Omar Jimenez

Emmy Award-winning CNN Anchor and Correspondent Omar Jimenez established his career with early recognition, including the National Mark of Excellence Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and a Bronze award from the National College Emmys during his studies at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Following an NBC News internship in Chicago and nearly four years as a multimedia journalist at WGEM-TV in Quincy, Illinois, he joined WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland, from July 2015 to June 2017, where his general assignment reporting and fill-in anchor work earned him an individual Emmy Award nomination. Jimenez commenced his tenure with CNN in 2017, initially serving at CNN Newsource in Washington, D.C. In this role, he delivered breaking news for over 900 affiliate stations across the nation and internationally in France and Mexico.

His notable early coverage included reporting from Paris after the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, Las Vegas following a mass shooting, and Florida and Texas during the 2017 hurricanes, all contributing to CNN’s Emmy Award-nominated coverage. He transitioned to a correspondent role in CNN’s Chicago bureau in 2019, significantly expanding his national presence. In 2020, Jimenez became a central figure in CNN’s coverage of the murder of George Floyd, during which he and his team were notably detained live on air by the Minnesota State Patrol. His impactful reporting extended through the subsequent trial and conviction of the officer involved, culminating in his first National News & Documentary Emmy Award in 2021.

His recent correspondent work spans the 2025 New Orleans terror attack, the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary, the 2023 Lewiston, Maine mass shooting, major sports stories like the 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers World Series win and LeBron James breaking the all-time points record, and numerous presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial races from key swing states since the 2020 election.