Kate O'Brian

Last updated
Kate O'Brian
Born
Nationality American
Alma mater Smith College (BA)
Parent(s) Jack O'Brian (father)
Von Johnston (mother)

Kate O'Brian is an American journalist and television executive. She is the head of news for the E. W. Scripps Company's national news channels, Scripps News and Court TV. She was previously with Al Jazeera America as president of the network and before, ABC News, where she spent most of her career.

Contents

History

Formerly she was Senior Vice-president of ABC News in charge of the news division's newsgathering since 2007 which included all ABC News bureaus worldwide, business, law and justice, medical, and investigative units, ABC NewsOne, ABC News Radio and affiliate relations. [1] Prior to that she had worked at the network for over 30 years in various roles including positions with 20/20 and Nightline. [2]

O'Brian began as an intern for 20/20 , then moved on to become a television desk assistant in New York City and then joined the staff of "This Week with David Brinkley" when it launched in 1981. She also held the position of general manager of programming for ABC News Radio where she was responsible for editorial content; she has also been an overseas field producer in Rome and London and a producer for "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings," both in Washington DC and New York; she was a manager in talent development and later the primary liaison between ABC News and its 200+ affiliate stations.

O'Brian was named president of Al Jazeera America on July 22, 2013, alongside the naming of Ehab Al Shihabi as interim CEO in charge of business affairs. [3]

Al Jazeera America

O'Brian stated that Al Jazeera America (in particular its news department) was on its way to being the "envy of the industry." [4] She also stated that the channel will be committed to hard news not the salacious "infotainment" made popular on competitor cable news networks. [5] The channel also branched into airing independent documentaries and town hall sessions on particular topics. Al Jazeera America was closed in April 2016 due to low ratings and change in strategy by Al Jazeera Media Network.

Scripps Media

Following the closure of Al Jazeera America, O'Brian consulted for various news organizations, including the Washington Post and Voice of America, on media projects. In April 2021, she was named head of news for E.W. Scripps Company's national news channels, Court TV and Newsy. She was responsible for Newsy's conversion from a cable news channel to a broadcast and streaming news channel starting October 2021, as well as leading Court TV's coverage of major legal events and trials. [6] [7]

Awards

A 30-year ABC News veteran, O'Brian has won an Alfred I. duPont Award as part of the "This Week with David Brinkley" team, an Emmy Award for the 2000 Millennium coverage, and Alfred I. duPont and a Peabody Award for September 11 coverage. In 2015, the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at Kent State University named O'Brian the winner of the Robert G. McGruder Distinguished Guest Lecture and Award for Diversity. "The award recognizes the accomplishments of media professionals who encourage diversity in the field of journalism". [8]

Personal life

Kate O'Brian is the daughter of Jack O'Brian (1914–2000), a former gossip columnist best known for being a champion of Joseph McCarthy and for possibly contributing to serious journalist Don Hollenbeck's suicide. [9] Her sister, Bridget O'Brian, is also a journalist. Bridget worked as a reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Wall Street Journal and is currently at Columbia University. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Press International</span> American international news agency

United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th century. At its peak, it had more than 6,000 media subscribers. Since the first of several sales and staff cutbacks in 1982, and the 1999 sale of its broadcast client list to its main U.S. rival, the Associated Press, UPI has concentrated on smaller information-market niches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Brinkley</span> American journalist (1920–2003)

David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997.

The Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award honors excellence in broadcast and digital journalism in the public service and is considered one of the most prestigious awards in journalism. The awards were established in 1942 and administered until 1967 by Washington and Lee University's O. W. Riegel, Curator and Head of the Department of Journalism and Communications. Since 1968 they have been administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, and are considered by some to be the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, another program administered by Columbia University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Current TV</span> American television channel

Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smaller stake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soledad O'Brien</span> American broadcast commentator and producer

María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien is an American broadcast journalist and executive producer. Since 2016, O'Brien has been the host for Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien, a nationally syndicated weekly talk show produced by Hearst Television. She is chairwoman of Starfish Media Group, a multiplatform media production company and distributor that she founded in 2013. She is also a member of the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WCPO-TV</span> ABC affiliate in Cincinnati

WCPO-TV is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based E. W. Scripps Company, which has owned the station since its inception. WCPO-TV's studios are located in the Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati next to the Elsinore Arch, and its transmitter is located in the Mount Auburn section of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Jazeera English</span> Qatari international English language news channel

