Colonel William A. Phillips

Kaitlan Collins (born April 7, 1992)[1][2] is an American journalist who is a news anchor on CNN.[3][4] She is the former co-anchor of CNN This Morning. She is the current host of The Source at 9 p.m. since July 2023. She also served as the network's Chief White House Correspondent from January 2021 until November 2022. Previously, she was the White House correspondent for the website The Daily Caller.[5]

Early life

Kaitlan Collins was born in Prattville, Alabama.[1][6] She grew up with four siblings.[7] Her father, Jeff Collins Sr., is a mortgage banker.[8] She says that her parents taught her that "the political system in the U.S. is a failed one" and that she does not recall them voting or expressing strong opinions about political candidates.[1]

Collins graduated from Prattville High School and went on to attend the University of Alabama. She initially chose to major in chemistry, before majoring in journalism.[1] She earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and journalism in May 2014.[6][1] Collins was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.[6]

Career

The Daily Caller (2014–2017)

After graduating from college, Collins moved to Washington, D.C., for an internship with the website The Daily Caller.[5][1] In June 2014, she was hired by The Daily Caller as an entertainment reporter. After covering the 2016 presidential election, The Daily Caller named her its White House correspondent in January 2017, and she began covering the Trump administration.[9][5]

While she was still with The Daily Caller, Collins was invited to make several appearances on CNN. At a White House correspondent event in spring 2017, she met network president Jeff Zucker and thanked him for having her on despite the ideological nature of her employer at the time.[9][5]

CNN (2017–present)

In July 2017, Collins was hired by CNN as part of the team covering presidential news.[9][5] As a member of the press corps, Collins reported on at least half a dozen of Trump's international presidential trips.[9][10]

Collins was involved in a notable incident with the Trump administration on July 25, 2018, when she attended a photo op in the Oval Office as the day's pool reporter. As the event concluded, Collins asked Trump a series of questions about Vladimir Putin and about Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen. Trump ignored her questions.[9][11] Collins was subsequently barred from a Trump administration press conference in the White House Rose Garden that afternoon[12] and was told by senior White House officials that such questions were "inappropriate for that venue."[13][14] Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders said that Collins had "shouted questions and refused to leave,"[13] while Trump's advisor Kellyanne Conway said that the action was about "being polite."[15] Trump's deputy chief of staff for communications, Bill Shine, objected to the characterization of the White House's action as a "ban" but "declined to tell reporters what word he would use to characterize the White House’s decision to block her from attending the event."[15] CNN stated that Collins' ban was "retaliatory" and "not indicative of an open and free press." The White House Correspondents Association called the ban "wholly inappropriate, wrong-headed, and weak."[13][15] Jay Wallace, president of Fox News, issued a statement in support of Collins, saying that his organization "[stood] in strong solidarity with CNN for the right to full access for our journalists as part of a free and unfettered press."[13]

Collins was the CNN White House correspondent for a large part of the written and televised live coverage of the 2020 election, and was subsequently promoted to chief White House correspondent for the incoming Biden administration on January 11, 2021.[16] At a briefing that took place a few weeks after the election, then-White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to take a question from Collins and called her an "activist".[17] At 28, she was the youngest chief White House correspondent in CNN's history,[9] and one of the youngest chief correspondents for a major media network.[18]

Collins interviewing author David Herszenhorn in 2024

On September 15, 2022, CNN announced that Collins would move to co-anchoring a revamped CNN morning show with Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow, ending her tenure as chief White House correspondent.[19] On October 12, 2022, CNN announced that the morning show would be named CNN This Morning.[20]

Collins attended aa town hall event with Donald Trump on May 10, 2023, ostensibly to moderate. The event included questions from Republican primary voters in New Hampshire.[21][22] During that event, while Collins pointed out that Joe Biden—whose home was also searched when classified documents were discovered at the Penn Biden Center—did not defy a subpoena, Trump interrupted her as Collins asked for him to answer the question. Trump then called her a "nasty person".[23]

On May 17, 2023, Collins was named CNN's new 9 p.m. ET host, with her program scheduled to begin in June. She departed from CNN This Morning on May 25, 2023,[24] with her role being filled by a rotating series of CNN anchors.[25]

The Source with Kaitlan Collins

On July 5, 2023, it was announced that Collins' new 9 p.m. program would be titled The Source with Kaitlan Collins. The show premiered on July 10.[26] She has been hosting this prime time hourly show on weekdays between Anderson Cooper 360° and CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip.

