Personal

John K. Defterios was born in the year 1961. He did his graduate studies in the University of Southern California. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 1984. He also graduated in Political science from the same university. In 2002, Defterios married Manuela Mirkos. Mirkos worked with New York Times during their marriage, which took place in Sifnos Island. The previous marriage of Defterios had culminated in divorce after which he married Manuela.

Profession

During the beginning stages of his career as journalist, Defterios served as an intern at CNN. He joined Reuters Television in 1984 and worked there till 1992 as the European correspondent. He was also the producer of the special series Nightly Business Report which was a joint production done with PBS. He began his career in CNN in the year 1992 as correspondent at Lou Dobbs Moneyline based in New York. He anchored the show ‘World Business Today’ for two years and also the shows ‘Business Usual’ and ‘Ahead of the Curve’. He was the principal host for CNNfn based in New York. In 2007, he started anchoring the show Marketplace Middle East and in 2011 hosted Global Exchange. At present, he is the editor of Emerging Markets at CNN.

Controversy

In 2011, CNBC and BBC had cancelled the shows produced by FBC, in which Defterios served as President. It happened right after it was disclosed that the company was also a public relations firm for the Malaysian Government. An interview conducted on CNN by Defterios with Najib Razak, the Malaysian Prime Minister was criticized as being partial, but CNN denied such reports and claimed that Defterios had resigned from FBC in early 2011 well before the interview had taken place.

Defterios has done many exclusive interviews globally. Some of the personalities he interviewed include European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and Bundesbank President Hans Tietmayer. He is also the media leader for the World Economic Forum and a member of the Middle East council at Global Agenda. He has also chaired forums like the World Islamic Economic Forum and the Business Week Leadership Forum. He has covered landmark events like the Berlin Wall collapse, the G8, and G20 Summits and the Gulf War too.