Al Jazeera English is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is owned by the monarchy government of Qatar. It is the first English-language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. Instead of being run centrally, news management rotates between broadcasting centres in Doha and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Marash</span>

David Marash, known as Dave Marash, is an American television journalist known for his work at ABC News and Al Jazeera English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Ross (journalist)</span> American investigative journalist (born 1948)

Brian Elliot Ross is an American investigative journalist who served as the Chief Investigative Correspondent for ABC News until 2018. He reported for ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, Nightline, Good Morning America, 20/20, and ABC News Radio. Ross joined ABC News in July 1994 and was fired in 2018. His investigative reports have often covered government corruption. From 1974 until 1994, Ross was a correspondent for NBC News.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamish Macdonald (broadcaster)</span> Australian broadcast journalist and news presenter

Hamish Macdonald is an Australian broadcast journalist and news presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States cable news</span> News disseminated through cable television networks

Cable news channels are television networks devoted to television news broadcasts, with the name deriving from the proliferation of such networks during the 1980s with the advent of cable television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scripps News</span> American television and streaming news network

Scripps News is an American news network headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. It was previously known as Newsy, from its launch in 2008 until December 31, 2022.

Rob Nelson is the afternoon anchor for Newsy, Scripps Television's all news channel. Previously, he was the weeknight news anchor for NewsNation’s primetime newscast NewsNation Prime and a weekend morning anchor and weekday reporter at WABC-TV.

Al Jazeera Media Network, endowed by the Government of Qatar, is one of the world's largest news organizations. It provides extensive news coverage through 80 bureaus on a variety of media platforms in several languages, including Arabic and English. Al Jazeera has a large audience, but the organization has been criticized for its alleged involvement in controversies ranging from slanted journalism to anti-Hindu bias and anti-Israel bias.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Jazeera America</span> Defunct pay television news channel

Al Jazeera America was an American pay television news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network. The channel was launched on August 20, 2013, to compete with CNN, HLN, MSNBC, Fox News, and in certain markets RT America. It was Al Jazeera's second entry into the U.S. television market, after the launch of beIN Sports in 2012. The channel, which had persistently low ratings, announced in January 2016 that it would close on April 12, 2016, citing the "economic landscape".

Joie Chen is a Chinese American television journalist. She was the anchor of Al Jazeera America's flagship evening news show America Tonight, which was launched in August 2013. In January 2016, the channel announced it would close on 12 April 2016.

Jonathan Betz is an American journalist and anchorman for China Global Television Network. He began his television career at WWL-TV in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he rode out Hurricane Katrina from inside the city. For weeks, he remained in New Orleans and was one of the few local reporters to extensively cover the storm. He later moved on to WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas where he was a reporter and fill in anchor. Betz was brought on at Al Jazeera America at the launch of the network. Betz is the weekend evening news anchor for the channel and a weekday fill in anchor. He also does reporting in the field. Since 2017, Betz moved on to CGTN in Beijing, hosting the evening (GMT+8) news programs including The World Today and The Link.

Katz Broadcasting, LLC, doing business as Scripps Networks, is an American specialized digital multicasting network media company and a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. The company owns nine television networks that each carry programming with specified formats targeted at individual demographics.

Len Tepper is an American investigative journalist previously serving as executive director, CBS News Investigations at CBS News.

References

  1. "Al Jazeera America names its interim CEO, President, and senior editorial leadership".
  2. "Kate O'Brian Departing ABC News, Named President of al Jazeera America". ABC News .
  3. "Home".
  4. "Al Jazeera America Will be 'Envy of the Industry,' Chief Says". 31 December 2013.
  5. "Al Jazeera America Chief: We Will Have 'Less Yelling,' 'Fewer Celebs'". 15 August 2013.
  6. "Newsy Management". Newsy. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  7. "Newsy Is Relaunching Oct. 1, and Here's How the Reimagined Over-the-Air News Network Will Define Success". adweek.it. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  8. "Al Jazeera America President Named 2015 McGruder Award for Media Diversity Winner | Kent State University".
  9. "7.24.13: It's Summertime | New York Social Diary". www.newyorksocialdiary.com. Archived from the original on 2013-08-04.
  10. Martin, Douglas (8 November 2000). "Jack O'Brian, 86, Columnist of the Entertainment World". The New York Times.