Bio-Blog

Joe Peyronnin's journalism career spans five decades, five continents, and three networks.  He started and headed up Fox News and Telemundo Network News, worked for 25 years at CBS News as a senior executive and producer, and has served as an adviser to several digital media companies.  Along the way he has met every American president from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush. 

NYU December 2012

Hofstra December 2012

BIOGRAPHY:
Joe Peyronnin is an associate journalism professor at Hofstra University, as well as an adjunct journalism professor at New York University.  He also serves as a senior advisor and investor to several new media companies, including Zoove, VFininty and Ringtales.

Since 2008 he has blogged about politics, media and business for the Huffington Post, Fox News and CBS News.  He also has his own blog, joepeyronnin.blogspot.com

In 1999, he founded Telemundo Network News and served as its executive vice president until 2006.  There he created and launched several Spanish language news programs, including Sin Fronteras, Noticiero Telemundo Fin De Semana, Enfoque, and A Rojo Vivo.  He led Telemundo to its first national Emmy Award for round-the-clock coverage of the terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center.

From 1997 to 1998, he was a media and communications consultant at Osgood, O'Donnell & Walsh, advising corporate 500 firms on communications strategy.
  
In 1995 and 1996, he was president of Fox News, where he put together the core organization of what would become the Fox News Channel.   He also created Fox News Sunday and oversaw several news specials.
 
Prior to that, Peyronnin served six years, 1989-1995, as vice president and assistant to the president CBS News, the division's number two executive, where he oversaw global newsgathering and news programming, including 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, Sunday Morning, The CBS Evening News, and CBS This Morning.

Before being promoted to New York, Peyronnin served as CBS News vice president and Washington bureau chief for two years.
  
From 1979 to 1986 he worked at The CBS Evening News, first as producer and then as senior Washington producer, where he regularly covered the White House, Congress, political conventions and national elections. He also covered major international assignments, including all US-Soviet summits, economic summits, and Israel's 1981 invasion of Lebanon.  In 1984, he covered President Reagan's trip to China and also produced a series of reports from inside the Soviet Union.  

Peyronnin began his career at CBS in 1970 as a local news producer and assignment editor in Chicago. Prior to that he worked as a radio announcer at WEXI-FM, in the Chicago area.

His awards and recognitions include the 2012 Honorary Faculty Member of the Year award from Lambda Pi Eta (communications honor society) at Hofstra University, in 2004 a Special Award from the Mental Health Association of New York City,  in 2002 an Emmy Award, in 1994 he appeared in Who's Who in America, in 1990 he shared a George Polk Award to CBS News for its Tiananmen Square Chinese student uprising coverage, and in 1976 an Emmy Award for breaking news. 
  
Peyronnin is currently executive vice-chair of the Mental Health Association of NYC Board, as well as a trustee at Gracie Square Hospital,  and he served as a trustee at Columbia College Chicago from 2003 to 2012. He is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. 

He holds an MBA degree from the Walter Heller School of Business at Roosevelt University, Chicago, and a BA from Columbia College Chicago. He lives in NYC with his wife, Susan Zirinsky, and daughter Zoe Peyronnin.

Diane Sawyer, Lee and Sally Atwater with me in New Orleans 1988

NYU Coverage of 2012 President Election and 2010 Midterm Elections

In November, 2012, a combined team of graduate and undergraduate students at NYU volunteered to produce an election special under my guidance.  It included packages, live remotes and thoughtful commentary.   Here is a brief sampling of action behind the scenes as recorded and edited by some of the students.

Program Link: NYU 2012 Election Special

In November, 2010, dozens of graduate and undergraduate students volunteered to produce a midterm election special and devoted whatever free time they could to the effort. I volunteered my time as well.


While I acted as the overall executive producer and organizer, I let the students take the lead. I helped them shape a format, assign contextual background reports (i.e. Tea Party profile), select live remote locations via Skype (i.e. Connecticut), line up guests (from NYU and LEV) and create graphic templates and animations. I also utilized a "project management" site, Basecamp, which enabled efficient and centralized communications for all students involved in the project.

