CNN taps reporter for faith/values beat: Vatican analyst Delia Gallagher in new role
CNN has chosen Vatican analyst Delia Gallagher to be the network’s first full-time faith and values correspondent.
Gallagher will report on breaking news from a religious angle, covering stories such as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Supreme Court confirmation hearings. She will also produce in-depth features on subjects ranging from abortion to Islam.
Gallagher will not be national television’s first religion reporter. Early in 1994, ABC television network hired reporter Peggy Wehmeyer of Dallas to cover the beat, which she did for seven years.
Based in New York, Gallagher said she plans to travel nationwide, focusing on faith-based organizations that “are doing great things that don’t reach the national news.”
Gallagher spent five years covering the Vatican as a contributing editor for the newsmagazine Inside the Vatican and, since 2002, as a CNN analyst. “The Vatican’s been a great training ground,” she said.
Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S., described Gallagher’s full-time correspondent role as a major commitment by CNN to cover “the religious revival in the United States, where tens of millions of people cite faith as a central part of their lives.” The Atlanta-based cable news pioneer battles Fox News Channel in the struggle for top cable ratings and viewership numbers.
