Christiane Amanpour, (born January 12, 1958,
London,
England), English-born journalist who, as a correspondent for the
Cable News Network (CNN), was one of the leading war reporters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. She later hosted the
ABC news program
This Week in 201011.
Amanpours father, an Iranian airline executive, moved the family to Tehrān shortly after her birth. Politically connected and wealthy, the Amanpours led a privileged life in
Iran. At age 11, Amanpour was sent back to England to attend the Holy Cross Convent School in Buckinghamshire. She stayed at Holy Cross until she was 16, when she went to the exclusive New Hall School, the oldest Roman Catholic girls school in the
United Kingdom. In January 1979 the
Islamic revolution in Iran toppled
the shah, forcing many of his followers to leave the country, the Amanpour family among them. Her father lost everything he had owned in Iran. Amanpour later credited her desire to be a journalist to this firsthand experience.
Amanpour subsequently moved to the
United States. She attended the
University of Rhode Island, graduating with a degree in
journalism in 1983. She went to work for an NBC affiliate in
Providence, Rhode Island, but in September 1983 she was hired at the fledgling CNN as an assistant for the international news desk. By 1986 she was working at CNNs
New York City bureau as a producer-correspondent. Amanpour received her big break in 1989 when she was promoted to a post in Frankfurt, then in West Germany. She arrived there at an opportune time; the pro-democracy movement was sweeping eastern Europe, and Amanpour quickly became CNNs on-the-spot reporter.
Amanpour gained distinction in Europe, but it was during the
Persian Gulf War (199091) that she became a familiar face. She covered the conflict from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait to the eventual triumph of the U.S.-led coalition. After the war she reported on the Kurdish uprising in northern
Iraq. In 1992 Amanpour went to Bosnia and Herzegovina to cover the
outbreak of violence that she thought would become my generations war. Her reporting was credited with bringing the savage nature of that conflict to the attention of the world, although some criticized her for what they thought was her tendency to editorialize rather than report, claiming that she was clearly biased against the Serbs.
While continuing to report from the field as CNNs chief international correspondent, Amanpour occasionally contributed (19962005) to the
CBS newsmagazine program
60 Minutes. For CNN she produced a series of programs that delved deeper into an issue than was possible on a nightly news show. Her documentaries include
Where Have All the Parents Gone? (2006), which focused on Kenyan children who had been orphaned because of AIDS;
In the Footsteps of bin Laden (2006); and
The War Within (2007), a report on Islamic unrest in the United Kingdom. She also presented the six-hour series
Gods Warriors (2007), which dealt with the defenders of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Amanpour later hosted the CNN interview series
Amanpour (200910).
n 2010 Amanpour left CNN to join the news division at ABC, and she became host of ABCs political affairs show
This Week later that year. She stepped down from the program, however, in December 2011. In a special arrangement, she then returned to her role at CNN while continuing at ABC as its global affairs anchor.
Amanpour was the recipient of numerous honours, including an Edward R. Murrow Award (2002). In 2007 she was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Source :
Christiane Amanpour (journalist) -- Encyclopedia Britannica