Laura Smitherman is joining CNN as supervising producer for the Justice beat.
Smitherman joins CNN on July 6 from NPR where she is finishing up as deputy national editor, responsible for overseeing breaking news and enterprise reporting for the eastern half of the U.S.. She also led NPR’s immigration coverage, which won numerous awards.
Before NPR, Smitherman worked at The Baltimore Sun as assistant managing editor for enterprise and investigations, which included involvement in the paper’s coverage of Freddie Gray’s death and chronicling police brutality and the impact of gun violence.
Smitherman started as a reporter with stints covering Congress and the SEC for Bloomberg, legal affairs for the El Paso Times, and politics and business at The Sun.