Soledad O'Brien will be joining Al Jazeera America to produce long-form documentaries and appear as a special correspondent on the primetime newsmagazine America Tonight, the network said on Monday.
The Hollywood Reporter previously reported that the former CNN anchor's production company, Starfish Media Group, was in talks to produce documentaries for the forthcoming network.
"I look forward to beginning a relationship with Al Jazeera America, which has made a commitment to producing quality programming and pursuing underreported stories," O'Brien said in a statement. Kim Bondy, who previously worked on CNN's American Morning, is the senior executive producer of America Tonight.
"I am thrilled to be back in business with Kim Bondy, who is a longtime friend and among the finest journalists in the broadcast news business today," O'Brien stated. "With this agreement, Starfish continues its expansion as a cross-platform media company dedicated to compelling storytelling and enterprise journalism."
In addition to the Al Jazeera America deal, O'Brien recently inked a first-look deal with HBO for Starfish Media to produce documentaries. She also appears on the HBO program Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel.
In February, O'Brien announced that she was leaving CNN as a host of Starting Point and would be forming her own production company.
Al Jazeera America, which is set to launch in August, has been on a hiring spree. CNN's chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, and NBC News correspondent Michael Viqueira are among the on-air talent added to the roster for the forthcoming cable network.
5 comments:
It;s nice to see that some time later this year we will have a network that is strongly committed to the news. You can bet they will not be hiring pundits. Al Jazeera has deep pockets. It looks like they are aiming to be the new CNN.
Yep, AJAM is trying to be what CNN should be, the worldwide leader in news. Given what Zucker has done, I may just abandon CNN altogether and watch AJAM. Congrats Soledad!
CNN should have hired the Vanguard correspondents like Kaj Larsen, Adam Yamaguchi and Christoff Putzel. They are story-tellers and CNN needs this more than talking heads . Different styles of reporting is more beneficial to CNN. A network like CNN has to have news and rock solid reporters. One of the reasons why Anthony Bourdain is a success for CNN is that he knows the art of story-telling. That is how you engage viewers.
CNN is outdated. Wibbitz is a CNN killer.
CNN had Kaj Larsen then they fired him. What does that tell you about CNN?
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