CNN's David McKenzie
Award-winning CNN journalist David McKenzie is to take on a new position as an international correspondent based in Beijing, it has been announced by Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of international newsgathering.
McKenzie is moving to Beijing after five years as the international news network’s correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya, where he won international awards for his coverage of the African experience and reported from across the continent for all of CNN’s platforms.
“David brings to Beijing a portfolio of award-winning coverage from across Africa and beyond,” Khosravi said. “China is featured extensively in CNN’s international output and we are delighted to add him to our team covering this crucial and compelling story,” she added.
McKenzie was the first international reporter to gain access to Sudan’s controversial oil fields to report on alleged pollution and was one of the first correspondents to uncover the threat of piracy off the coast of Somalia.
Since joining CNN, McKenzie has interviewed many high-profile personalities and leaders including Nobel Prize winners Wangari Maathai and Desmond Tutu, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.
In 2011, McKenzie investigated the plight of the mentally ill in Kenya for CNN’s documentary series ‘World’s Untold Stories.’ The program’s broadcast resulted in domestic and international human rights groups calling for government intervention. The matter was brought to the attention of the Kenyan government, who have called for change; and the documentary, ‘Locked Up and Forgotten’, won the Amnesty International Media Awards in the “International Television and Radio” category.
An avid sports fan, McKenzie was also a crucial part of CNN’s World Cup 2010 coverage as he travelled thousands of miles across South Africa to take the pulse of the country.
McKenzie joined CNN from UNICEF, where he served as a correspondent and producer with their Africa Services Unit. In that role, he reported from more than 30 countries in Africa, covering stories on the instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
McKenzie graduated from Duke University with degrees in Public Policy and Psychology and received a Masters in Journalism from New York University, where he was on a full scholarship (Broadcast and Knight Foundation Scholarship).
For further information please contact Kym Druitt at eckfactor on (02) 8570 5511 or 0418 272 018 or kym@eckfactor.com
