1983–2010: Cable News Network (CNN) In 1983, Amanpour was hired by CNN on the foreign desk in
Atlanta, Georgia, as an entry-level desk assistant. By 1986, she served as a correspondent for CNN's New York bureau. In 1989, she was assigned to work in
Frankfurt am Main,
West Germany, where she reported on the democratic revolutions sweeping Eastern Europe at the time. Following
Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in 1990, Amanpour's reports of the
Persian Gulf War brought her wide notice. Thereafter, she reported from the
Bosnian war and other conflict zones. While in Bosnia, she interviewed
Serb general
Ratko Mladic, who would later be convicted of
genocide. Because of her emotional delivery from
Sarajevo during the
Siege of Sarajevo, viewers and critics questioned her professional objectivity, claiming that many of her reports were unjustified and favoured the
Bosnian Muslims, to which she replied: Amanpour gained a reputation for fearlessness during the Gulf and Bosnian wars for reporting from conflict areas. From 1992 to 2010, Amanpour was CNN's chief international correspondent. From 2009 to 2010, she was the anchor of
Amanpour, a daily CNN interview program. Amanpour has reported on major crises from many of the world's hotspots, including
Iraq,
Afghanistan,
Palestine,
Iran,
Israel,
Pakistan,
Somalia,
Rwanda, and the
Balkans and from the United States during
Hurricane Katrina. She has secured exclusive interviews with world leaders from the Middle East to Europe, Africa and beyond, including Iranian presidents
Mohammad Khatami and
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as the presidents of Afghanistan,
Sudan, and
Syria, among others. After
9/11, she was the first international correspondent to interview British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, French President
Jacques Chirac, and Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf. Other interviewees have included
Hillary Clinton,
Nicolás Maduro,
Hassan Rouhani,
Emmanuel Macron,
Angela Merkel,
John Kerry, the
Dalai Lama,
Robert Mugabe and
Moammar Gadhafi. She has also conducted interviews with
Constantine II of Greece,
Reza Pahlavi,
Ameera al-Taweel and actors
Angelina Jolie,
Tom Hanks and
Meryl Streep. From 1996 to 2005, she was contracted by
60 Minutes creator
Don Hewitt to file four to five in-depth international news reports a year as a special contributor. These reports garnered her a
Peabody Award in 1998 (she had earlier been awarded one in 1993). Hewitt's successor
Jeff Fager terminated her contract.
During the Bosnian War On 9 October 1994,
Stephen Kinzer of
The New York Times criticized Amanpour's general coverage of the Bosnian War. Kinzer quoted a colleague's description of Amanpour as she reported on a terrorist
bombing in the
Markale marketplace of the Bosnian city of
Sarajevo: [Christiane Amanpour] was sitting in
Belgrade when that marketplace massacre happened, and she went on air to say that the
Serbs had probably done it. There was no way she could have known that. She assumed an omniscience that no journalist has. Amanpour has responded to the criticism levelled on her reporting from the war in the former Yugoslavia for "lack of neutrality", stating: Some people accused me of being pro–Muslim in Bosnia, but I realized that our job is to give all sides an equal hearing, but in cases of genocide, you can't just be neutral. You can't just say, "Well, this little boy was shot in the head and killed in besieged Sarajevo and that guy over there did it, but maybe he was upset because he argued with his wife." No, there is no equality, and we had to tell the truth. In 2019, retired commander of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Saeed Qassemi spoke of his and his comrades' participation as combatants in the Bosnian War, with him having been disguised as staff of the
Iranian Red Crescent Society. Shortly after, in April 2019, Qassemi claimed that Amanpour had uncovered their deception.
2010–2012: ABC News On 18 March 2010, Amanpour announced she would leave CNN for ABC News, where she would anchor
This Week. She said, "I'm thrilled to be joining the incredible team at ABC News. Being asked to anchor
This Week in the superb tradition started by
David Brinkley is a tremendous and rare honor, and I look forward to discussing the great domestic and international issues of the day. I leave CNN with the utmost respect, love, and admiration for the company and everyone who works here. This has been my family and shared endeavor for the past 27 years, and I am forever grateful and proud of all that we have accomplished." She hosted her first broadcast on 1 August 2010. During her first two months as host, the ratings for
This Week reached their lowest point since 2003. On 28 February 2011, she interviewed
Muammar Gaddafi and his sons
Saif al-Islam and
Al-Saadi Gaddafi. On 13 December 2011, ABC announced Amanpour would be leaving her post as anchor of ABC News'
This Week on 8 January 2012 and returning to CNN International, where she had previously worked for 27 years and maintained a reporting role at ABC News.
Since 2012: Return to CNN ,
John Kerry in
Vienna, Austria dated on 14 July 2015. A day later on 14 December 2011, in statements by ABC and CNN, it was announced that in a "unique arrangement", Amanpour would begin hosting a program on CNN International in 2012 while continuing at ABC News as a global affairs anchor. It was later revealed that in the spring of 2012, CNN International would refresh its line-up, putting the interview show
Amanpour back on air. On-air promotions said she would return to CNN International on 16 April. Her 30-minute New York-recorded show – to be screened twice an evening – would mean that the US parent network's
Piers Morgan Tonight interview show would be "bumped" out of its 9:00 p.m. (Central European Time) slot to midnight (CET). On 9 September 2013, the show and staff were moved to the CNN International office and the show is currently being produced and broadcast from London. On 7 January 2015, Amanpour made headlines during a "Breaking News" segment on CNN by referring to the Islamic extremists who murdered the 12 journalists at
Charlie Hebdo as "activists": "On this day, these activists found their targets, and their targets were journalists. This was a clear attack on the freedom of expression, on the press, and on satire". On 28 January 2019, Christiane Amanpour and Mary Ellen Schmider and Manfred Philipp gave the Fulbright Prize for International Understanding to the German Chancellor
Angela Merkel.
Mark Esper in 2019, in front of a wing-mount
ram air turbine On 12 November 2020, Amanpour compared the
Trump administration to the
Nazis and
Kristallnacht, saying, "It was the Nazis' warning shot across the bow of our human civilization that led to genocide against a whole identity, and in that tower of burning books, it led to an attack on fact, knowledge, history and truth. After four years of a modern-day assault on those same values by Donald Trump, the
Biden-Harris team pledges a return to norms, including the truth." The Israeli government, along with some Jewish groups, called for Amanpour to apologize for this comparison. Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister
Omer Yankelevich urged an "immediate and public apology" for "belittling of the immense tragedy of the Holocaust." In February 2024, CNN employees, including Amanpour, confronted network executives over what they deemed to be double standards in coverage of
Israel's
war in Gaza.
Refusal to wear a headscarf In September 2022, Amanpour terminated a scheduled TV interview with former President of Iran
Ebrahim Raisi in New York City during the
seventy-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly, following a last–minute demand that she wear a
Chador headscarf while filming. Amanpour vehemently responded that she could not agree to the "unprecedented and unexpected condition" and later reflected on the controversial situation, declaring that:
Public Broadcasting Service In May 2018, it was announced that Amanpour would permanently replace
Charlie Rose on
PBS after he was fired due to allegations of sexual misconduct. Her new program,
Amanpour & Company, premiered on PBS on 10 September 2018. From the time of Charlie Rose's departure from PBS until the new show premiered,
Amanpour was aired on PBS stations, as
Amanpour on PBS. In 2020, Amanpour hosted the PBS daily program
Amanpour & Company from her home in England due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Her program continues to be seen on television on PBS at many stations in various areas of the US, including at least four TV stations in the greater Los Angeles region of southern California. ==Affiliations==