Paula Zahn

Paula Zahn Profile

A longtime journalist and television news anchor, Paula Zahn produced and hosted the true crime documentary series On the Case with Paula Zahn on the Investigation Discovery channel. First broadcast in October 2009, the show takes viewers inside crime investigations, with firsthand accounts from those closest to the cases, along with insight from experts.

Zahn has won nine Emmy awards in her thirty years covering the news, as well as the National Commission of Working Women Broadcasting Award, and an American Women in Radio and Television Award for reporting on gender bias in education. She was the anchor for CNN’s weeknight primetime evening program Paula Zahn Now, an issues-driven program offering live newsmaker interviews and meaningful discussion and analysis from an exclusive roster of contributors. Previously, she anchored the network’s flagship morning news program, American Morning with Paula Zahn, which she helped launch in fall 2001.

Before joining CNN in September 2001, Zahn was host of The Edge with Paula Zahn, a daily news program on Fox News Channel. She joined Fox in 1999 as anchor of its evening news, The Fox Report. She spent 10 years at CBS News, where she co-hosted CBS This Morning and anchored The CBS Evening News Saturday Edition. She also co-anchored the 1994 Olympic Winter games in Lillehammer, Norway and served as primetime co-host of the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France. Earlier, Zahn served as co-anchor of World News This Morning and anchored news segments of Good Morning America on ABC.

Zahn is an experienced cellist who began playing when she was five and made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1992, performing with the New York Pops orchestra. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, attending on a cello scholarship.

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  A longtime journalist and television news anchor, Paula Zahn produced and hosted the true crime documentary series On the Case with Paula Zahn on the Investigation Discovery channel. First broadcast in October 2009, the show takes viewers inside crime investigations, with firsthand accounts from those closest to the cases, along with insight from experts.

  She is the former anchor for CNN’s weeknight primetime evening program Paula Zahn Now, an issues-driven program offering live newsmaker interviews and meaningful discussion and analysis from an exclusive roster of contributors. Previously, Zahn anchored the network’s flagship morning news program, American Morning with Paula Zahn, which she helped launch in fall 2001.

  On her first day with CNN, in September 2001, Zahn began continuous on-scene coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center towers in New York. In the course of that reporting, she interviewed multiple rescue workers, survivors, dignitaries and officials, including Jordan’s King Abdullah, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, N.Y. Gov. George Pataki, former U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke and U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, to name a few.

  In 2003, Zahn anchored and provided the latest news on Operation Iraqi Freedom, interviewing multiple guests, including family members of troops, diplomats, Iraqi-Americans and politicians.

  Before joining CNN, Zahn was host of The Edge with Paula Zahn, a daily news program on Fox News Channel. She joined Fox in 1999 as anchor of its evening news, The Fox Report. Previously she spent 10 years at CBS News, where she co-hosted CBS This Morning and anchored The CBS Evening News Saturday Edition. She also co-anchored the 1994 Olympic Winter games in Lillehammer, Norway and served as primetime co-host of the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France. Earlier, Zahn served as co-anchor of World News This Morning and anchored news segments for Good Morning America on ABC. Zahn joined ABC in November 1987 as anchor of The Health Show.

  Zahn began her career at WFAA-TV in Dallas. In 1979 she moved to San Diego to work for KFMB-TV. Zahn also worked at KPRC-TV in Houston, WNEV-TV (now WHDH-TV) in Boston and KCBS-TV in Los Angeles before joining ABC News.

  Throughout her career, Zahn has interviewed multiple key newsmakers, including former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, Cuban President Fidel Castro, former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, H.M. Queen Noor of Jordan, former President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, first lady Betty Ford, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael and human rights activist Winnie Mandela. Zahn has also interviewed athletes and artists, including tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, actress Faye Dunaway, baseball player Ted Williams, actress Katharine Hepburn, actor Warren Beatty, baseball player Joe DiMaggio and actress Sophia Loren.

  Zahn has received numerous honors and awards, including seven Emmys, the National Commission of Working Women Broadcasting Award and an AWRT Award for reporting on gender bias in education. Zahn also received an Albert Einstein College of Medicine Spirit Achievement Award, the Second Annual Cancer Awareness Award by the Congressional Families Action for Cancer Awareness, the Spirit of Life award from the City of Hope Cancer Center and a citation from New York’s Beth Israel Medical Center for her contributions to the battle against breast cancer. In 2004, Zahn received the Love of Life Foundation’s Tavel-Reznik Award in support of cancer prevention, the Matrix Award for Broadcasting from New York Women in Communications and a National Headliner Award for “Fall of Saddam.” She was also honored by the Museum of Radio and Television.

  In 2006, Zahn won a Gracie Award for <i>Paula Zahn Now</i>’s exclusive interview with Carmen bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s sister; a National Headliner award for the program’s newscast about the Jet Blue incident and Hurricane Rita; and a Freddie award for her interview with U.S. Health Secretary Tommy Thompson about his family’s dealings with breast cancer.

  Zahn is an experienced cellist who began playing when she was 5 and made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1992 performing with the New York Pops orchestra. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., attending on a cello scholarship.