30-year CNN veteran Jill Dougherty is leaving the channel at the end of the year. Dougherty, currently CNN’s foreign affairs correspondent, was previously a White House correspondent for the channel, and served as its Moscow bureau chief.
That role was clearly important to Dougherty, as she is leaving ” to plunge full-time into Russian affairs – writing, speaking blogging, teaching and traveling to Russia,” according to an email she sent to DC staffers.
“When we were 13 years old, my twin sister and I walked into our first Russian language class,” Dougherty wrote. “I was hooked from the very first ‘Da.'”
Dougherty has covered the presidencies of Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin in Russia, and George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in the U.S. She has worked for CNN across the globe, in as places as far away as Hong Kong and as close by as Chicago.
Her full email, after the jump.
From: Dougherty, Jill
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 9:39:21 AM
To: *DC Editorial (TBS)
Subject: Taking the leapWhen we were 13 years old, my twin sister and I walked into our first Russian language class. I was hooked from the very first “Da.”
In college we studied at Leningrad State University around the same time Vladimir Putin was there studying law. Over the years I returned to Russian many times and, in 1997, I got the job of a lifetime, CNN Moscow Bureau Chief.
Now, armed with a new master’s degree from Georgetown University (thesis on Vladimir Putin’s “Soft Power” diplomacy,) I’ve decided to plunge full-time into Russian affairs – writing, speaking blogging, teaching and traveling to Russia – pursuing this subject that has fascinated me for years.
I will be leaving CNN at the end of the year. It’s not a step I take lightly, especially leaving colleagues whom I respect and love, as well as this network which, thanks to Ted Turner’s vision, changed the face of journalism around the world.
But I am drawn to new ventures that excite and challenge me through which, I hope, I can make a contribution.