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Christiane Amanpour

Christiane Amanpour, CBE, (born January 12, 1958) (کریستین امان‌پور) is the chief international correspondent for CNN. As of July 2008, she is based in New York City.

Biography

Early years

Shortly after her birth in London, her father Mohammad, an Iranian airline executive, and her British mother Patricia, moved the family to Tehran. The Amanpours led a privileged life under the government of the Shah of Iran. She returned to England in 1969 and her family fled Iran after the Islamic Revolution ten years later.

Amanpour moved to the United States to study journalism at the University of Rhode Island. During her time there she worked in the News Department at WBRU-FM Providence. One of her college housemates was John F. Kennedy Jr, who was attending Brown University; they remained close friends until his death in 1999. Amanpour graduated from URI summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Journalism degree in 1983.

Career

After graduation in 1983, she worked for NBC affiliate WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island as an electronic graphics designer. In 1983, she was hired by CNN. In 1989, she was posted to Frankfurt, Germany, where she reported on the democratic revolutions sweeping Eastern Europe at the time.

It was her coverage of the Persian Gulf War that followed Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in 1990 that made her famous, while also taking the network to a new level of news coverage. Thereafter, she reported from the Bosnian war and many other conflict zones. Her emotional delivery from Sarajevo during the Siege of Sarajevo led some viewers and critics to question her professional objectivity, claiming that many of her reports were unjustified and in favour towards the Bosnians, to which she replied, "There are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about, because when you are neutral you are an accomplice. Objectivity doesn't mean treating all sides equally. It means giving each side a hearing.

From 1996–2005, she contracted with CBS to file four to five in-depth, international news reports a year as a special contributor on that network's newsmagazine program, 60 Minutes. These reports garnered a Peabody Award in 1998, adding to the Peabody she was awarded in 1993.

Based out of CNN's London bureau, Amanpour is one of the most recognized international correspondents on American television, with a willingness to work in dangerous conflict zones. She speaks English, Persian, and French fluently.

She has had many memorable moments in her career, one of them being a telephone interview with Yasser Arafat during the siege on his compound in March 2002, during which Chairman Arafat hung up on her. Another was landing the first and only post-election interview of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by a Western journalist in 2005, despite some trepidation that this strident disciple of the now deceased Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini would raise the issue of the Amanpour family's ties to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was deposed by a revolution led by Khomeini with Ahmadinejad's active involvement. The interview proved this concern to be unwarranted.

She interviewed North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan on February 26 2008 after the New York Philharmonic visit to North Korea.

Personal life

In 1998 Christiane married James Rubin who at the time was an Assistant Secretary of State and spokesman for the US State Department. A son Darius John Rubin was born in 2000. The family reside in New York City. Whilst Amanpour's father is a Muslim, Christiane herself is instead part of Iran's Christian minority and reports no problems with the Muslim majority.

Amanpour's sister Lizzy is a producer for Channel 4 in the UK.

Awards and recognition

1991, Breakthrough Award from "Women, Men and Media"
1992, Livingston Award for Young Journalists
1993, George Polk Award for Television Reporting, 1996).
1993, George Foster Peabody awards
1994, Woman of the Year, New York Chapter of "Women in Cable"
1994, Courage in Journalism Award, International Women's Media Foundation
1996, George Polk Award for Television Reporting
1997, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, Emory University
1997, Nymphe d’Honneur at the Monte Carlo Television Festival
1998, George Foster Peabody awards
2002, Edward R. Murrow Award for Distinguished Achievement in Broadcast Journalism
2002, Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism, at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government
2005, International Emmy, International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
2006, Honorary citizen, city of Sarajevo
2006, Honorary doctorate degree from the University of Michigan for her contributions to journalism
2007, CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours
2008, Honorary degree from Smith College
Director on the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists
Fellow, Society of Professional Journalists
Nine Emmy news/documentary awards
Major role in two DuPont awards given to CNN
Major role in a Golden CableACE award given to CNN
Honorary Board Member of the Daniel Pearl Foundation
Sigma Chi Award (SDX) for her reports from Goma, Zaire
Forbes magazine named her one of the 100 Most Powerful Women
WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival Gold Award
POP Award, by "Cable Positive"
Persian Woman of the Year 2007