CNN’s release on Soledad O’Brien’s new duties…

CNN’s Soledad O’Brien has been named anchor and special correspondent effective immediately, it was announced today by CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein. She will join CNN: Special Investigations Unit, reporting in-depth on the most significant stories across the country and around the world. O’Brien will anchor and report hour-long CNN: Special Investigations Unit specials throughout the year and will file special reports on important ongoing and breaking news stories across all major CNN programs.

“Soledad has delivered some of the most memorable reporting on some of the most historic stories of our time,” Klein said. “Her passion for real news, her feel for real people, and her insistence on getting real answers from newsmakers mesh perfectly with CNN’s commitment to providing even more hard-hitting, in-depth journalism to America.

O’Brien has co-anchored CNN’s flagship morning program, American Morning, since she joined the network in July 2003 and distinguished herself by reporting from the scene on the major stories that broke on her watch. Her reports following Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Phuket, Thailand, have earned her numerous awards including a Gracie Allen Award, George Foster Peabody Award and an Alfred I. duPont Award, further establishing her as a premier television journalist. Earlier this year, the NAACP honored her with its President’s Award in recognition of her humanitarian efforts and journalistic excellence.

In recent months, O’Brien served as CNN’s point person for President George W. Bush’s visit to Mexico, delivering a series of eye-opening reports on conditions south of the border that fuel illegal immigration to the United States. She also anchored and reported a highly acclaimed CNN: Special Investigations Unit hour featuring a never-before-seen look at Martin Luther King Jr.’s private writings, notes and teachings, and launched an ongoing initiative entitled “Children of the Storm,” which provides video cameras to young Hurricane Katrina survivors so that they can tell their stories of trial and triumph in their own words and images.