Fionnuala Sweeney

Fionnuala Sweeney
Born	Fionnuala Sweeney 1965 (age 58–59) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Occupation	Television presenter
Notable credit(s)	CNN Newsroom and International Desk

Fionnuala Sweeney /fɪˈnuːlə/ (born 1965) is an Irish anchorwoman and reporter. She had been based at CNN's headquarters in Atlanta, Sweeney was anchoring CNN Newsroom as well as serving as the primary substitute at the International Desk. She is known around Europe as the host of Eurovision Song Contest 1993 from Millstreet, County Cork.

Early life and education

Sweeney was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1965, where she lived until she was 12, when they moved to Dublin. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in English and History and a Higher Diploma in Education at the University College Dublin.

Career

Radio

Sweeney's career in broadcasting began as newscaster on Chris Cary's Energy Power 103 FM in 1986, a "Superpirate" in Dublin where she was a co-presenter on "Wake Up With Energy" along with Pat Courtenay and Bob Gallico. Sweeney's on air name at Energy was "Lisa Moore". In 1988 she left Energy to work as a newscaster at RTÉ 2FM. In early 2018, Fionnuala Sweeney returned to the RTÉ airwaves to co-present the political commentary show Late Debate [www.rte.ie/radio1/latedebate] on RTÉ Radio 1 at 10pm.

Television journalism

While working as a television journalist at RTÉ, Sweeney was the host of the 38th Eurovision Song Contest, in 1993. She then moved to CNN, where she worked as a producer and anchor at CNN International Headquarters in Atlanta, before becoming a full-time anchor and relocating to London (where she anchored World One).

In 2002, she was named the anchor of Your World Today. She also anchored World One, World News Europe and International Correspondents, before returning to Atlanta to host CNN Newsroom as well as serving as the primary substitute on The International Desk.

Awards

In 2006, Sweeney anchored and reported from Haifa during the Israel-Hezbollah war, for which CNN received an Edward R. Murrow Award. In 2012, she was part of the news team that won an Emmy in the Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story – Long Form category at the 33rd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards for the 2011 broadcast CNN Breaking News: Revolution in Egypt – President Mubarak Steps Down. The coverage also won the network a Peabody Award. The same year she part of the team nominated for another Emmy in the same category for the 2011 broadcast CNN Breaking News: Libya Revolution – Rebels Enter Tripoli and Gadhafi Compound.

See also

• List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters

External links

• CNN Bio page
• Fionnuala Sweeney at the Internet Movie Database
• CNN's World One

Preceded by Harald Treutiger & Lydia Cappolicchio

Eurovision Song Contest presenter 1993

Succeeded by Gerry Ryan & Cynthia Ní Mhurchú