Holly Williams is an Australian

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

and war correspondent who has worked for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

since 2012. Prior to that, she worked for

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

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 ...

, and

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

Early life and education

Williams grew up in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. She attended high school in Victoria. Growing up, she was interested in journalism.

Bob Schieffer Bob Lloyd Schieffer (born February 25, 1937) is an American television journalist. He is known for his moderation of presidential debates, where he has been praised for his capability. Schieffer is one of the few journalists to have covered all f ...

, Andrew Schwartz,

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...

(August 10, 2016
(CLICK "DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT" ABOVE PODCAST-THEN SEE PAGE 10,PARAGRAPHS ONE AND TWO) “CBS’s Holly Williams reports from the Danger Zone”
/ref> Williams became interested in China when she was 12 years old while watching the

Tiananmen Square Protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

on television. At age 15 she persuaded her parents to let her visit China for three months in an exchange program.CBS News: 60 Minutes Overtime (September 18, 2016
(See article below video) "How Holly Williams fell in love with China"
/ref> Upon returning home she began studying Chinese in high school. Williams became enamored with learning about and watching Chinese films, including “ Farewell My Concubine,” directed by

Chen Kaige Chen Kaige (; born 12 August 1952) is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema.Berry, Michael (2002). "Chen Kaige: Historical Revolution and Cinematic Rebellion" in Speaking in Images: Interviews wit ...

. Years later as a reporter working in China, she interviewed Kaige. Williams obtained a bachelor's degree in Chinese language studies and Asian history from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

. Then she earned a master's degree in international relations from

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

. After graduating, Williams became an

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

for CNN working in China. From 2007 to 2008, Williams was a

Nieman Fellow The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists A Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Career

After her internship, Williams began doing her own camera work, and covered the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in China. This led to her being hired for her first job as a correspondent and she spent 12 years in China, becoming fluent in Chinese. She worked for ''BBC News'', ''CNN'', and ''Sky News''. Williams next worked as a war correspondent in conflict areas in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

, Pakistan,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, Gaza,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

. She also reported from the conflict area in the Donbass region of Ukraine in the trenches in the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels. Williams was hired by ''CBS'' in October 2012. She then studied Turkish when she was a correspondent in Turkey. On 21 August 2015, the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' included Williams in an article about leading female war correspondents. ''

Elle magazine ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'' profiled Williams and several other women in a March 2016 article on female correspondents at CBS. On 12 March 2017, ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' broadcast two segments Williams produced centered around a series of interviews she conducted with

Mohamedou Slahi Mohamedou Ould Slahi () (born December 21, 1970) is a Mauritanian citizen who was detained at Guantánamo Bay detention camp without charge from 2002 until his release on October 17, 2016. Slahi traveled from his home in Germany to Afghanistan ...

. Slahi was one of the few individuals held in Guantanamo that American officials explicitly acknowledge torturing. ''CBS News'' described the interviews as Slahi's first television interviews since his repatriation. Williams traveled to

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

for those interviews. In 2022 Williams went back to Ukraine and began filing stories on the Russo-Ukrainian crisis. She visited eastern Ukraine to report on the war zone, where she was accompanied by Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...

Journalism awards

Williams received the Edward R. Murrow Award and the Jack R. Howard Award for her war coverage of the terrorist organization

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

. Williams and colleague Andrew Portch received the 2012

Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for coverage of

Chen Guangcheng Chen Guangcheng (born November 12, 1971) is a Chinese civil rights activist who has worked on human rights issues in rural areas of the People's Republic of China. Blind from an early age and self-taught in the law, Chen is frequently descr ...

, a Chinese human rights activist. In 2019 she received the Free Expression Award for courageous acts.CBS News (APRIL 4, 2019
News' foreign correspondents awarded Free Expression Awards"
/ref> Williams also produced stories that won the

Royal Television Society Award The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

, the Foreign Press Association Award and the

Golden Nymph The Monte-Carlo Television Festival is held every year in June in the Principality of Monaco at the Grimaldi Forum, under the Honorary Presidency of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco. The opening ceremony inaugurates each new edition, introdu ...

Personal life

Williams is married and lives with her husband and their daughter and son in Istanbul, Turkey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Holly 21st-century Australian journalists Australian National University alumni Australian expatriate journalists in the United States Australian television journalists Australian war correspondents Australian women journalists CBS News people Deakin University alumni Edward R. Murrow Awards George Polk Award recipients Harvard University alumni Journalists from South Australia Journalists from Victoria (state) Living people Nieman Fellows People from Hamilton, Victoria People from Tasmania Scripps-Howard Awards winners Women war correspondents 60 Minutes producers Year of birth missing (living people)