THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 12, 1995 TAG: 9507120045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
PASADENA, Calif.
WHEN THE Hampton High class of 1985 has its 10th reunion Aug. 12, guess who will be the center of attention.
I'll give you a hint.
She is seen often on MTV.
(No. Not Madonna.)
She's been one-on-one on camera with the political world's heaviest hitters. Tonight she will do it again.
She has red hair, shoulder length.
She's the token un-glamorous, un-hip person on a channel that strives to be wall-to-wall hip and glitzy.
You probably guessed by now. Yep, it's Tabitha Soren.
She's only 27 and already worried about losing her looks. Will they still want me on TV when I'm old and wrinkled, she wonders?
I don't see Barbara Walters on the unemployment line, Tabitha.
MTV flew Soren into Los Angeles to tell the TV press - it's the semiannual gathering of the Television Critics Association - about her special tonight at 10. Soren is anchoring ``Newt: Raw,'' in which a panel of 18- to 24-year-olds tosses questions at Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
Contrary to what most parents may think, the bulk of the MTV audience (70 percent) is of voting age. Candidate Bill Clinton helped himself to connect with the young voters by appearing on MTV and answering that question about briefs or shorts.
Now Gingrich takes a shot.
He could be on MTV for an hour, two hours or more. ``Because the channel is essentially videos, we don't have to stick to an hour or 90-minute format,'' said Soren. ``If the show is really good, we'll want him as long as possible.''
She says the name of the show is ``Raw'' because MTV has no plans to edit the tape.
Soren recently anchored an MTV special about reducing child abuse. She's to be a principal reporter on MTV's ``Choose or Lose '96'' election coverage, and she continues to do a network news gig once in a while, as well as writing a bimonthly syndicated column, ``Something to Think About.''
Soren went from totally unknown to TV infobabe almost overnight when MTV assigned her to cover presidential politics in 1992. She was an inexperienced reporter, and it showed.
``I flew by the seat of my pants,'' she said. ``I'll be forever grateful for the help that Andrea Mitchell of NBC and other reporters gave me back then. Maybe in this campaign, I'll finally know what I am doing.''
It bugs her that she is remembered as the reporter who was on the scene when the question about Clinton's underwear came up in an MTV town meeting format.
``I spent 90 bloody minutes talking about subjects such as the anti-crime bill, and then you guys in the press used the boxers or briefs question in your headlines,'' Soren lamented. ``I regret that so much attention was paid to that instead of the matters that were important to young people.''
In the 1996 campaign, Soren and her colleagues - about 150 people work for MTV News - will take to the road in the ``Choose or Lose'' bus.
MTV's senior vice president for news and specials, Dave Sirulnick, said MTV will strive to use the bus for voter registration.
Are the kids in the Hampton High class of 1985 proud of Tabitha or what? Come to think of it, maybe they're sick with envy.
It wasn't enough that she was captain of the cheerleading squad at Hampton High, a member if the National Honor Society and a straight A student.
Now she's on MTV.
Tabitha, you are too much. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Tabitha Soren
by CNB