Clarissa Ward has jumped from CBS News to CNN, where she will serve as a senior international correspondent. “Clarissa Ward is an exceptional correspondent, a reporter and storyteller who has covered the world’s toughest assignments,” said CNN boss Jeff Zucker. “She is unique in her field. I am absolutely thrilled that she will join our exceptional team to bring home the most important stories of our time.”
Since joining CBS from ABC News in 2011, Ward has reported for 60 Minutes and the CBS Evening News, with extensive experience overseas–reporting from Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine. “When CNN ‘goes there’ to the tough, important stories, we have often come across Clarissa,” said Tony Maddox, evp and managing director of CNN International. “We have been so impressed by her passion, knowledge and her exceptional reporting. She is outstanding, and the perfect addition to a truly remarkable group of international correspondents.”
In 2012, Ward told TVNewser about the need for journalists to take risks to tell stories from places like Syria. “If there isn’t information coming out, and if there aren’t impartial observers, journalists on the ground getting information out about many of the atrocities, they will go undocumented,” she said.
Ward described her move as a chance to expand her reach around the world. “CNN is, simply put, the most important name in news,” she said. “No other organization has the same scope and depth and recognition across the world. And no other organization devotes the same amount of resources and air time to the most important international stories of our time. I’m so excited to be joining such a fantastic team of journalists for this incredible opportunity.”