Deborah is SVP of International Newsgathering at CNN. Based in Atlanta, she oversees CNN’s international newsgathering for all platforms.Under Rayner’s leadership, CNN has won many awards for its international coverage including multiple Emmys, 3 George Foster Peabody Awards, 4 Edward R. Murrow Awards, 2 Overseas Press Club Awards, 2 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards, 1 George Polk Award and multiple Gracie Awards. Internationally CNN has won several Royal Television Society (RTS) Awards in recent years in the Breaking News category (2020, 2019, 2016) and Scoop of the Year in 2018, three Golden Nymph Awards from the Monte Carlo TV Festival and multiple awards from the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB).Appointed to this role in 2014, Rayner restructured newsgathering within CNN and led CNN’s coverage of major international stories including the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise and fall of ISIS in Iraq and Syria and the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe. She commissions impactful enterprise reporting including exposing modern-day slavery in Libya, the misuse of U.S. weapons in Yemen and in-depth environmental reporting on climate change and plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean.Rayner was previously based in London as CNN’s VP and Managing Editor for EMEA. In that role she was responsible for the network’s operations and staff across the region including programming, features, business, digital and sport as well as newsgathering. During her tenure in London, CNN International was twice named the RTS News Channel of the Year in 2013 and 2014.Rayner joined CNN in 2008 as Director of CNN International Productions and established the award-winning documentary series World’s Untold Stories. She was promoted to Managing Editor of EMEA and London Bureau Chief.Rayner joined CNN from the UK’s Channel 4 News where she was senior foreign editor, overseeing the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Israel-Hezbollah war and a run of first live programs from inside Iran with news presenter Jon Snow. She had previously set up the network’s highly successful Independent’s Fund, commissioning and exec producing independent filmmaking across the world with the experience of filmmaking and running an independent production company behind her.For more than three decades Rayner has set an international standard for innovative news coverage and independent filmmaking. As well as her current role as SVP at CNN, she serves a number of organizations including BAFTA, Royal Society of Arts, International News Safety Institute and the Rory Peck Trust.
Listed skills include Broadcast Journalism, Broadcast Television, Broadcast, Television, and 16 others.