ABC News is on a talent hiring spree. In addition to two local news anchors from Chicago set to join the network, ABC News president Ben Sherwood has announced he is beefing up his international reporting staff with the hires of Kelly Cobiella, (left) formerly of CBS News and Bazi Kanani, (below) an anchor-reporter at KUSA in Denver.
As we reported last month, Cobiella left CBS News and moved to the U.K. where her husband is from. In a note to staff, Sherwood writes, Cobiella “is no stranger to ABC after many years with our affiliates in Miami and Grand Junction.” She’ll work out of ABC’s London bureau.
After learning the ABC ropes in New York, Kanani will move to Africa to be ABC’s correspondent in Nairobi. Kanani’s father is from Tanzania. Her mother was born in Kansas and raised in Colorado.
According to her KUSA bio, “Bazi” is a traditional tribal name, short for Baz’imana which means “Ask God.”
Sherwood’s note to the staff, which includes details on Ginger Zee who joins as meteorologist for weekend GMA, after the jump…
I’m writing with exciting additions to our ABC News team.
First, I’m delighted to announce that Kelly Cobiella joins ABC News today as a correspondent in the London bureau.
Kelly is a seasoned journalist who spent the last eight years at CBS News based in Miami, Dallas and New York. She was the first American network journalist to report from Tripoli when the Libyan revolution started in March, and she’s covered news in Iraq, Haiti, Cuba, and Venezuela. Kelly’s reporting on the U.S. economic crisis has been recognized with both Emmy and Peabody awards. She is no stranger to ABC after many years with our affiliates in Miami and Grand Junction.
Second, I’d like to welcome Ginger Zee to the weekend edition of Good Morning America. An Emmy Award-winning meteorologist, Ginger joins us from WMAQ in Chicago. Ginger has appeared on Discovery’s popular Stormchasers series, racing after tornadoes in the Midwest. While attending Valparaiso University, she was part of the school’s Storm Intercept Team, following extreme weather including a 5,000 mile storm across the country.
Ginger developed her fascination for severe weather at age eight when her family spent a summer on the stormy shores of Lake Michigan. She begins at ABC News on Wednesday and will debut as weather anchor on GMA Weekend this Saturday.
Third, Bazi Kanani joins us as a digital journalist based in Nairobi. She comes to us from KUSA in Denver where she spent eight years as a general assignment reporter and as an anchor of the weekday 9 pm newscast.
In 2007, Bazi won an Emmy and National Association of Black Journalists award for her documentary “My Africa” filmed in Tanzania. Bazi shot and produced a series of news reports and a documentary about Tanzania’s culture and the challenges of living in one of the poorest countries in the world. Bazi’s 2008 documentary “Reaching Rwanda” was honored with a regional Edward R. Murrow award and an Emmy award.
In case you’re wondering: Bazi is short for Baz’imana, a Tanzanian tribal name that means “Ask God.”
We are very fortunate to have Kelly, Ginger and Bazi on our team.
Please welcome them to ABC News.