CNN’s Jeff Zucker to Keynote OPC Annual Awards Dinner

Zucker photo, left: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

This year’s Annual Awards Dinner on April 27 will highlight the challenges of reporting in Syria and other conflict areas.

Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide, will be the keynote speaker, and the host of the dinner will be Lydia Polgreen, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post. The President’s Award will go to journalists who died covering the war in Syria.

Zucker took the helm at CNN in 2013, and oversees the network’s foreign and domestic television operations, including HLN and CNN’s new documentary platform, Great Big Story. Polgreen was named editor-in-chief at the Huffington Post in December 2016 after spending nearly 15 years at The New York Times, where she led an initiative to expand its audience outside the United States, with an initial focus on Latin America.

Before Zucker joined CNN, he worked at NBC Universal for 25 years, including a stint as executive producer for the Today Show, which became the highest rated morning news program in the US under his leadership. He also served as CEO of the network from 2007 to 2011.

Zucker graduated from Harvard College in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in American history, and was president of the Harvard Crimson from 1985 to 1986. He won five Emmy awards during his career.

He recently made headlines in media news surrounding CNN’s battle with President Donald Trump. Zucker defended the network after Trump’s accusations of bias and “fake news,” saying network staff consider the president’s insults to be badges of honor.

A recent New York Times article said that under Zucker’s guidance CNN is becoming an “elbows-out player in national politics, vociferously pledging to hold a truth-averse White House to account.