Octavia Nasr - Career

Career

Nasr began her career as an assistant News Director at the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) in Lebanon. She later became Executive Producer of the channel's main news bulletin and then turned to reporting. As a war correspondent at LBC she covered the Lebanon Civil War and interviewed political figures from the different warring factions from 1988 to 1990. Lawlessness and a rise in journalists' kidnapping drove western broadcasters to close down their operations during that time. On behalf of LBC, Nasr contributed reports and filed live updates to CNN's World Report program during that period.

In 1990, Nasr moved to CNN and worked there in various capacities until 2010. She coordinated CNN's coverage of the Gulf War as part of the international assignment desk in 1991. She also ran the news gathering operation for the CNN World Report program before she became the program's anchor and Editor. After 9/11/2001 her role changed to Senior Editor of Arab affairs coordinating coverage with various Arab networks and providing on air and behind-the-scenes analysis of breaking news with a focus on the war on terrorism, al Qaeda, Taliban, Osama bin Laden and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Most recently, she served as the Senior Editor for Middle East affairs across all of CNN's platforms. In this capacity she appeared on CNN shows as an analyst of breaking news and developing stories in the Middle East and how they pertain to the United States and the world.

An early adopter of digital media, Nasr is considered one of the pioneers of bridging the gap between traditional and social media. She played a pivotal role building and running the social media international news gathering strategy at CNN. The peak of her work in this capacity was the Iranian elections of 2009 and their aftermath. She now runs her own company, Bridges Media Consulting. Its main aim is to help businesses employ social networks to enhance their image and deliver their message. She is a lecturer and columnist on Middle East issues. Most recently, she spoke at the Harvard Business School about the importance of social media in the Arab world. At the University of Warsaw in Poland she discussed the similarities between the ongoing uprising in the Middle East with Eastern Europe of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Nasr is the recipient of many awards including: Edward R. Murrow for Continuing Coverage: CNN, Coverage of the Middle East Conflict; the 2006 Lebanon War. Golden Cedar Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Lebanese-American Chamber of Commerce as well as CNN World Report's Achievement Award.