NEW YORK – (June 17, 2013) – Al Jazeera America, the new American news channel that will launch later this year, announced today that a one-hour current affairs magazine program called America Tonight will be at the heart of its daily schedule.
Former CNN executive producer Kim Bondy will be America Tonight’s senior executive producer. Adam May, Lori Jane Gliha and Christof Putzel will be three of the six national correspondents reporting on the nightly show.
America Tonight, which will air at 9:00 p.m., will present in-depth segments each night on the economy, government, education, healthcare and the environment, and include breaking news. The show will incorporate contributions from six correspondents reporting from around the United States. The program will originate from a new, state-of-the-art studio located at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
America Tonight will draw on the global newsgathering resources of Al Jazeera Media Network’s 12 bureaus in the United States and more than 70 bureaus around the world. The program will feature work by the Al Jazeera America investigative team led by veteran journalist Ed Pound. It will also cover stories in depth from across America, revealing new insights on the news of the day and breaking stories with its own original reporting. America Tonight will also incorporate social media interaction on screen and off to reflect the views of its American audience.
“America Tonight will be typical of what viewers will see on Al Jazeera America,” said Ehab Al Shihabi, executive director of international operations for Al Jazeera and the senior executive leading the development of the new channel. “We will provide our viewers with more than just headlines and statistics. America Tonight and all other Al Jazeera America programming will explain what the news really means to the daily lives of our viewers.”
Bondy, an award-winning television executive producer, previously was the vice president of morning programming at CNN and the executive producer of that network’s American Morning with Soledad O’Brien and Miles O’Brien. At CNN, Bondy led the breaking coverage of the 9/11 attacks, the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina. The Katrina coverage won Bondy and her team a Peabody Award. Prior to CNN, Bondy held executive and senior producing positions at the Today Show and Weekend Today. Bondy was also TV-One Network’s executive producer for the 2012 elections and the founder of the media and marketing strategy firm, The Bondy Group LLC.
“I am extremely impressed with the journalistic mission of Al Jazeera America and am thrilled to have the opportunity to help shape such an important nightly program,” said Bondy. “My goal is to report important stories in depth that explain what the news really means to viewers.”
May joins Al Jazeera America from Baltimore’s CBS affiliate, WJZ-13, where he was the weekend anchor. May’s investigative stories have covered issues including the energy crisis, port security, witness intimidation and prison staffing shortages. In 2006, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences named May “Best Live Reporter” for the Mid-Atlantic region.
Gliha is a 12-time Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter who most recently worked at ABC15 in Phoenix. She has been recognized for her outstanding investigative reporting including undercover reports on questions and concerns in the medical marijuana debate, baggage theft problems at Sky Harbor International Airport and the ATF’s controversial Fast and Furious program.
Putzel is an award-winning journalist who most recently was the senior correspondent for Vanguard, Current TV’s investigative documentary series. A third generation journalist, Putzel has won the Alfred I. duPont Award in 2009 for his report, “From Russia with Hate,” about the rise of violent attacks against immigrants in Russia by neo-Nazi skinheads, and the same award in 2013 for his report “Arming the Mexican Cartels,” an investigation into the flow of guns from the United States fueling the drug wars in Mexico.
See more press releases from Al Jazeera America here.
