Errol Barnett

Errol Barnett was born in Milton Keynes, England to Michael Christie and Pamela, an English woman from Liverpool. Gladstone Christie, his Jamaican grandfather, was one of 500 Caribbean aircrew serving with the British Royal Air Force during WWII, afterward relocating to England as part of the Windrush generation.^[4] Barnett has English, German and Jamaican heritage.^[5] He has one older brother, Danny, and older sister, Natalie, who died.^[5]

His mother later married Gary Barnett, a US Air Force sergeant who served in the Gulf War before moving the family to Phoenix. After spending the first decade of his life in England, Barnett attended Garden Lakes Elementary and Westview High School, in Avondale, Arizona, before Channel One News hired him in 2001 relocating to Los Angeles.^[6]

The youth oriented Channel One hired Barnett, their youngest anchor/reporter at age 18, to work alongside Maria Menounos, Seth Doane, Gotham Chopra among others. While also taking college classes, Barnett covered Barack Obama's breakout DNC keynote speech, reported from the United Nations when Colin Powell presented flawed WMD intelligence and from the US Capitol during passage of the Homeland Security Act.

Barnett was chosen as one of Teen People magazine's "20 Teens Who Will Change The World" for his early work.^[7] After being accepted to UCLA he left Channel One to complete his undergraduate studies.^[8] At UCLA Barnett received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with a focus on international relations.^[9] After graduation, in July 2008, Barnett was hired by CNN.

CNN initially assigned Barnett to report on the rise in influence of social media and in 2008 he was part of the most viewed streaming event in history during President Obama's Inauguration on CNN.com. In 2010, he anchored a noon eastern news-hour on CNN International from CNN Abu Dhabi focusing on the Arab Spring uprising, which was part of the network's Peabody-award winning coverage. As a CNN foreign correspondent, he was based in Johannesburg, South Africa covering the death of Nelson Mandela the Oscar Pistorius murder trial and various miner strikes.

Barnett also hosted the network's longest running feature program Inside Africa from 2011 to 2014. The weekly half-hour documentary earned awards for its depiction of the continent,^[10] with Barnett traveling to and reporting from twenty-two countries in his adventurous self-described "journey of discovery."

While based in Atlanta, Georgia Barnett anchored CNN Newsroom leading coverage of the Ferguson, Missouri protests, death of Robin Williams and the lead up to the 2016 presidential election. Barnett became the focus of an Internet meme during coverage of the protests with viewers noting Barnett's response to his co-anchor's suggestion that police use water cannons on demonstrators. Buzzfeed described Barnett's "side-eye" expression as "did that just happen" and "is this real life?"^[11]

CBS News hired Barnett during the 2016 election as a Washington, D.C.–based correspondent and anchor appearing on CBS This Morning, the CBS Evening News and Face the Nation. Currently, he is based in New York City as a national correspondent and anchor of CBS News 24/7, its streaming network.^[12] His coverage includes the Presidency of Donald Trump, artificial intelligence, extreme weather and various breaking news events. He also conducts high-interest interviews; his chat with Wikipedia's top editor was viewed more than two million times.^[13]

In 2018, the Secret Service issued a rare statement^[14] after a viral interaction with Barnett, following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. As Barnett asked then-Presidential advisor Jared Kushner about his relationship with the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, a Secret Service agent "physically prevented" him. As the Washington Post reported, "Barnett can be seen attempting to ask Kushner a question as he makes his way off the plane, before a Secret Service agent appears to block his way. Barnett can then be seen showing his CBS and White House press credentials to one of the agents, who responds, 'I don’t give a damn who you are, there’s a time and a place.'

In response to the backlash, the Secret Service said, "the actions were taken solely in response to an abrupt movement by an unknown individual who later identified themselves as a member of the media." On CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper, Barnett responded "the video speaks for itself".^[14][15][16]

In the lead up to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election then-Vice President Joe Biden called Barnett a "junkie" in response to his question about cognitive abilities.^[17] As part of a joint virtual convention between NABJ and NAHJ, Barnett asked Biden if he had taken a cognitive test, as his opponent, President Donald Trump, insisted he should.^[18]

Biden responded, "No, I haven’t taken a test. Why the hell would I take a test? Come on, man. That’s like saying to you, before you got on this program if you had taken a test were you taking cocaine or not. What do you think, huh? Are you a junkie?" Barnett asked the question again to which Biden responded, "Well, if he can’t figure out the difference between an elephant and a lion, I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about."^[19]

Barnett regularly moderates discussions and speaks at conferences on the topics of freedom of the press, U.S. politics and various international issues. Those events have included:

• ICON Mann Honors – Oscars week Gala, Los Angeles (2023)^[20]
• Smithsonian – Exclusive Preview 1,000 Years Of Slavery, Martha's Vineyard (2021)
• FOCOS – Annual Gala, New York (2018)
• Society of Professional Journalists – Annual Awards Dinner, Washington, D.C. (2018)
• Milken Institute – Global Conference, Los Angeles (2017)
• NABJ/NAHJ – Conference, Washington, D.C. (2016)^[21]
• International Press Institute – Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa (2014);^[22]
• World Bank – Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa (2012);^[23]
• International Press Institute Conference, Vienna, Austria (2010).^[24]

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Errol Barnett.

• Errol Barnett's CNN bio
• Videos of Errol Barnett from CNN.com
• CNN's "Inside Africa" showpage
• Errol Barnett at IMDb
• USA Today article
• Buzzfeed article