Ben Hunte joins CNN as international anchor and correspondent

Award-winning investigative journalist and news anchor, Ben Hunte, is joining CNN as an anchor and correspondent, based at the network’s international headquarters in Atlanta.

He will host CNN Newsroom at weekends for morning audiences in EMEA, afternoon viewers in Asia and late-night audiences in the U.S. on CNN International. He will also work across CNN programming as a correspondent, with a particular focus on social justice and LGBTQ issues.

Hunte most recently worked for VICE News in London as a global correspondent, reporting across TV and digital from around the world.

Prior to his time at VICE, he spent five years as an Emmy-nominated anchor for BBC World Service and BBC News Africa, launching the corporation’s first TV show specifically aimed at young audiences across the African continent. He became the BBC’s first ever dedicated LGBTQ correspondent, and its West Africa correspondent.

Meara Erdozain, SVP of programming at CNN International, said: “Ben embodies so much of what we want to do at CNN.  He’s a dynamic, exciting talent with proven multi-platform skills and a hard-earned reputation for delivering impactful reporting.  Whether in the field or in the studio, he will bring a new dimension to our content and our journalism.”

Hunte added: “This is an exciting time to be joining CNN, especially at its original home in Atlanta.  The studios, facilities, technology and talent here are all exceptional, but I’m also looking forward to the stories I’ll be able to tell from here and elsewhere for audiences around the world.”

The London native has won multiple awards and nominations for both his presenting and investigative work, particularly around LGBTQ issues. In 2023, he was awarded the OUT D’or prize in France for exposing transphobia at the UK’s equality watchdog, and has won several British LGBTQ awards.

He continued: “I am extremely passionate about LGBTQ issues, and I’m also looking forward to picking those important stories up again with the backing of an organization like CNN.”

Hunte was named One Young World’s “Journalist of the Year” in 2020.  He has twice been an Emmy Award finalist and a finalist for both the Royal Television Society’s Young Journalist of the Year, and the British Journalism Society’s “Specialist Journalist of the Year,” and took the top spot in the U.K.’s “Pride Power List” 2020.  He was named among Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30, in 2022.

Before entering journalism, Hunte worked for Google Ireland as a strategic partner manager, during which time he started his own YouTube channel, a move that inspired him to change careers.  He has a Bachelor of Science in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus, and studied a Master of Arts in Journalism at City, University of London.