Personal life

Collins says she believes in non-partisan, neutral politics and that since the political scene in the U.S. is only about Democrats and Republicans she considers herself apolitical. She is a registered independent.[1] In October 2022, she moved from Washington, D.C., to New York City.[7]

In 2018, the group Log Cabin Republicans unearthed some tweets from Collins' time at the University of Alabama in 2011, in which she used the slur fag and wrote that she did not know "if I wanna room with a lesbian." She apologized for the tweets, saying, "When I was in college, I used ignorant language in a few tweets to my friends. It was immature but it doesn't represent the way I feel at all."[27][28][29]

Awards

Collins was included on Forbes's "30 Under 30: Media" list in 2019.[30][31]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Stern, Claire (April 2, 2021). "How CNN's Kaitlan Collins Took an 'Apolitical Upbringing' All the Way to the White House". InStyle. ISSN 1076-0830. Archived from the original on November 6, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  2. ^ "Birthday of the Day: Kaitlan Collins, CNN White House correspondent". Politico. April 7, 2020. Archived from the original on November 6, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  3. ^ Valinsky, Lucy Bayly,Jordan (May 17, 2023). "Kaitlan Collins to anchor new 9 pm show on CNN". CNN. Archived from the original on May 17, 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Steinberg, Brian (July 5, 2023). "CNN Set to Launch 'The Source' With Kaitlan Collins". Variety. Archived from the original on July 5, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e Ariens, Chris (June 15, 2017). "Kaitlan Collins Joins CNN from The Daily Caller". Adweek. Archived from the original on February 15, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c Hrynkiw, Ivana (October 8, 2018). "CNN's Kaitlan Collins apologizes for tweets from her University of Alabama days". AL.com. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Kaur, Wendy (January 17, 2024). "Kaitlan Collins Is in Her Prime". Elle. Archived from the original on February 22, 2024. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  8. ^ O'Donoghue, Denise (February 3, 2021). "What we know about CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who has been welcomed into the global Irish family". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Shacknai, Gabby (February 1, 2021). "How CNN's Kaitlan Collins Built A Career Covering Trump And Became The Network's Youngest Chief White House Correspondent". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  10. ^ "Kaitlan Collins official Biography at the CNN site". CNN. Archived from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  11. ^ Romo, Vanessa (July 25, 2018). "CNN Reporter: White House Called My Questions 'Inappropriate,' Banned Me From Event". NPR. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  12. ^ Richardson, Matt (July 25, 2018). "CNN correspondent blocked from White House press event". Fox News. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d "Kaitlan Collins: Row over CNN reporter's White House ban". BBC News. July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  14. ^ Keegan, Rebecca (July 27, 2018). "Mission: Impossible—Fallout's Wolf Blitzer Cameo and the Possible Perils of Fake Fake News". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  15. ^ a b c Phelps, Jordyn (July 26, 2018). "White House disputes that CNN's Kaitlan Collins was 'banned'". ABC News. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  16. ^ "November 4 US election news". CNN. November 4, 2020. Archived from the original on November 23, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  17. ^ Barr, Jeremy (November 1, 2022). "The meteoric rise of CNN's Kaitlan Collins". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  18. ^ DePaolo, Joe (January 11, 2021). "CNN Shakes Up Afternoon and Evening Lineup". Mediaite. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  19. ^ Darcy, Oliver (September 15, 2022). "CNN announces it will debut new morning show with Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, and Kaitlan Collins". CNN. Archived from the original on September 15, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  20. ^ Bauder, David (October 12, 2022). "CNN reveals name, start date for new morning show". The Hill. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  21. ^ Goldmacher, Shane; Haberman, Maggie (May 11, 2023). "Five Takeaways From Trump's Unruly CNN Town Hall". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  22. ^ "CNN leadership under fire after 'disastrous' Trump town hall". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  23. ^ Wolf, Zachary (May 10, 2023). "Trump has a history of insulting women by calling them 'nasty'". CNN. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023.
  24. ^ "Kaitlan Collins Says Goodbye to CNN This Morning, Heads to Primetime". www.adweek.com. May 25, 2023. Archived from the original on May 26, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  25. ^ "Kaitlan Collins to anchor new 9 pm show on CNN". CNN. May 17, 2023. Archived from the original on May 17, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  26. ^ Seitz, Loree (July 11, 2023). "'The Source With Kaitlan Collins' Debuts as CNN's 2nd Most-Watched Monday Primetime Show". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  27. ^ Nordyke, Kimberly (October 7, 2018). "CNN Reporter Kaitlan Collins Apologizes for Gay Slurs in Resurfaced Tweets". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  28. ^ Dicker, Ron (October 8, 2018). "CNN Reporter Kaitlan Collins Apologizes For Past Gay Slurs On Twitter". HuffPost. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  29. ^ Cummings, William (October 8, 2018). "CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins 'regrets' homophobic tweets from college days". USA Today. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  30. ^ "30 Under 30 2019". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 23, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  31. ^ Gomez, Dessi (May 13, 2023). "Who Is Kaitlan Collins? A Look at the CNN Anchor's Career". TheWrap. Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved February 28, 2024.

External links