While working as a CBS investigative correspondent, Attkisson earned Emmy Awards for her Troubled Asset Relief Program and American Red Cross investigative reports and was nominated for Emmys for her "Gunwalker: Fast and Furious" and "Firestone Tire Fiasco" stories.
After earning a broadcast journalism degree from the University of Florida, she worked for a Gainesville, Florida-based PBS station. In 1990, she accepted an anchor position with CNN; three years later, she began her work with CBS.
In the early 2000s, she helped pen a university textbook titled Writing Right for Broadcast and Internet News. In 2014, she wrote and published a book titled Stonewalled: One Reporter's Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama's Washington.
She was born and raised in Sarasota, Florida. After marrying and giving birth to a daughter, she settled in Washington, D.C.
Attkisson was the journalist responsible for disproving Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 claim to have dodged Bosnian snipers.