Kyra Phillips

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Kyra Phillips
CNN anchor Kyra Phillips.jpg
Kyra Phillips, March 2009
Born August 8, 1968 (1968-08-08) (age 41)
Illinois
Occupation News Anchor
Title Anchor
Notable credit(s) AP Reporter of the Year, 1997
Official website

Kyra Phillips (born August 8, 1968) is an American news anchor. She is on the weekday edition of CNN Newsroom.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

Phillips was born in Illinois, grew up in San Diego and received her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California. Among her first jobs in broadcasting were the positions of weekend anchor and reporter for WLUK-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin before moving on to WDSU-TV in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1994. Phillips has also held positions as morning anchor for KAMC-TV in Lubbock, Texas, field producer for CNN-Telemundo’s Washington, D.C. offices and a journalist of the special assignment unit of KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, California. In her spare time, Phillips participates in Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and has been doing so since 1992.[1]

[edit] Career at CNN

Phillips joined CNN in 1999. During her early years at CNN, Phillips was granted access to U.S. Navy airwing CVW-9 in 2001 as they prepared for the war in Afghanistan. In January 2002, Phillips spent about a month in Antarctica to work on a television documentary to be featured on the program CNN Presents. Later in 2002, Phillips produced reports focusing on the U.S. Navy’s reconnaissance missions from the USS Paul Hamilton, the Navy’s Special Operations Command, the Navy SEALs, and Special Warfare Combatant Crewman training, riding in an F-14 Tomcat during an air-to-air combat mission over the Persian Gulf. She has also participated in the Navy’s TOPGUN school, SWAT training, and other police and weapons training.

In 2003, she was an embedded journalist during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where she reported from the USS Abraham Lincoln.

On September 22, 2006, Phillips was the last journalist to fly in an F-14 Tomcat before its official retirement from service in the U.S. Navy.[2]

Phillips co-anchored CNN Radio's November 4, 2008 election coverage with Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins.

[edit] Criticisms

Kyra Phillips was criticised for her insensitivity during an April 16, 2003 interview with Dr Imad al-Najada, the doctor of Ali Ismail Abbas, a 12-year-old boy who lost 15 relatives and both arms when a U.S. missile hit his home in Baghdad.[3][4] Joan Walsh, news editor of Salon.com, wrote:[5]

"CNN hit rock bottom on Wednesday morning, when anchor Kyra Phillips interviewed Ali's doctor in Kuwait, Dr Imad al- Najada explained that, although Ali told reporters he was grateful for his treatment, he also hopes no other 'children in the war will suffer like what he suffered'. Phillips seemed shocked by Ali's apparent inability to understand we were only trying to help him. 'Doctor, does he understand why this war took place? Has he talked about Operation Iraqi Freedom and the meaning. Does he understand it?'"

Discussing live images of the 2006 labor protests in France, in which it was later determined that no one was killed, she said that the images of the demonstrations "Sort of brings back memories of Tiananmen Square, when you saw these activists in front of tanks."[6] CNN's Chris Burns told French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy that her comments were "regrettable."[7]

[edit] Mishap

On August 29, 2006, during a CNN broadcast of President George W. Bush's speech on the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall, Phillips' microphone was left on while she was in the bathroom. Portions of a personal conversation were broadcast live, during which Phillips offered advice on men, criticized her sister-in-law for being a "control freak," and praised her husband.[8][9][10][11] The conversation audio was mixed with the President's audio feed and both were discernible. Daryn Kagan broke into Phillips' comments with an audio recap of Bush's speech. CNN immediately apologized for the on-air gaffe.[12] Phillips later appeared on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman poking fun at herself in retrospect.[11][12]

[edit] Awards

In 1997 Phillips was named Reporter of the Year by the Associated Press.[13] She has also won four Emmy Awards and two Edward R. Murrow Awards for investigative reporting.[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/phillips.kyra.html
  2. ^ http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/22/cnr.05.html
  3. ^ Siddharth Varadarajan (2003-25-17). "Ungrateful Ali: Painful Paradox of Embedded Freedom". Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=44399440. Retrieved 2007-03-29. 
  4. ^ "Media Watch: Saving Ali". ABC Australia. 2003-04-21. http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s836791.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-29. 
  5. ^ Joan Walsh (2003-04-17). "The unfortunate poster boy". Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/04/17/ali_abbas/index.html. Retrieved 2007-03-29. 
  6. ^ "French protests 'Tiananmen'". FIN24. 2006-03-28. http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/companies/display_article.aspx?Nav=ns&lvl2=comp&ArticleID=1518-1783_1906730. Retrieved 2007-03-29. 
  7. ^ "OBSERVER: Just a little comment". Financial Times. 30 March 2006. http://search.ft.com/iab?queryText=%22Chris%20Burns%22&y=11&aje=true&x=14&id=060330000834&location=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ft.com%2FftArticle%3FqueryText%3D%2522Chris+Burns%2522%26y%3D11%26aje%3Dtrue%26x%3D14%26id%3D060330000834&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ft.com%2Fsearch%3FqueryText%3D%22Chris+Burns%22. Retrieved 2007-03-29. 
  8. ^ Tim Reid (2006-08-31). "Who wants to listen to Bush when you can hear what Kyra thinks of her control freak sister-in-law?". TimesOnline. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article623383.ece. Retrieved 2009-03-31. 
  9. ^ David Cox and Gethin Chamberlain (2006-09-03). "If anyone's a control freak here, it's Kyra". Telegraph.co.uk. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1527930/If-anyones-a-control-freak-here-its-Kyra.html. Retrieved 2009-03-31. 
  10. ^ Brian Unger (2008-07-28). "How To Avoid A Hot Mic Disaster". National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92993523. Retrieved 2009-03-31. 
  11. ^ a b The Associated Press (2006-09-01). "Flushing CNN Anchor Goes on Letterman". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/01/AR2006090100482.html. Retrieved 2009-03-31. 
  12. ^ a b Dan Collins (2006-09-01). "CNN's Kyra Phillips Laughs It Off". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/30/entertainment/main1948951.shtml. Retrieved 2009-03-31. 
  13. ^ http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/phillips.kyra.html
  14. ^ http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/phillips.kyra.html

[edit] External links

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