Rick Sanchez, a CNN anchor and correspondent, becomes the new prime-time weekend anchor for CNN Newsroom, it was announced today by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. Sanchez, who is based in the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta, will also continue reporting for Anderson Cooper 360°.

“When Rick is on camera, you’ve just got to watch,” Klein said. “His passion for the news and natural gift for storytelling will be a welcome addition to our weekend coverage.”
Since joining CNN in September 2004, Sanchez contributed to the network’s coverage of hurricanes such as Ivan and Jeanne and anchored CNN’s coverage when the New Orleans levees broke following Hurricane Katrina. He has been part of the Anderson Cooper 360° reporting team for the last year, offering memorable stories such as the government’s airlift of illegal immigrants and, just last week, winter survival techniques for stranded hikers.

He frequently uses his fluency in both English and Spanish to access unusual stories, as when he reported for the Anderson Cooper 360° special edition, “24 Hours on the Border.” He also provided such coverage from Mexico City following congressional elections there and from Caracas, Venezuela, following President Hugo Chavez’s harsh criticism of U.S. President George W. Bush at the United Nation.

Throughout his career, Sanchez has reported on major events across the United States and around the world, including on-the-scene coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Sanchez has also reported on wars in Afghanistan and Nicaragua, the invasion of Grenada and the fall of the Duvalier regime in Haiti. Additionally, Sanchez – who was born in Cuba and came to America at the age of 3 – has traveled to report live from Havana, Cuba, numerous times.

Sanchez has also interviewed several prominent newsmakers, including Laura Bush, Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, Bill Clinton, Michael Gorbachev, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and Manuel Noriega, among others.

Before joining CNN, Sanchez was an anchor for WTVJ/Channel 6 and an interim anchor for WBZL/Channel 39 in Miami. Prior to his tenure with the NBC affiliate, he worked for two years as a correspondent and anchor for MSNBC.

Sanchez started his career as a television journalist at WSVN-TV Miami in 1982. He briefly worked as an anchor at KHOU-TV in Houston but soon returned to WSVN-TV. In Miami, he became the first person to both anchor a television news program and host a talk show on Spanish-language radio, El Show de Rick Sanchez.

Sanchez joined MSNBC in 2001 as a correspondent and also delivered breaking news for CNBC and filed radio updates for NBC National radio. Sanchez’s professional honors include an Emmy Award and an American Medical Association “Distinguished Journalist Award.” Sanchez studied journalism at the University of Minnesota.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is one of the world’s most respected and trusted sources for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; four Web sites, including CNN.com, the first major news and information Web site; CNN Pipeline, an on-demand broadband video service; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and partnerships for four television networks and one Web site.