Former CBS and Al Jazeera America news executive Marcy McGinnis to speak at the Manship School on April 14
04/02/2016
Accomplished network and cable broadcast news journalist and executive and former associate dean at Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism, Marcy McGinnis, will speak at the Manship School on Thursday, April 14 at 12:30 p.m. in the Holliday Forum.
McGinnis is currently working with the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science,
a center she helped create along with the famed film, TV and Broadway actor and science
buff, Alan Alda. McGinnis, along with Mr. Alda, other journalists and teaching faculty,
medical doctors and PhDs,
trains scientists, medical professionals, university faculty and graduate students
how to communicate with colleagues, patients, students, potential donors, government
officials and the general public. The center is based at Stony Brook University in
New York while the program spans
nationwide.
Prior to joining the Alda Center, McGinnis had a career at CBS News that spanned over
three decades. Subsequently, she helped create the only undergraduate school of journalism
in the SUNY system of higher education and helped launch a new cable television network.
She was Senior Vice President, News Coverage and Vice President, News Coverage at
CBS News for eight years. She managed the CBS News worldwide newsgathering operation,
hard news broadcasts,
special events coverage and breaking news as well as the operation and staffing of
all domestic and international bureaus.
McGinnis managed a staff of over 600 people and a budget of $300M. She was at the helm of the CBS newsgathering operation during coverage of 9/11, the war in Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina. She was one of the primary architects of the network’s award-‐winning coverage of the war in Iraq.
Prior to her appointment as Vice President, News Coverage, McGinnis was Vice President,
Europe and London Bureau Chief running the network’s day-‐to-‐day newsgathering
and news coverage in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. She received three Emmy Awards
for coverage of the death of Princess
Diana. Prior, she had been Deputy London Bureau Chief and Director, Newspath Europe.
In that capacity, she created and managed a highly competitive and lucrative newsgathering
consortium of international news broadcasters.
Before she was assigned to London, McGinnis held a variety of positions within CBS News including executive producer, senior producer, producer, associate producer and assistant producer. She started her career as a secretary in the Special Events Unit. After CBS News, McGinnis became associate dean of Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism. With the founding dean, she helped start the first undergraduate journalism
After CBS News, McGinnis became associate dean of Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism. With the founding dean, she helped start the first undergraduate journalism school in the SUNY system.
In 2013 McGinnis returned to the television industry as Senior Vice President, Newsgathering and SVP, Outreach for Al Jazeera America, a newly created cable news network. She ran daily newsgathering including special events and breaking news and the operation and staffing of all AJAM domestic and overseas bureaus until 2015. She was also responsible for establishing relationships with other journalism organizations and non-‐profit institutions.
In December 2014, she gave the commencement address at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication. Also at the Manship School, she was a Hearst Teaching Fellow and a presenter at the Scripps Howard Advanced Leadership Academy.