During an age when members of the news media are increasingly finding themselves at risk – both at home and abroad – for doing their jobs, how do journalists differentiate between coverage that is balanced, objective, neutral and, most importantly, truthful? This is one of the many questions CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour will address when she returns to speak on Sept. 26 in her namesake lecture series.
A 1983 alumna and 1995 honorary degree recipient, Amanpour endowed an annual speaker series in 2007, which is designed to bring well-respected journalists to campus each year. Among those who have spoken at the annual Amanpour Lecture are: Stephen Adler, president and editor-in-chief of Reuters News; Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter C.J. Chivers of The New York Times; author and former ABC News journalist Carole Radziwill; and Charles Sennott, former Boston Globe Middle East bureau chief, who also founded both the Ground Truth Project and Global Post.
In addition to serving as CNN’s chief international anchor, Amanpour is host of the network’s award-winning flagship global affairs program “Amanpour,” which also airs on PBS in the United States. Amanpour’s career in journalism spans more than three decades. She joined CNN in 1983 as an entry-level assistant on the international assignment desk at CNN’s Atlanta headquarters and rose through the organization, becoming a reporter at the New York bureau, and later the network’s leading international correspondent. She has reported on international crises in the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Palestinian territories, Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, Rwanda, the Balkans, Egypt and Libya, among others.
Over the past two decades Amanpour has interviewed most of the top world leaders and received every major broadcast award, including an inaugural Television Academy Award, 11 News and Documentary Emmys, four George Foster Peabody Awards, and nine honorary degrees.
Amanpour is a board member of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Centre for Public Integrity, and the International Women’s Media Foundation. She has used her profile to raise awareness of key global issues and journalists’ rights.