Kapostasy on WNYT. Kapostasy leaves WNYT after 17 years and is hired by NBC News and goes to work at NBC's cable news channel MSNBC in June 1998. Kapostasy takes on her married name of Jansing with the move to MSNBC. Jansing's duties outside of MSNBC include reporting for Dateline NBC and substituting on Weekend Today and the weekend edition of NBC Nightly News.
• On November 12, Jansing has an exclusive one hour live interview with O.J. Simpson on MSNBC's Newsfront program.

1999

• Jansing covers the funeral of John F. Kennedy, Jr..

2000

• In March, Jansing travels to Jerusalem to cover Pope John Paul II's pilgrimage to the Holy Land live for the network.
• Jansing spends 37 days in Tallahassee, Florida covering the 2000 Presidential Election and the vote recount that ensued between George W. Bush and Al Gore. When the Florida-Florida State football game occurs, she is forced to bunk in a law student dorm because the hotels are filled up.

2001

• Jansing reports for MSNBC on the story of the execution of Timothy McVeigh in Terre Haute, Indiana live from Oklahoma City.
• Jansing is live on the air on MSNBC during the September 11 attacks.
• Jansing anchors the invasion of Afghanistan for MSNBC.

2002

• With the Afghan conflict and the War On Terror receding a bit in the public's consciousness, MSNBC makes a bizarre programming move still talked about to this day. MSNBC changes its format away from hard news and institutes four hours of talking head style coverage. Jansing's role at MSNBC is reduced to five minute news updates during the Curtis and Kuby and Buchanan and Press shows. MSNBC's ratings tumble and within a few months Curtis and Kuby is cancelled and Buchanan and Press is scaled back to one hour. Jansing resumes anchoring MSNBC news coverage full time.

2003

• When the Iraq War began Jansing anchored the coverage for MSNBC in the mornings working 8 hour shifts on the air for 14 days straight.

2004

• Jansing hits the campaign trail starting in January. For the next ten months, she cris-crosses the country, reporting from the road on the 2004 primaries, the Democratic National Convention, the Republican National Convention, and the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates, periodically returning to MSNBC's Secaucus studios to anchor MSNBC Live. She hosts three "Battleground America" specials, the second of which wins an award, on the issues and tactics involved in the 2004 election. She covers the 2004 presidential election on election night from Ohio.
• During that time Jansing also anchors a series of MSNBC specials on the Abu Ghraib scandal and the 9/11 Commission.

2005

• Jansing covers the second inauguration of George W. Bush.
• Jansing heads to Rome, ostensibly to cover Pope John Paul II during Easter. However after Easter, the Pope, already frail, passes away while she is in Rome and Jansing covers his funeral and the choosing of his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. For the ceremony installing the new Pope, Jansing anchors the coverage with Chris Matthews exclusively for both MSNBC and NBC.
• Jansing covers the launch and landing of Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-114, the first return-to-flight mission after the Columbia disaster, doing several space themed specials during that period as well.
• Jansing anchors a new periodic series on MSNBC called "The Ethical Edge", the concept of which sprung from her experiences in Rome earlier in the year.

2006

• Jansing, along with Alison Stewart, covers the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy for MSNBC.
• Jansing anchors coverage of the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery.

2007

• Jansing moves west, temporarily, as LA based general assignment reporter for NBC News.

2008

• Jansing moves west as full-time correspondent for the LA Bureau of NBC News. Jansing reports for NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, the Today Show, and MSNBC. She also acts as a contributing anchor for MSNBC.

2010

• Jansing reported from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics doing short biographical pieces as well as NBC News updates.
• June 1st Jansing returns to MSNBC HQ in NYC as anchor of the 10am and 3pm news hours.
• October 2010, Jansing gets new msnbc show co-anchoring with Richard Lui weekday mornings from 10am - 12pm ET.

Biographical

• Jansing is a believer in giving back to the community and especially to helping children. She has taken time off to speak aspiring journalists at colleges and universities across the country on her experiences as a broadcast journalist.
• In 1993, The Vermont State Legislature passed a resolution honoring Chris Kapostasy for her commitment to youth issues, in particular her "Monday's Child" segments on WNYT which matched children with Big Brother and Big Sister mentors.
• The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York established a scholarship in her name: The Christine Kapostasy Jansing Endowed Scholarship in Public Communications.
• In 2003, Jansing received a Special Achievement Award from Otterbein College.
• In 2006, Jansing participated in the Communities In Schools program Lunch With a Leader to raise money for the North Carolina chapter of the charity. The program consisted of a series of eBay auctions where pariticpants bid for the chance to have lunch with a leader in a particular industry.

Personal

• Jansing is divorced and is nicknamed Chris "legs" Jansing by many who admire her lovely stems.

External links

• NBC News bio