Rita Braver Biography

Rita Braver is an award winning journalist currently working as a national correspondent for “CBS News Sunday Morning,” since 1998. She reports on everything from arts and culture to politics and foreign policy. In addition, her assignments include a wide variety of topics, from meeting offbeat characters to discerning national trends. Braver joined the network in 1972 as a news editor and producer.

Rita Braver Career

She has interviewed presidents, cabinet secretaries and many celebrities. For “CBS Sunday Morning,” Braver has done profiles of former President Bill Clinton, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen. Furthermore, she has profiled authors including Phillip Roth, E.L. Doctorow and Dav Pilkey of “Captain Underpants” fame. And has talked with entertainers such as James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen.

Most recently, Braver has covered national issues such as political correctness on campus and the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the United States. Additionally, she has taken viewers to exhibits of famed artists such as Vermeer and Chagall, and introduced viewers to contemporary artists José Parlá and Kehinde Wiley.

Before joining “CBS Sunday Morning,” Braver spent four years as CBS News chief White House correspondent (1993-1997) covering a broad range of foreign and domestic issues. She is best known for her investigative journalism of White House scandals such as the Iran-Contra affair. Braver further traveled the world on the White House beat, followed President Bill Clinton through his re-election campaign, and served as a floor reporter at the Democratic Convention. While covering the White House, she was a frequent guest, as well as a guest host of “Face the Nation.”

Prior to being a CBS White House Correspondent, Braver spent a ten years as CBS News chief law correspondent (1983-93) reporting for the “CBS Evening News,” the “CBS Morning News,” “48 Hours,” “Street Stories” and “Public Eye.” Her beat included the U.S. Supreme Court, the Justice Department and all federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI and DEA. Moreover, she covered the Iran-Contra case during the Reagan administration and the drug trial of Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry. Braver also broke the story of the Walker family spy ring, as well as the case of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.  

Braver has received nine national Emmy Awards, including one for investigative reporting and two for covering the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In addition, she won the Joan Barone Award presented by the Congressional Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association, and the Star Award from American Women in Radio and Television. Braver was also named an Outstanding Mother by the National Mother’s Day Committee.

Braver grew up at CBS News, joining the Washington Bureau in 1972 as a news desk editor and producer after her marriage to attorney Robert B. Barnett on 10 April 1972. She began her career in journalism at CBS affiliate WWL-TV in New Orleans as a copy girl. Braver is a mother of one daughter, Meredith Jane Barnett who married Daniel Ross Penn in a Jewish ceremony and is the proud grandmother of three. She was born and raised in a Jewish Family in Silver Spring, Maryland. Braver graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from University of Wisconsin- Madison.

Rita Braver Age

Braver was born in Silver Spring, Maryland on 12 April, 1948 and is now 76 years old as of 2024.

Rita Braver Height

She stands at an average height of 5 feet 5 inches (1.65m) tall.

Rita Braver Education

Braver graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from University of Wisconsin- Madison.

Rita Braver Family

She was born and raised in a Jewish Family in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her father died while she was a teenager and has two sister siblings, Bettie Braver Sugar and Sharon Braver Cohen.

Rita Braver Husband

Braver tied the knot with her husband Robert B. Barnett on 10 April 1972 in a Jewish ceremony. He is an attorney by profession and the couple met in college.

Rita Braver Children

She is a mother to one child, a daughter Meredith Jane Barnett born in 1978 and married to Daniel Rose Penn in a Jewish ceremony in Washington D.C. Braver is a proud grandmother of three