CBS 48 Hours
Mysteries
Sue McHugh knew she wanted to be a journalist at the age
of 14. Of course, she also wanted to be President of the United
States, an endeavor her high school journalism teacher soundly
discouraged. So she became the first female president of her
co-ed high school and then the first woman president of her
college honor society. Sue double majored in journalism and
political science and after graduating from the University of
California at Berkeley, she was on her way to law school.
That was until she found out that she could get a Master’s
degree in Journalism in just one year at her alma mater.
Moreover, the University of California at Berkeley Graduate
School of Journalism was offering a class in television news and
only 6 students would be accepted. Sue ended up being one of
only two women in that class and once exposed to a career in
broadcast journalism she was hooked.
On-air reporting jobs in Santa Barbara, Sacramento and San
Francisco followed. In Santa Barbara she was a News Director and
in San Francisco Sue moved from local reporter to national
correspondent for the CNN Bureau.
Recognizing that she loved getting the story more than being on
television, Sue moved behind the scenes as a producer for CBS
stations covering the 1984 Democratic convention in San
Francisco and the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. On the heels of
that last assignment, the trial of Jon DeLorean was underway in
Southern California and Sue got her first taste of the law and
order news stories that would fill most of the rest of her
professional life.
The irony that she had never returned to the legal education she
had postponed for her graduate degree in journalism was not lost
on Sue as she became the CBS News legal producer on the OJ
Simpson civil trial in Santa Monica as well as the Oklahoma City
bombing trials in Denver. From there she segued to the CBS News
prime time news magazine “48 Hours” which eventually evolved
into full time production of murder mysteries and real courtroom
dramas.
Before settling into what Sue refers to as her “Murders R Us”
career, she worked on a number of other syndicated and cable
productions and pilots including “Sturgis USA”, a
post-conviction DNA pilot for CBS, “Temptation Island”, “Dr.
Laura”, “Anatomy of Crime”, “Real TV”, The Popcorn Channel and
“The Crusaders”.
As a field producer for the current edition of the CBS News
franchise “48 Hours Mystery” Sue spends a lot of time in court
and in jail working with prosecutors, defense attorney,
defendants, victims, survivors, police and private
investigators. She considers the courtroom a “live theater” with
consequences. Sue infuses her coverage of every case with the
tenet that the accused is innocent until proven guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt.
Her goal is to present the most complete information about the
case and Sue knows she has done her job if both sides either
love or hate the broadcast and the viewers are debating the
final outcome.
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