CNN's Hala Gorani to give keynote

News Xchange is proud to announce that Hala Gorani, anchor and correspondent for CNN International, will be one of our keynote speakers at this year's event in Cascais, Portugal. She will speak on Friday morning, when we focus on Inspiration, the fourth pillar of this year's platform.

One of CNN’s most experienced international journalists, Hala has reported from every country in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories. She has also covered major stories in other parts of the world, including Haiti and France, among others.

Hala, who is based at the network’s headquarters in Atlanta,
anchors the 1300ET/1900CET edition of ‘International Desk’, the weekday program that brings viewers into the heart of CNN’s newsgathering operation and immerses them in the latest stories of the day.

In addition to her anchoring duties, Hala often goes into the field to report on major breaking news stories. In late June she was part of a small team of journalists allowed into Syria for the first time since the protests began to cover the situation there. She previously reported extensively from Jordan and Egypt and has been instrumental in CNN’s coverage of the “Arab Spring.”

In 2010 Hala covered the devastating earthquake in Haiti, for which CNN’s coverage was recognized with a Golden Nymph award - one of the highest honors in international journalism - at the Monte Carlo Television Festival last year.

Hala formerly hosted ‘Inside the Middle East’, the monthly show featuring stories on the most important social, political and cultural issues in the region. During her five years as host, she reported on several colorful and thought-provoking stories including poverty in oil-rich Bahrain; everyday struggles for artists living in Iraq; and gay life in the Middle East, which was a first on international television and earned a nomination for a Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) award.

In early 2009 she presented ‘The Middle East Challenge’, a special hour-long program that took an insightful and thought-provoking look into the problems and promise facing the Middle East.

Hala joined CNN in 1998 from Bloomberg Television in London, where she worked as an anchor. She also worked for French network France 3, covering stories for the French cable network Paris Premiere. Gorani started her career in journalism writing for French daily 'La Voix du Nord' and news agency 'Agence France Presse'.
Hala earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. and graduated from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris in 1995. Gorani was born in Seattle and raised in Paris, France.

She speaks English, French and Arabic.