John King (born August 30, 1963) is an American news anchor. He is
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 ...
's chief national correspondent, based in Washington, D.C., and is the weekday anchor of its roundtable political discussion program ''
Inside Politics
''Inside Politics'' is a political talk show, broadcast on CNN. Originally hosted by Catherine Crier and Bernard Shaw, and then Shaw and Judy Woodruff, the show ran from 1992 – 2005 before being cancelled. The program was revived in 2014 with ...
''. He formerly anchored ''
State of the Union'' and ''
John King, USA''.
Personal life
King was born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. He is of
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
descent with ancestors from Dún Locháin, Co. Galway.
He attended
Boston Latin School, and earned a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in journalism from the
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...
. John King and Jean Makie, his first wife, have two children, named Noah and Hannah.
On May 25, 2008, King married his second wife, fellow CNN anchor
Dana Bash
Dana Ruth Bash (born June 15, 1971; née Schwartz) is an American journalist, news anchor, and chief political correspondent for CNN.
Early life and education
Bash was born Dana Ruth Schwartz in Manhattan, New York City, into a family of Je ...
. Before marrying Bash, King (previously a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
)
converted to
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
, Bash's religion.
Bash and King have a son, Jonah, who was born in June 2011. The couple separated in March 2012.
On October 19, 2021, King revealed on his show ''
Inside Politics
''Inside Politics'' is a political talk show, broadcast on CNN. Originally hosted by Catherine Crier and Bernard Shaw, and then Shaw and Judy Woodruff, the show ran from 1992 – 2005 before being cancelled. The program was revived in 2014 with ...
'' that he has
multiple sclerosis and is thus immunocompromised. The following day, October 20, 2021, King revealed when asked about the subject of his
multiple sclerosis by
CNN New Day anchor
John Berman
John Berman (born March 21, 1972) is an American news anchor, formerly the co-anchor of CNN's ''New Day'' with Brianna Keilar on CNN, and a regular relief presenter of ''Anderson Cooper 360°''. Having been a weekday relief co-anchor of CNN's ...
, that he has been diagnosed for 13 years. According to King, he had problems feeling his legs since covering the
Clinton administration in the late 1990s. After those problems worsened during the
2008 presidential campaign, he was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis.
Career
In 1985, King joined the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
where he began as a writer. In 1991, King was named chief political correspondent and headed the AP's political coverage of the
1992 and
1996 presidential elections. Also in 1991, King won the top reporting prize from the Associated Press Managing Editors' Association for his coverage of the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
in Kuwait.
In 1997, King joined
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 he served as the senior
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
correspondent from 1999 to 2005. In 2005, King was named CNN's chief national correspondent, a position he still holds. From 2014 to 2021, he anchored the Sunday morning (and more frequently during presidential-election years) news program ''
Inside Politics
''Inside Politics'' is a political talk show, broadcast on CNN. Originally hosted by Catherine Crier and Bernard Shaw, and then Shaw and Judy Woodruff, the show ran from 1992 – 2005 before being cancelled. The program was revived in 2014 with ...
,'' which features a rotating roundtable of members of the media who share their insights of current political topics with King. He frequently appears on the nightly news programs ''
The Situation Room'' and ''
Anderson Cooper 360°
''Anderson Cooper 360°'' (commonly shortened to either ''AC-360'' or ''360'') is an American television news show on CNN and CNN International, hosted by CNN journalist and news anchor Anderson Cooper.
Since May 20, 2019, ''360°'' has been b ...
'' and sometimes fills in as anchor.
King also uses the
Multi-Touch Collaboration Wall
The Multi-Touch Collaboration Wall is a large (81 inch width x 48 inch height) monitor invented by Jeff Han that employs multi-touch technology, and is marketed by Han's company, Perceptive Pixel. Han initially developed the technology for militar ...
, nicknamed the "Magic Wall" or "Magic Map". First used during the
primaries
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...
of the
2008 presidential campaign, it allows him to display and manipulate various graphics and maps relating to poll and election results. He and the Multi-Touch Collaboration Wall have both been featured in a ''
Daily Show
''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fro ...
'' segment, as well as CNN coverage of the US Presidential Election in 2016 and 2020.
Just prior to the 2009 US presidential inauguration, King began hosting his new talk show ''State of the Union,'' which replaced CNN's ''
Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer
''Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer'' is a Sunday talk show hosted by Wolf Blitzer on CNN and broadcast around the world by CNN International. The show's slogan was ''The last word in Sunday talk'' and comments made on the show were often featured ...
''. With
Lou Dobbs' sudden resignation from the network on November 12, 2009, CNN announced that King would take over Dobbs' timeslot in early 2010. On January 31, 2010, King announced that CNN's senior political reporter,
Candy Crowley
Candy Alt Crowley (born December 26, 1948) is an American news anchor who was employed as CNN's chief political correspondent, specializing in American national and state elections. She was based in CNN's Washington, D.C. bureau and was the anc ...
, would replace him as anchor of ''State of the Union''. King began hosting his new weeknight show on March 22, 2010, called ''
John King, USA''. On May 2, 2011, John King was the CNN anchor who confirmed the death of
Osama bin Laden to that network's viewers.
On January 19, 2012, King moderated a Republican presidential debate before the South Carolina Primary.
''
John King, USA'' was canceled in early 2012, with the final episode airing on June 29, 2012.
On April 17, 2013, King, citing law enforcement sources, erroneously reported that a suspect in the April 15, 2013,
bombing at the
Boston Marathon had been identified by police and that the suspect was a dark-skinned male. King was the first to erroneously report on this identification of a suspect; other news outlets, such as ''
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
'', soon erroneously reported that a suspect had been arrested.
King currently hosts the weekday edition of the CNN morning show ''Inside Politics''.
On January 11, 2021,
Abby Phillip
Abigail Daniella Phillip (born November 25, 1988) is an American journalist who works as a political correspondent and weekend anchor for CNN. She previously worked for ''The Washington Post'', ABC News, and Politico.
Early life and education
P ...
was announced to be the new anchor on the Sunday edition of ''Inside Politics'', replacing King, starting Sunday, January 24, 2021. The new show is called ''Inside Politics Sunday With Abby Phillip''.
King received widespread praise in the wake of the
2020 United States presidential election for his coverage of the event, which was positively mentioned by many sources.
References
External links
John Kingat CNN's website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:King, John
1963 births
American television reporters and correspondents
Converts to Judaism from Roman Catholicism
American people of Irish descent
Boston Latin School alumni
Living people
University of Rhode Island alumni
People from Boston
CNN people
Harvard Institute of Politics
Jewish American journalists
Schwartz family (television)
21st-century American Jews