Joshua Paul Mankiewicz is an American TV journalist who is famous for his show, Dateline NBC. The famous program has been on air since 1995. He has also been seen in many other shows on NBC platforms.
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Background
Josh was born as the son of Holly and Frank Mankiewicz. He comes from a very famous and notable family. His grandfather, Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote Citizen Kane. Citizen Kane is one of the most famous movies in cinema history. It is often listed as the top movie on prestigious film lists like the American Film Institute’s top movies. Just having Herman as a grandfather would make Josh’s family very famous but he has even more significant people in his family tree.
His father was a press secretary for the government when Robert F Kennedy was assassinated. His father lived through a turbulent time in American history. He has a brother named Ben who is a radio personality. Many of his cousins are in the media industry too.
Josh graduated from Haverford in 1977 to complete his college education. His father has talked a lot about his mother in many interviews but Josh has never talked about his parents, siblings and childhood. His father is Jewish and his mother was a Mormon. His mother was recently divorced when she met her college friend and future husband in Columbia. His parents got married in 1952.
Journalism Career
Josh started his career with the WJLA TV station in Washington. He worked there from 1980 to 1982. In 1982, he took up a job with ABC News. He was a part of Good Morning America, ABC Weekend News and many other programs. He also worked for WCBS TV as a political correspondent. In 1991, he worked with KCAL TV but quit the job in 1993. In the same year, he started working with Fox. In 1995, he joined ABC News. He has covered a lot of important events including Hurricane Katrina, the presidential campaigns of 1996 and 2000 and many other major stories.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Josh provided a rare look into his life and work. It isn’t a shocker that Josh would fall in line with a journalist career because of his family genes. Huffington Post asked him if his interest in the journalism field was started by his expertise in true crime stories or if his Dateline job was the catalyst.
Josh who has worked at Dateline for over two decades was reflective when speaking about his most notable job, “I’ve been at Dateline since 1995. We’re coming up on 22 years and we were covering other things when we started. Around 10 years ago - in 2006 or so - we started doing more true crime because the audience really seemed to like it and respond to it. There were great human interest stories out there that we were missing by not covering true crime.”
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Josh and the producers at Dateline knew that the true crime stories were striking a chord with viewers and the ratings reflected the success of their programming choice. They felt that there was a space in the journalism industry that was not being focused on by the local news, “It’s really about human interest stories and how the human dynamic – the marriage or the relationship – suddenly has twists and turns that interests viewers. We’re not covering the bank robbery because those stories are in the local news. We’re telling the stories that have as much to do with the relationships of the people involved as the crime. I think this does have something to do with why women (specifically) are so into true crime. “
The success of true crime stories and series on Netflix is confirming that Josh and his team at Dateline were ahead of their time. They had a good pulse on the audience and want the audience were expecting out of them every time they tuned in, “The popularity has to do with a couple of things: There are the surprises in the storytelling and the way we take you from beginning to end. It’s something the audience appreciates. Also, for a long time in America we’ve felt we’re living in a time in which nothing seems to work in the right way: The line ahead of you is too long or you’re at the airport or parking lot and things are not moving as they should be, or they haven’t fixed that damn pothole on the street and you’re paying too much in taxes. “
Personal Life
Josh got married in 2016 when he was 60 years old. He met his wife Ahn Tu Gang while they were both getting cleared in the TSA line. Ahn is the owner of a home health care business. He met Ahn in 2009 when they caught each other’s attention. Josh mentioned that Ahn was standing in front of him and he was literally staring at her for a long time. He started talking and she responded. At the end, Josh gave his business card to Ahn. He searched details about Ahn Tu Dang on the internet after reaching home but he couldn’t find any information. Josh was worried that he would never see Ahn again.
On the other side, Ahn looked up Josh on the internet and found out that he was a celebrity. Ahn first thought that Josh would have a big ego. After waiting for four weeks, she gave him a call. He invited her for lunch and they started dating. After a month, they started to take things slowly and Josh started dating another woman. In 2013, they met each other again by change and Josh invited her to lunch again. After five months of dating, Ahn found out that she had breast cancer and had to perform double mastectomy. Josh was supportive of her and they got married in 2016. Their relationship is going smooth without any problems or rumors about a possible separation.
Josh’s previous love interests are not known to the media. Since he had kept his relationships secretive in the past, there were many rumors about him being gay. He never addressed any of those rumors. Since there were no proof of his homosexuality, the rumors died off quickly.
Last Modified: May 11, 2020
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