For most reporters, interviewing a world-famous journalist evokes mixed feelings. After 18 years as an international correspondent, a long list of awards to her name and now her own prime time show, Christiane Amanpour can't but make the person quizzing her feel a little under pressure. Swiftly setting a 15-minute limit and firing away answers, the chief international correspondent of CNN made it apparent that she was used to being on the other side of the table, too.
Famous TV news anchors tend to be synonymous with their networks. For most, the name Amanpour instantly brings the CNN logo to mind. She admits the term celebrity is something she does not like. Culturing household names from among their reporters and anchors, however, is something most major news networks have always done and CNN's front woman on the international scene doesn't believe criticism by the cynics of such PR is justified.
"It's not even cynical, that is what companies do," Amanpour said. "I watch the BBC, I watch Al Jazeera, I watch not just their programming but their advertising as well. They do exactly the same thing, every network does that."
Born in 1950s London to a British mother and an Iranian father, Amanpour spent her early years in Iran before being schooled in the United Kingdom. She studied journalism at Rhode Island University in the United States and graduated summa cum laude. In 1983 she started work at CNN as a desk assistant. What followed was a glittering career as a TV news journalist.
Amanpour rejects any suggestion that labels such as celebrity, or being featured prominently in CNN's advertising, outweigh her professional role as a reporter. "It doesn't affect me at all as a journalist," she said. "I don't see it as anything other than normal operating procedure."
"In a way it shows CNN is authentic," she added, arguing that images of trusted journalists were essential to branding. "In a way it shows CNN is trying to sell not just personalities, it is trying to sell what CNN does best — being a trusted name in news. So that is good because that is what I want to do. I want to be a trustworthy name, a credible name for news. Not for any other thing people project, celebrity or whatever. And that is what I have done all my career."
People in the industry often refer to Amanpour when discussing moving up the ranks in TV journalism. After working at an entry-level position, she was moved to Frankfurt where she covered the revolutions in Eastern Europe and her first major assignment was in 1990 reporting on the first Gulf War. That war opened doors for her and from then on she has provided documentary and news reports from around the world.
Her loyalty to CNN reflects she has tied her professional rise to that of the network. "I have been at CNN for 26 years," she said. "I started at the bottom, I rose with CNN. My first assignment was the first Gulf War in 1990, which is when CNN exploded on to the international stage."
The aim of the network, led by founder Ted Turner, to provide international coverage to a global audience led to the creation of CNN International. In 1994 they built their first newsroom and studio, and since then major hubs have been created in London, Hong Kong, Mexico City and, most recently, Abu Dhabi.
Building on strength
Competing in its earliest years with BBC World Service Television, in the Middle East they also face stiff competition from Al Jazeera English. Amanpour wasted no time in confirming her belief that CNN already has a dominant position here. CNN has been a big player on the international scene for many years, she argued.
"We were the first to come out there with the power of television and to show the world that it meant to have an independent source of news," she said. "And now — two decades later — look: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and that is what is happening."
The Middle East has not escaped the growing trend within television of an increasing number of female reporters, Amanpour said. "Everywhere you look — whether it be on Al Jazeera or on the local stations in this part of the world — it is all women," she said. "So it has broken cultural lines as well. There is a significant number of women who do this job. It really is equal opportunity when it comes to newsgathering."
When it comes to executives, bureau chiefs and the higher reaches of the industry, however, she notes there is still progress to be made. "We need to shatter the glass ceiling when it comes to the executive suite across the board in journalism, be it in print or on television," she added.
Although the region's most recognisable faces of television news reflect a shift in gender stereotyping, censorship in the local press is still a reality. Amanpour acknowledged that the local press in the region deals with pressures internationals don't always have to.
"I'm a journalist so I am committed to a free press and freedom of expression," she said. "There are different cultural realities. Do I want to see responsible free journalism all over the world? Yes, and hopefully that is something that will come."
In Iran, too, where her heritage could make her a household name, a stranglehold on the press prevents many from tuning in to CNN.
"It is illegal to have satellites in Iran. However, news travels," she said.
A country where she says she is very well received, its recent predominance in international news leaves it an obvious target of Amanpour's focus.
"It always has been. Since 1991, I have been going back to Iran I would say on average once a year for CNN," she said. "As everybody in this region knows it is the big story [here] and obviously Pakistan and Afghanistan right now."
Last year's elections in Iran displayed to the world how community journalism could overcome government control over information. Those protesting the controversial results of Ahmadinejad's presidential election kept in touch with the outside world via social networking sites on the internet and mobile phones. Further afield, expatriate Iranians joined with many in the Western world to circulate information globally, quickly.
Complement to reporting
Speaking more generally about community journalism, Amanpour said it would continue to complement today's reporting.
"I believe it is vital and inevitable. Because that is technology — you are not going to [trick] the genie back into the bottle. It gives a whole new depth to journalism but it is not a replacement. It is not a substitute for professional, experienced journalists who go on the ground and have sources and check sources and cross references and have a professional ethic."
As more people log on to the internet for news rather than turn on their televisions or head to a newspaper stand, speculation about the future of news has been rife globally. "The whole business is in a flux because of the technological advances," she said. "That's not breaking news. The technological advances mean there are umpteen new delivery systems."
Amanpour is now based in New York City where she lives with her husband James Rubin, former assistant secretary of state and spokesman for the US State Department. Their son Darius was born in 2000. In September her new show, Amanpour, went on air. Based also in New York, Amanpour is a half-hour, interview-based show which analyses current affairs.
Any suggestion, however, that she has almost retired from reporting in the field was quickly corrected. "I am not doing it," she said. "I will continue to be in the field. I'll travel [for] this programme. I will continue to do documentaries. I'm not leaving one to do another. I don't consider myself an anchor or a presenter — I'm a reporter who happens to have a daily programme."
Hosting such a show reflects a change in the tone of not only CNN's reporting but those of most major news networks. Beyond breaking news and live broadcasts of world events, analysis and deeper insight are coming to our screens more often.
"People want more understanding. Not just more facts," Amanpour said. "For a journalist to be able to do that on television on a regular basis is really great. In the past we were always slammed for just being superficial and just doing breaking news. Well now we are doing it all."
