After receiving her Masters degree in journalism, Angie Cannon started her career as a staff writer at the Miami Herald. She then moved to the San Francisco Chronicle, where she covered education, and The Detroit News, where she reported on city government. Following these newspaper jobs, Cannon covered the White House and then the Justice Department for the Knight-Ridder Washington bureau. In 1998 Cannon became a senior writer for U.S. News and World Report, where she covered national legal, political, criminal, and social issues. In 2003. with help from fellow writers at U.S. News, Cannon co-wrote 23 Days of Terror, a reflection on the Washington, D.C. sniper shootings.