CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus announced today that CBS Evening News coordinating producer Brian Kennedy has been named director of digital news gathering for CBS News and Sports.
In a statement, McManus says “Brian’s priority will be to begin the transformation of the way we produce news.” Kennedy will also manage the relationship with CBS Corp.’s newly-acquired CNet.com.
Click continued to read the release…
BRIAN KENNEDY IS NAMED DIRECTOR, DIGITAL NEWS GATHERING, CBS NEWS
Brian Kennedy, a veteran network news producer, has been named Director, Digital News Gathering, CBS News, it was announced by Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports. The appointment is effective immediately, and he will report to Paul Friedman, Senior Vice President, News Coverage, CBS News.
“Brian’s priority will be to begin the transformation of the way we produce news,” said McManus. “It is critical to our continued success in broadcasting and all other platforms that we fundamentally change the way we do things. Additionally, Brian will manage our relationship with CNet.com, a very important one, that will give us access to CNet’s resources as well as providing additional outlets for CBS News content.”
Kennedy has been a coordinating producer for the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC and CBS News since 2007, responsible for planning and managing remote broadcasts from the site of breaking news stories and planned remotes. He also developed and implemented news gathering programs for the Division using the latest technologies—including making use of the internet, DV cameras and laptop editing—to enable correspondents and producers to cover stories more quickly and efficiently for all platforms.
Before that, Kennedy held several different producer roles—including coordinating, anchor and segment producer at ABC News (1994-2006). In those positions, he covered the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, among many other big stories. Kennedy was a producer based in Miami (2004-05), where his assignments included coordinating coverage of the fall of President Jean Bertrand Aristide. He set up and managed the ABC News bureau in Amman, Jordan, before and after the war with Iraq in 2003.
Kennedy is the recipient of a 2002 Columbia University-Alfred I. DuPont Silver Baton and a 2001 Peabody Award for coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
He was born in Philadelphia, Pa. Kennedy was graduated from Columbia University in 1990 with a degree in political science. He lives in New York with his wife.