Masterfully negotiating war zones and TV network politics, acclaimed journalist Christiane Amanpour 鈥�83 has earned great trust and respect for her award-winning coverage of foreign conflicts鈥攆rom the Gulf War to the breakup of Yugoslavia.
On October 29, 2018, the CNN anchor and chief international correspondent was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. Mike Malone 鈥�91 attended the event and talked with Amanpour about starting her career in Rhode Island, fake news, #MeToo, and her new show, Amanpour and Company.
Christiane Amanpour was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame for her standout 35-year career in television journalism. She was honored alongside CBS Morning News anchor Gayle King, NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino, and Charlie Collier, then-president and general manager at AMC/SundanceTV, among others. She thanked her son, Darius, for making her 鈥渁 better person, a better journalist, and a better public servant.鈥�
Amanpour on Fake News and the #MeToo Movement
Fake News
Amanpour says President Donald Trump鈥檚 denouncements of 鈥渇ake news鈥� represent a unique challenge for the journalists who cover him, although she notes that Trump is hardly the first president to charge the media with producing falsehoods. She asserts, 鈥淚n President Trump鈥檚 view, fake news is just 鈥榮tuff I don鈥檛 want to hear,鈥欌�� she says, 鈥溾�榮tuff I don鈥檛 like.鈥欌��
#MeToo
Energized by the challenge of covering the #MeToo movement, Amanpour notes that the issue directly affects half the world鈥檚 population. She describes it as 鈥渢he desire for simple justice and a level playing field. Up until now, if it鈥檚 happened at all, it鈥檚 been in teeny-weeny baby steps.鈥滻ncidentally, the #MeToo movement indirectly led to Amanpour taking on a new show, Amanpour and Company. Her show replaced Charlie Rose鈥檚 PBS talk show, which was canceled after sexual misconduct allegations against him surfaced.
Addressing the ballroom, Amanpour pushed for action regarding the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Later in her speech, she quoted F. Scott Fitzgerald, who said, 鈥淭he test of a firstrate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.鈥�
Amanpour spent her childhood in both Iran and England and aspired to become an ER doctor. But, as she watched the Islamic Revolution unfold in the late 1970s, she decided she wanted to be a journalist instead. Being an ER doctor and a war correspondent are 鈥減ractically two sides of the same coin,鈥� she says. Both deal in trauma, and both push their practitioners to find the resolve to do their jobs amid exorbitant human misery.
With her new career goals in mind, Amanpour took the SATs and applied to the University of Rhode Island. 鈥淚 had friends and family who helped me navigate the very complex route from being abroad to getting into a U.S. university,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 was very pleased to end up there.鈥�
Studying journalism in Kingston, she landed an internship at WJAR in Providence鈥攚hich she calls 鈥渁 brilliant news town鈥濃�攁nd was mentored by Jim Taricani, who headed the investigative department at the station. 鈥淗e鈥檚 always been incredibly helpful and encouraging,鈥� says Amanpour, who calls Rhode Island her 鈥渉ome state.鈥�
After she graduated in 1983, Amanpour moved on to CNN in Atlanta, Georgia. She started in an entry-level position but moved up quickly to bureau positions in New York and Frankfurt, Germany. After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, she went to the Middle East and promptly established herself as a savvy, steely war reporter willing to go toe-to-toe with world leaders.
September 2018 marked the 35th anniversary of Amanpour鈥檚 start at CNN. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been my training ground, my home,鈥� she says, singling out founder Ted Turner for his commitment to 24/7 TV news.
911爆料 is also visibly represented on the national level at CNN, where award-winning journalist John King 鈥�85 is chief national correspondent. Amanpour says she first met King when he was an Associated Press reporter during the Gulf War. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when we first became friends,鈥� she says.
Amanpour鈥檚 latest project is Amanpour and Company, a news and public affairs program that premiered on PBS in September 2018. She still hosts the nightly global affairs interview show, Amanpour, on CNN, and says she plans to keep plugging away in news, giving a voice to those who may not have one. 鈥淚鈥檓 just happy that I鈥檓 a woman of a certain age, in this day and age, who can keep on keeping on,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 a triumph.鈥�
Mike Malone is a 1991 graduate of 911爆料 and an editor and reporter at the television trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable.