Victor Blackwell (born September 25, 1981 in

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) is an American

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

news anchor who currently hosts ''

CNN Newsroom ''CNN Newsroom'' (also simply known as ''Newsroom'') is an American news programming block that airs on CNN. Broadcasting for 43 hours each week, ''Newsroom'' features live and taped news reports, in addition to analysis from experts on the iss ...

'' with

Alisyn Camerota Alisyn Lane Camerota (born June 21, 1966) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator. She currently co-hosts CNN Newsroom from 2-4 pm with Victor Blackwell. She formerly was anchor of CNN's morning show '' New Day'' and a p ...

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Early life and education

Blackwell was class president of his high school graduating class at Milford Mill Academy in 1999. He earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in Broadcast Journalism from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

in Washington, D.C. While in college, he worked at Howard University’s public television station

WHUT-TV WHUT-TV, virtual channel 32 (UHF digital channel 33), is the secondary Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) member television station licensed to the American capital city of Washington, D.C. The station is owned by Howard University, a historical ...

Career

After college, Blackwell worked as a reporter and fill-in anchor at

WHAG-TV WDVM-TV (channel 25) is an independent television station licensed to Hagerstown, Maryland, United States, serving the Washington, D.C. television market. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station WDCW (chann ...

in Hagerstown, Maryland. He also worked as a reporter and weekend anchor at

WTLV WTLV (channel 12) is a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Orange Park–licensed ABC affiliate WJXX (channel 25). Both stations share studios on East Adams Stre ...

WJXX WJXX (channel 25) is a television station licensed to Orange Park, Florida, United States, serving the Jacksonville area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside NBC affiliate WTLV (channel 12). Both stations share studio ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. Blackwell was the first black main anchor at

WPBF WPBF (channel 25) is a television station licensed to Tequesta, Florida, United States, serving the West Palm Beach area as an affiliate of ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on RCA Boulevard in the Monet section of ...

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. Blackwell joined

in 2012 as a correspondent, based at CNN’s southeast bureau. In 2013, Blackwell’s exclusive reporting on the mysterious death of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

teenager Kendrick Johnson led to investigations by the Office of Secretary of State of Georgia and the

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for Georgia’s Middle District. In January 2014, Blackwell was promoted to co-host of ''New Day Saturday and Sunday'' with

Christi Paul Christi Paul is a former weekday news anchor for HLN and weekend anchor for CNN's '' New Day''. Biography Paul was raised in a Christian family in Bellevue, Ohio. She graduated from the University of Toledo where she earned a bachelor's deg ...

. On April 19, 2021, he began co-hosting a two-hour afternoon block of ''

'' with

Awards and honors

In 2009, Blackwell received a Regional Emmy Awards for Outstanding Feature Reporting. He was also nominated for a Regional Emmy in 2007, 2008, and 2011. Blackwell also received a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for his reporting on the Stop Snitchin’ phenomenon and its impact on inner-city crime. Blackwell received the Unity Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association in 2007 for his reporting on the high school graduation rate of black boys.Offering a Fresh Perspective
by Elizabeth Jensen; at tvweek.com; retrieved June 12, 2014

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell, Victor 1981 births Living people People from Atlanta American male journalists African-American journalists Contestants on American game shows American LGBT broadcasters CNN people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people