Sonya McNair Is Named Vice President, Communications, CBS News

Sonya McNair Is Named Vice President, Communications, CBS News

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

CONTACT: Jeff Ballabon of CBS News, +1-212-975-7525,
BallabonJ@cbsnews.com

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