Fredricka Whitfield (born May 31, 1965) is an American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

. She anchors the weekend edition of ''

CNN Newsroom ''CNN Newsroom'' (also simply known as ''Newsroom'') is the branding used for blocks of rolling news programming carried by the American cable network CNN. The program debuted on September 4, 2006, consolidating most of CNN's existing rolling n ...

'' from

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

's world headquarters in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, and she is also a fill-in and substitute anchor for CNN's ''At This Hour With Kate Bolduan''.

Early life and education

Whitfield is the daughter of American middle-distance runner and Olympian Mal Whitfield. Whitfield attended Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, Maryland, graduating in 1983. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

's School of Communications in 1987. While attending Howard, she served as a news anchor for campus radio station WHUR. In 2002, Whitfield was selected as the Howard University School of Communications Alumna of the year.

Career

After college, Whitfield worked at

WPLG WPLG (channel 10) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by Berkshire Hathaway as its sole broadcast property. WPLG's studios are located on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard in Pembro ...

-TV in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, NewsChannel 8 in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, KTVT-TV in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

WTNH WTNH (channel 8) is a television station licensed to New Haven, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX (channel 59), ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

, and WCIV in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

. Then she became a correspondent for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

, serving as an

-based correspondent for

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...

from 1995 to 2001. She worked for other news programs at NBC including

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

; she was a morning and afternoon anchor as well as an assignment reporter. Whitfield joined CNN in 2002 and has covered several major stories. She was the first anchor to break the news of the death of Ronald Reagan. She has reported the devastating

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the sci ...

. Whitfield also reported from the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

region during

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

. She was also the first CNN anchor to break the news of the death of Kobe Bryant in 2020.

Controversies

In 2014, Whitfield's televised interview with comedian

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedienne, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona that w ...

to discuss her new book of comedy came to an abrupt end after Whitfield commented that Rivers' work on the Fashion Police shows and Casey Anthony jokes were mean-spirited, in addition to criticizing her for wearing a vintage fur despite Whitfield's wearing of animal leather. Whitfield acknowledged the controversy during a subsequent broadcast, calling her segment with Rivers "one of the most talked about interviews ending abruptly with an exit". On June 13, 2015, Whitfield described the gunman who attacked police in Dallas, Texas, as "courageous and brave" on air, when she thought he might be part of a coordinated terrorist attack. The next day she claimed she misspoke but made no formal apology for the initial statement. The following day, Whitfield issued a formal on-air apology, saying she terribly misused those words and was sincerely sorry.

Personal life

Whitfield has been married to John Glenn, the director of photography at ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'', since 1999. She gave birth to a son in January 2005, and a set of fraternal twins, daughter Nola and son Gilbert, in November 2012.

References

External links

Howard University Celebrates 141st Anniversary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfield, Fredricka 1965 births Living people People from Burtonsville, Maryland Journalists from Maryland American television news anchors American television reporters and correspondents African-American journalists African-American women journalists American women television journalists CNN people Howard University alumni 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women journalists 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century American women writers