Staff

BIOGRAPHY

Melissa Charbonneau

White House Correspondent

Based in CBN News’ Washington, D.C., Bureau, White House Correspondent Melissa Charbonneau has covered the White House from the impeachment trials of President William J. Clinton through the George W. Bush administration. While on her beat, she has interviewed President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, Second Lady Lynne Cheney, senior advisors Karl Rove and Michael Gerson, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, numerous Administration advisors and Cabinet secretaries, as well as top leaders in Congress.

Her coverage of the Presidential has taken her from the Western White House in Crawford, Texas, to overseas locations in Russia, France, and Great Britain. Her reporting for CBN News ranges from international G-8 Summits to exclusive interviews with Oscar winner George Clooney and U2 rock legend Bono. During Hurricane Katrina, Charbonneau returned to her native Mississippi to cover the storm’s devastation and recovery efforts. She’s also played a key reporting role in CBN News’ presidential and congressional election coverage from 1996 through 2004. During her tenure, she has worked on a range of issues from the War on Terror and international affairs, to disabled veterans, women in the military, judicial nomination battles, and efforts to combat AIDS/malaria in Africa.

Before coming to Washington, Charbonneau served overseas as a volunteer consultant at state television Channel 5 in St. Petersburg, Russia, with the National Forum Foundation. Prior to that, she worked as a general assignment and consumer reporter for WAVY-TV based in Portsmouth Virginia. Before getting into news, Charbonneau was the Public Relations Director for The Better Business Bureau of Greater Hampton Roads in Norfolk, Virginia. She attended the University of Mississippi, earning a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism, and earned an M.A. in Public Affairs Journalism from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Charbonneau is a member of American Women in Radio and Television and a member of the prestigious National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where she twice received the journalism organization’s Vivian Award. As Vice Chair of The Press Club Speakers Committee, she has secured and organized media news events with George Clooney and Senator Barak Obama, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, Australia Zoo’s Terri and Bindi Irwin, and actor Gary Sinise.

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