Sara Sidner (born May 31, 1972) is an American journalist. She is a correspondent for

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

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inte ...

based at CNN's

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

bureau. She also anchored ''Big Picture with Sara Sidner'' on

CNN+ The Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news channel and website 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 ow ...

, the network's shortlived subscription service.

Early life

A native of

Miami Lakes, Florida Miami Lakes is a suburb of Miami, an incorporated town and former census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. US Census, 31,628 people live in Miami Lakes. History The development was constructed by Sengra (now the ...

, Sidner was born to an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

father and a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

mother. She graduated from

Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School , motto_translation = ''Work Conquers All'' , streetaddress = 7977 West 12th Avenue , city = Hialeah , state = Florida , zipcode = 33014 , country = United States , coordinates = , type = P ...

and the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

with a

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

degree. While a student at the university, she played on the women's volleyball team, which made the Final Four during her last year.

Career

Sidner began her on-air reporting career at WUFT-TV in Gainesville, Florida. This was followed by periods at

KFVS-TV KFVS-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, United States, serving Southeastern Missouri, the Purchase area of Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois, and Northwest Tennessee as an affiliate of CBS and The CW. ...

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citi ...

WINK-TV WINK-TV (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Fort Myers, Florida, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for Southwest Florida. It is owned by the McBride family and their Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, making it one of a han ...

in Fort Myers, Florida, and

KDFW-TV KDFW (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, broadcasting the Fox network to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNe ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

. At KDFW, she spent three years as a consumer reporter/anchor. She also distinguished herself by reporting on the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. In January 2004, Sidner joined

KTVU KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside San Jose ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, where she served as a weekend co-anchor of ''KTVU Channel 2 News at 6'' and ''The Ten O’Clock News''. She also served as a weekday reporter for the station. Sidner has received many journalism awards. These include a Regional Emmy Award, a Lone Star Award, and several

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 ...

Awards.

CNN

Currently, Sidner is a national and international correspondent for

, based in Los Angeles. She has previously been based in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Abu Dhabi, and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

. At CNN, Sidner has reported on a wide range of subjects including the 2011 Libyan civil war, the launching of India's first unmanned

lunar probe The physical exploration of the Moon began when '' Luna 2'', a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made an impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of exploration had been observatio ...

, and the Mumbai terrorist attacks. On Sunday May 31, 2020, while in Minneapolis covering the

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

sparked by the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...

by police officer Derek Chauvin, Sidner conducted a newsmaking live interview with the city's police chief,

Medaria Arradondo Medaria Arradondo is an American law enforcement official who served as the Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department from 2017 until 2022. He was the first black chief of the Minneapolis Police Department. Career A fifth-generation Minnesot ...

, in which Arradondo expressed his opinion that the three other officers who were present during the murder also bore responsibility. In January 2023, CNN announced plans to revamp its daytime programming, Sidner will co-anchor with

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 ...

and

Kate Bolduan Katherine Jean Bolduan (;) is an American broadcast journalist and news anchor for CNN based in New York City. She is currently the host of ''At This Hour with Kate Bolduan'', and previously anchored ''State of America with Kate Bolduan'' and ...

from 9 a.m. until noon on their new program in Spring 2023.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sidner, Sara 1972 births Living people American expatriates in the United Arab Emirates American expatriates in India American expatriates in Israel African-American women journalists African-American journalists American women television journalists American television news anchors American television reporters and correspondents University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications alumni People from Miami Lakes, Florida CNN people American people of British descent African-American television personalities Florida Gators women's volleyball players 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women