Story summary
Mike Emanuel joined Fox News in 1997, its first year of existence, before most Americans knew what the network was. He was hired without an interview based on his audition reel by the top executives at Fox News. At that time, the network wasn't widely available on cable TV across America; when he called people for interviews, they often mistook him for a local affiliate and asked where to watch Fox News.
Emanuel's work included sending VHS tapes of aired segments to interview subjects after they agreed to participate in his stories. A month into his job, he was sent to London to cover the death of Princess Diana, an event that initially seemed like it would define his career but turned out to be just the beginning of his extensive coverage of major national and international events.
Fox News started as a startup with uncertain prospects; however, Emanuel trusted in its potential for success. The network's early days were marked by its gradual expansion on cable TV, and employees operated without certain job roles or a guaranteed future.
Written for “Fox News Early Days” on 2026-10-08,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
I was hired at Fox News in the first year of its existence — 1997 — before the vast majority of America knew what it was.
asserted
it → hire → America
In fact, I was hired without a job interview.
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I → hire → interview
The network’s top executives at the time offered me a job as a correspondent based on my audition reel.
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executives → offer → reel
It was an odd feeling to go to work for people I had never met, at a network I had never seen.
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I → go → network
My career manager told me there were smart people at Fox who would likely figure out how to make it a success.
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it → tell → Fox
So, I jumped at the chance to join the startup network.
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I → jump → network
So, when I would call people about doing an interview for a story, they would ask if I was at the local Fox affiliate.
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I → call → affiliate
Then they would ask where they could see Fox News.
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they → ask → News
I told them we were working on it.
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we → tell → it
But if they agreed to do a story with me, I would send them a VHS tape after it aired.
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it → agree → tape
About a month after I started, I was sent to London to work alongside the Fox team covering the death of Princess Diana.
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I → start → Diana
I thought that was going to be the story of my career.
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that → think → career
To be clear, it was a global story, but it was just the start of a truly extraordinary journey covering major national and international news of our time.
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it → cover → time
When I returned to our bureau in Los Angeles, my boss essentially interviewed me about where I had worked before local news in Los Angeles.
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I → return → Angeles
I told him I was at the Fox station in Austin, Texas, covering politics.
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I → tell → politics
His ears perked up and he asked me if I knew then-Gov. George W. Bush.
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I → perk → Bush
I told him the governor had nicknamed me "Mikey" since I covered his first campaign for governor in 1994 and his first couple of years in office.
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I → tell → office
So, he asked if I could get a sit-down interview with Mr. Bush and instructed me to make it happen.
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it → ask → me
After the governor did a couple of interviews with me in 1997, my bosses asked me to move to Dallas to open a bureau there to cover that whole region of the country.
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bosses → do → country
But the message was that if there was a Texas political story, they wanted me there to cover it.
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me → be → it
I covered everything in that region and beyond from 1998 to just after President Bush’s 2001 inauguration.
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I → cover → inauguration
At one point, we were asked to come up with a story on a weekend because we needed more content for weekend shows.
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we → ask → shows
My team pitched going to the world’s largest rattlesnake roundup in Sweetwater, Texas.
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team → pitch → Sweetwater
I think I nearly gave the folks in the control room in New York a stroke when I jumped into the pit with the rattlesnakes.
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I → think → rattlesnakes
I was wearing heavy boots and protective chaps, but the producers were scared to death I was going to end up in the hospital with snake bites.
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I → wear → bites
On election night 2000, I was on the platform in Austin, Texas, waiting to find out if George W. Bush had won or lost the election.
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Bush → wait → election
We heard Vice President Gore had called to concede and then called back to say it was too close.
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it → hear → ?
Then for six weeks I camped out in Austin trying to figure out if Bush would be the 43rd president.
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Bush → camp → Austin
Once that historic election was sorted out, my bosses asked me to move to Washington.
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bosses → sort → Washington
When I arrived in D.C., I had no Washington experience, so my bosses used me to do all kinds of stories.
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bosses → arrive → stories
When President Bush would return to his Crawford, Texas, ranch, they would send me since the president would typically call on me to ask a question if he saw me in the crowd of reporters.
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he → return → reporters
Six months after moving to Washington came Sept. 11, 2001.
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Sept. → move → Washington
While the understandable focus of our coverage was on New York City, there was chaos in Washington, with concerns the White House and the U.S. Capitol could also be targets.
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House → be → concerns
My bosses sent me to the roof of our Washington bureau to do live updates on the situation here.
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bosses → send → situation
From my position, we could see smoke behind me from the Pentagon.
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we → see → Pentagon
Later that day, I was doing reports at the Pentagon.
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I → do → Pentagon
A month later, I was sent to Islamabad, Pakistan, to cover the buildup to the war in Afghanistan.
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I → send → Afghanistan
In early 2002, I was asked to go to Kabul to cover the war.
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I → ask → war
Several of us went from being domestic correspondents to war correspondents virtually overnight.
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Several → go → correspondents
Then in 2005, I was asked to embed with 10th Mountain Division soldiers who were tasked with securing western Baghdad so the Iraqis would be safe going to vote in an election.
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Iraqis → ask → election
…and 27 more, not listed.
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