Most of the students involved in the program had taken my graduate newscast course last spring. As a result, the program went live with only a few mistakes although the team did not have time to rehearse.

Program Link: NYU Election Special

*(See Student Comments later in this blog.)

Huffington Post/Fox News posts

I blog about politics, business, media and international events.

Click on this link to see the more than 300 blogs I have contributed to the Huffington Post:  LINK
Here is a selection:

Trump's Thin Skin

The Trump Clinton Landslides

A Supreme Nominee

The Fox News Debate

White House Press Access

Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post

Obama: 'A More Perfect Union'

President Hugo Chavez's Legacy 

Gun Safety Victory

NRA Nonsense

Republicans: A Time for Change

Racial Prejudice in America

Mike Wallace's Legacy

Limbaugh: A National Disgrace

Steve Jobs: The iRevolution

A Few Minutes About Andy Rooney

Life on the Serengeti

Rejoice Egypt, Rejoice

Video Journalism: Past and Future 

Olbermann Suspension 

Broadcast News 

Original reporting

Obama says no to Fox News 

Tribute to Walter Cronkite

Dangers of Media Consolidation

The Washington Post


Fox News Blog: Reality Show

I appeared several dozen times as a guest on "Strategy Room" which was streamed on FoxNews.com.


Panelist on Fox News "Strategy Room".

Also as a panelist on HUFFPOST LIVE

Link: Furlough Fiasco





Here is a link to my personal blog-"joepeyronnin-personal experiences and reflections" 

Telemundo News

In 1998, Sony purchased Telemundo, a US based Spanish language network. Sir Howard Stringer, a former colleague and friend, asked me to study the company and the Hispanic market and make recommendations to set up a strong Telemundo news organization. Shortly after presenting my comprehensive plan I agreed to become Telemundo's head of news.

I founded a news department of more than 250 people, created a strong brand identity around outstanding breaking news coverage (i.e., 9/11 and the Iraq War), developed and launched news magazines and their first ever weekend newscasts, a public affairs program, output deals with international broadcasters and a presence on the Internet. I hired and developed reporters, writers and producers, and implemented news gathering standards. Telemundo News received critical acclaim, improved ratings and its first national Emmy award.

I stepped down in January 2006, ending my seven year commute between Telemundo's Miami based headquarters and New York.

Here is a brief sampling of work done under my editorial leadership:

Highlights: Telemundo Breaking News Coverage

Highlights: Sin Fornteras, Telemundo's News Magazine

Fox News and CBS News

I was hired by Rupert Murdoch in 1995 to be President of Fox News and to create a news organization. There was a lot of resistance among Fox executives, who did not want older skewing news programming on their network. Nonetheless, I hired about 40 producers, reporters and technicians. We did network news specials and I created a program called Fox News Sunday with Tony Snow.

Fourteen months later Rupert hired Roger Ailes as Chairman of News and Cable, a breach of my contract. Roger, who I knew from Washington, said to me, "I need you, I don't know anything about news." But he also asked me why I was a "liberal" having worked for the "communist broadcasting system." When I found out he asked the same question to some on my staff, I resigned. Because of my earlier experiences in China, I left Ailes' office and headed straight for the Spence Chapin adoption agency. Ten months later my wife and I travelled to China to meet our daughter. Zoe is now 17 years old.

CBS News was my home for 25 years. I was an executive producer, senior producer and field producer for the first seventeen years, covering the White House, international presidential summits and wars. Walter Cronkite brought me from the CBS News Chicago bureau to Washington in 1979. I produced hundreds of pieces for CBS News. Working with correspondents, I researched and pitched stories; I lined up interviews and elements; I directed cameramen on what to shoot; I organized and wrote or edited scripts; I guided editors on what video and soundbites to use; and I created whatever graphics were needed. I produced spot news packages, live segments and feature reports. (I do not possess any of my news packages.)

I was promoted to Washington bureau chief in 1987 where I oversaw all editorial coverage. Eighteen months later I was promoted to vice president and assistant to the president of news and moved to New York. In the latter role I served as the division's number two executive and for six years ran all its newsgathering, news programs, including 60 Minutes and the Evening News, and program development. I was instrumental in setting up CBS News Productions, which produced programs, such as The Twentieth Century with Mike Wallace and On The Road with Charles Kuralt, for cable channels. I was the lead in merger negotiations with CNN, which I derailed.

