Fionnuala Sweeney ( , ; born 1965) is an Irish anchorwoman and reporter. She had been based at CNN's headquarters in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Sweeney was anchoring ''CNN Newsroom'' as well as serving as the primary substitute at the International Desk. She is known around Europe as the host of

Eurovision Song Contest 1993 The Eurovision Song Contest 1993 was the 38th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Millstreet, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song " Why Me?" by Linda Martin. Organised by the European Broadcastin ...

from

Millstreet Millstreet () is a town in north County Cork, Ireland, with a population of 1,555 (as of 2016). Millstreet is within the civil parish of Drishane, and within a Poor Law Union also called Millstreet. The Millstreet Union encompasses the civil ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

Early life and education

Sweeney was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in 1965, where she lived until she was 12, when they moved to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in English and History and a Higher Diploma in Education at the

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

Career

Radio

Sweeney's career in broadcasting began as newscaster on Chris Cary's Energy Power 103 FM in 1986, a " Superpirate" in Dublin where she was a co-presenter on "Wake Up With Energy" along with Pat Courtenay and Bob Gallico. Sweeney's on air name at Energy was "Lisa Moore". In 1988 she left Energy to work as a newscaster at

RTÉ 2FM (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, whil ...

. In early 2018, Fionnuala Sweeney returned to the RTÉ airwaves to co-present the political commentary show Late Debate ww.rte.ie/radio1/latedebate on RTÉ Radio 1 at 10pm.RTÉ Radio 1 adds Sarah McInerney and Fionnuala Sweeney to new daily roster
The Irish Times, Wed, Jan 24, 2018

Television journalism

While working as a television journalist at RTÉ, Sweeney was the host of the 38th Eurovision Song Contest, in 1993. She then moved to

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

, where she worked as a producer and anchor at CNN International Headquarters in

, before becoming a full-time anchor and relocating to London (where she anchored ''World One''). In 2002, she was named the anchor of ''Your World Today''. She also anchored ''World One'', ''World News Europe'' and ''International Correspondents'', before returning to Atlanta to host ''CNN Newsroom'' as well as serving as the primary substitute on ''The International Desk''.

Awards

In 2006, Sweeney anchored and reported from

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

during the

Israel-Hezbollah war The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...

, for which CNN received an Edward R. Murrow Award. In 2012, she was part of the news team that won an Emmy in the Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story – Long Form category at the 33rd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards for the 2011 broadcast ''CNN Breaking News: Revolution in Egypt – President Mubarak Steps Down''. The coverage also won the network a Peabody Award. The same year she was part of the team nominated for another Emmy in the same category for the 2011 broadcast ''CNN Breaking News: Libya Revolution – Rebels Enter Tripoli and Gadhafi Compound''.

References

External links

CNN Bio page
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CNN's World One
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeney, Fionnuala 1965 births 20th-century Irish women 21st-century Irish women Living people Irish women television presenters Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of the Royal Irish Academy of Music Irish reporters and correspondents People educated at Alexandra College CNN people Television personalities from Dublin (city)