Sonya Crawford Bearson is a Korean-born former broadcast journalist who worked forABC News as a special-events anchor and correspondent in Washington, D.C. from 2002 until 2007.
Born inSeoul, South Korea, the daughter of American missionary Dave Crawford and Korean Sue Hong,[1][2] she grew up in Seoul before studying atStanford University where she obtained a bachelor's degree in political science and communication.
She worked as a television reporter forKorean Broadcasting System (KBS), covering the1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and later as a reporter forSeoul Broadcasting System covering the1992 Summer Olympics inBarcelona, Spain.
From 1993 to 1994 she was a reporter and assistant producer onPublic Radio International'sMarketplace, which she followed by three years as Associate Producer ofDateline NBC in Los Angeles. In 1999 she worked for reporter and substitute anchor forNBC'sKNBC-TV in Los Angeles. In November 2001 she started at ABC news as Washington-based correspondent, where she worked until leaving to raise a family in June 2007.
Major events covered by Sonya Crawford include the2004 Republican National Convention, the funeral of US PresidentRonald Reagan, theIraq War, the funeral ofPope John Paul II and the election of his successorPope Benedict XVI.
She was a national board member of theAsian American Journalists Association and is on the board of directors of Lionshare, a Christian evangelical organization.[3] In 2005 she married Darren Bearson, an executive at the coal industry lobby organizationAmerican Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity and formerRepublican Party functionary.[4]