I was the lead executive for many great stories, both breaking news (Iraq War, Pan Am 103, the Clinton presidency), election and news specials and I approved segments for magazine programs, including 60 Minutes. In 1989, I sent the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather to China to cover Gorbachev's historic visit. The story turned into the Tiananmen Square student uprising. For several days I led CBS News coverage of the remarkable events from controlroom 47. The Chinese officials appeared in our Beijing office and demanded we shut our satellite down. Dan and his team conferred with me, I said we would comply. However, I had Dan delay the Chinese for an hour. That was because I wanted it done live in the east and Midwest local newscasts, and prime time in the western US. They agreed to wait. So shortly before 11:30pm ET, Dan Rather signaled for the CBS News technician to pull the plug before millions of viewers.  The live feed turned to hash.  Here's a brief reflection on from Dan Rather:

Link to Watch CBS News ordered off the air by the Chinese government. 

Pictures

ABC News' Christiane Amanpour speaks to the 2010 News and Documentary graduates. Amanpour, who anchors This Week with Christiane Amanpour, became a household name because of her work during the first Iraq War and the Balkan's conflict for CNN.








24 hours after her appearance at NYU, Christiane was on the streets of Cairo covering Egypt's demonstrations. From there she sent word back to me that she enjoyed her visit at NYU.









Lesley Stahl visited my spring 2008 graduate newscast class. I was her White House producer during the Carter and Reagan administrations. I was also instrumental in assigning her to 60 Minutes.








Dan Rather was my guest at NYU. I was his producer for years before I was promoted to vice president.








Dan Rather speaks to my NYU graduate TV Newscast class. He was especially emotional when he spoke about his love for reporting.











Our graduate TV Newscast class visits John Roberts at CNN. Known as J.D. before we hired him in 1992 as a correspondent at CBS News, I recommended he go with John.








Our 2009 undergraduate TV Beat class visits NBC Nightly News and meets Steve Capus, NBC News President, and Phil Griffin, MSNBC President. I had worked with both of them because Telemundo was then owned by NBC.








President Bush stayed for a few minutes following an interview with my Telemundo news team one month before the Iraq War.









I enjoy a moment with the Clintons at a White House Christmas party.










President Reagan and I chat following his Oval Office speech to the nation. I produced the prime time address for the networks.  Read my post on President Reagan's humor.









From 1989-1995 I was the CBS News executive overseeing 60 MINUTES, which meant I reviewed and gave final approval for all stories before they aired.








While President of Fox News I purchased their first satellite newsgathering truck.










On assignment in Leningrad with a CBS News crew and correspondent Bruce Morton where I produced a series on the then Soviet Union in 1984.









I arranged for Deborah Norville to host a Mental Health Association dinner honoring ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff. I hired her for a CBS News prime time program in the early 90's; I visited him when he first returned home from Iraq where he suffered severe brain damage in an IED explosion.






Ringing the "Closing Bell" at the New York Stock Exchange last May for the Mental Health Association, where I serve as Executive Vice Chairman of the Board.

Joe Peyronnin Resume

Joe Peyronnin

70 East 91st

New York, NY 10128

Joe@Peyronnin.org

Professional Experience:

Current:

Hofstra University, Associate Professor, Journalism:

Fall 2011 to present. Multimedia production, newscast production, video reporting and writing for all platforms, including radio and podcasts.

New York University, Adjunct Professor, Journalism:

Spring 2008 to present. Graduate and undergraduate courses include, news production, video journalism, multimedia, standards and practices.

Full time corporate adviser and investor in digital media:

Zoove: Mobile marketing and content platform.

VFinity: Web-centric digital asset management and search platform. Meta-data workflow, geared to video content, integrates with all digital production tools (Final Cut, Sony Vega, Avid), hierarchical, advanced searches, SEO.

