Personal

Arwa Damon was born in 1977. She grew up in Massachusetts and later moved to Turkey where she finished her high school education. She did her graduation in French and Biology at Skidmore College in New York. She graduated with honors and also minored in international affairs. Damon is fluent in Turkish, French, Arabic, and English. Her grandfather Muhsin al-Barazi was the former Syrian prime minister who was assassinated in a military coup in the year 1949.

Profession

Before starting her career in journalism, Damon had a job with a Textile Manufacturer for a brief period. She began her broadcasting career by working with Camera Planet. She later served as temporary producer for war reporting in the Middle East on channels like Fox News, PBS, and also CNN. Before joining CNN at the Baghdad base, she worked initially as fixer and translator due to her fluency in French, Arabic, and Turkish. After she joined the Baghdad base of CNN, she covered many major news stories including the Iraq war, the trial and the subsequent death of Saddam Hussein. She has been with CNN since 2006.

Accomplishments

Damon has reported many significant and path breaking stories including the Libyan uprising, the Egyptian revolution against its president Hosni Mubarak, Indonesia’s parliamentary election, the 2012 election in Iraq, presidential election in Philippines, and the execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Her reporting has on many occasions led to the uncovering of harsh realities like when she covered the news of a physically tortured boy in Iraq who was later treated in the United States. She was also the first reporter in the history of television news to enter the Khamiya prison. She covered the worsening situation of women prisoners over there.

Damon during her broadcasting career has been a fearless, confident, and resourceful reporter. Her reporting on the Arab unrest in Libya and Egypt has brought CNN the Emmy Award in the year 2012. She has recently done a documentary ‘Inside Iraq’, which deals with the traumatized state of the country and its efforts to get back to normality. Her disclosure of the diary of American Ambassador in Libya, J. Christopher Stevens in Benghazi had caused a big furore nationally at that time and made her popular at CNN.