NEW YORK, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sonya McNair has been named
Vice President, Communications, CBS News, it was announced today by Jeff
Ballabon, Senior Vice President, Communications, CBS News. Her appointment is
effective immediately.
In this position, McNair will work directly with Ballabon in the
management of media relations and publicity for the CBS News Division. In that
role, she will oversee the daily Communications strategy for a wide range of
CBS News broadcasts. She will also serve as liaison for media relations and
publicity with CBS Radio News, CBS Interactive and the CBS News Polling &
Survey Unit. She has been a consultant to CBS News since March.
"Sonya is an accomplished, highly respected media relations professional
and we are exceptionally pleased that she is joining our communications team
full time," said Ballabon. "This is a time of innovation and increasing
critical acclaim for CBS News and Sonya's relationships, savvy, drive and
creativity already are proving to be great assets."
Previously, McNair was Spokesperson and Director of Public Relations for
The New Yorker, where she directed press affairs and public relations
strategies for the magazine, and implemented media campaigns for special
events, including The New Yorker Festival.
Prior to her time at The New Yorker, McNair was Vice President of
Corporate Communications for Time Inc's Essence Communications Inc. and was
responsible for the communications for all corporate units, including ESSENCE
magazine, Essence Books and The Essence Music Festival. She designed the
promotions effort that garnered Advertising Age's 2003 A-List ranking, a first
in the 34-year history of the magazine.
Formerly, McNair held the position of Vice President of Publicity and
Corporate Communications for the Fox Broadcasting Company. In this capacity,
she oversaw East Coast media relations for the network, handled communications
for corporate affairs and business related matters. She also worked on the
publicity campaigns for the launch of "American Idol" and "24." In addition,
McNair served as a key liaison for the network across Newscorp business units.
Before joining the Fox network, McNair was Vice President of
Communications for the Channel One Network and Primedia Digital Video. While
there, she developed media strategies for programming, press conferences and
special events.
McNair spent 16 years at ABC News and held several increasingly
responsible positions at the network, including Director of Media Relations
and Spokesperson for the network's news division, where she oversaw media
relations for the New York based shows. She provided public relations counsel
to Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer, David Brinkley and others. She also managed
the publicity surrounding the launch of ABCNews.com.
SOURCE CBS News
-0- 05/19/2009
/CONTACT: Jeff Ballabon of CBS News, +1-212-975-7525,
BallabonJ@cbsnews.com/
(CBS)
CO: CBS News
ST: New York
IN: PUB ENT TVN
SU: PER
PR
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9447 05/19/2009 10:55 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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