Ringtales: Creates and distributes short animated versions of New Yorker, Dilbert and other cartoons for mobile and websites.

Huffington Post: More than 300 posts since 2008, commenting about media, business and politics.  Blogged for FoxNews.com and CBSNews.com.

joepeyronnin//blogspot.com: Personal blog.

peyronnin.org: Professional website.

1999-2006: Telemundo (NBC): Executive Vice President News and Information Programming.  In 2000 created and ran the first news department for Telemundo, a Spanish language network based in Miami. Worked as overall executive producer for all news programs. Responsibilities also included program development, overseeing breaking news specials (9/11, Iraq War), newsgathering and general management. Member of Telemundo’s senior management team. Wrote and administered news standards, worked closely with producers and reporters to improve their work. NBC bought Telemundo from Sony in 2003.

1997-1998: Osgood, O’Donnell and Walsh: Senior counselor; focused on media issues, as well as strategic planning, corporate communications, public relations, crisis management, speech writing.

1995-1996: Fox/News Corp: President, Fox News. Built the core news organization, created Fox News Sunday with Tony Snow, and developed a cable news plan. Executive produced Fox News' 1996 election coverage. Hired several reporters, anchors and producers, many of whom are still at Fox.

1989-1995: CBS News: Vice President and Assistant to the President. Executive in charge of newsgathering and news broadcasts, including 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, The CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning, CBS News Radio and instrumental in creating CBS News Productions, source of off-network programming for cable outlets like Discovery.  Oversaw day-to-day editorial coverage of CBS News, approved news magazine content, and instrumental in hiring and personnel development.

1987-1989: CBS News: Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief. Set editorial direction, ran the daily bureau operation, and served as liaison with the White House, Congress and other government agencies.

1986-1987: CBS News: Deputy Washington Bureau Chief. Instrumental in editorial, programming and administrative responsibilities.

1982-1986: CBS News: Senior Washington Producer for The CBS Evening News. Directed and produced all Washington news coverage, managed all correspondents and producers, produced special news coverage, including the presidential trips to China and the Soviet Union, as well as political conventions and election night coverage.

1979-1982: CBS News: Producer for The CBS Evening News in Washington. Produced and wrote Washington based reports, served as White House producer, produced from four different continents; U.S-Soviet Summits, economic summits, presidential trips, war coverage and in-depth series.

1976-1979: CBS News: Associate Producer, Chicago Bureau. Field producer for news stories, largely from the Midwest.

1975-1976: WBBM-TV/CBS: Assignment Manager WBBM-TV News Chicago. Directed all news coverage, produced special news broadcasts and public affairs programs.

1972-1975: WBBM-TV/CBS: Producer 6PM News. Created the vision and managed the daily production of this one-hour news broadcast.

1971-1972: WBBM-TV/CBS: Producer all weekend newscasts and public affairs programs.

1970: WBBM-TV/CBS: News assistant promoted to assignment editor.

1967-1969: WEXI-FM: Newscaster in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

1966-1967: WLSU-FM: Announcer, news reader and host.

Boards and Memberships

2008-Present: Trustee, Gracie Square Hospital, New York, NY.

2005-2012: Trustee, Columbia College Chicago, and member of the academic affairs committee.

1996-Present: Executive Vice Chair, Mental Health Association of New York City Board of Trustees.

1995-Present: Member, Council of Foreign Relations, New York, NY.

Education

1978: Masters of Business Administration, Walter Heller School of Business, Roosevelt University, Chicago, Il.

1970: Bachelor of Arts in Broadcasting, Columbia College, Chicago, Il.

Awards

2012: Lamba Pi Eta Communications Society, Honorary Faculty Member of the Year, Hofstra University.

2004: Special honor from the Mental Health Association of New York City.

2002: Emmy Award for Telemundo’s coverage of the World Trade Center terrorist attack in September 2001.

1994: Who's Who in America

1990: George Polk Award to CBS News for coverage of China’s Tiananmen Square uprising, executive-in-charge.

1986: Emmy Award for WBBM-TV breaking news coverage of an elevated train disaster.

Family: Married to Susan Zirinsky, one daughter, Zoe Peyronnin.