Vargas is the first woman to anchor an evening newscast in the U.S. since Connie Chung, and the first woman of Puerto Rican and Irish American heritage to be named a network nightly news anchor. She is said to be particularly proud of an ABC special report in which she questioned why the Laci Peterson case merited more attention than two other similar cases, one involving a black woman and the other involving a Hispanic woman. Another story she did, based on the book The Da Vinci Code and the role of Mary Magdalene, helped fuel a nationwide religious debate. Vargas stated that for centuries Mary Magdalene has been portrayed as a prostitute by the church, despite evidence to the contrary. She went on to question the strictly limited role of women within the church. In 1999, she won an Emmy Award for her coverage of the Elián González story and in 1998, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her 20/20 investigation into the wrongful conviction of Betty Tyson.

As Peter Jennin