NEWS INSIDER: PUREFOY OUT, DUTHIERS IN, COVERS NIGERIA

(Photo Credit: vantagereportage.com)

It appears Vladamir Duthiers is now assigned to cover Nigeria and the West Africa region for CNN. He has been seen/heard on-air, reporting from Nigeria. If that's the case, he takes over from Christian Purefoy who did a fabulous job while on the beat for seven years. Here's Purefoy's tweet, confirming his exit.

(Photo Credit: Celebregion.com)

Vlad worked for CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° and was among the first journalists to arrive in Haiti to cover the devastating January 2010 earthquake. For a month, Duthiers reported and translated for Anderson Cooper, whose coverage of the earthquake was nominated for an Emmy this year. He returned to Haiti 9 months later to independently report on an American missionary who had sexually abused street orphans for 10 years. That report aired on AC360° in December. Duthiers also worked on the show Amanpour. anchored by Emmy-award winning journalist Christiane Amanpour.

Before joining CNN, Duthiers spent 20 years in the investment management industry at AllianceBernstein Investments – a $400 billion asset management company. As managing director, Duthiers managed a $10 million budget and a global staff of 12. He traveled through 40 countries, meeting interesting people in interesting places: from the ruler of the United Arab Emirates to Kannushi Shinto priests in Kyoto and the Bouquinistes of Paris. Seeing the stories behind the places and people of his journeys sparked his decision to leave the world of finance for journalism.

For many, such an abrupt transformation seemed spontaneous at best and reckless at worst. But, ever since reading Thoreau’s Walden as a child, he had always been inspired by the words, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”Now, his passion is to find a unique vantage point to those stories and tell them well to a global audience.

Duthiers earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Rhode Island and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He also served in the U.S. Army with the Reserve Officer Training Corps. while attached to the 169th Military Police Company of the Rhode Island National Guard from 1988 to 1992.

He is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, South Asian Journalists Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. He speaks French, Haitian-Creole and is learning Mandarin Chinese. In his spare time, Duthiers is an amateur rock guitarist, pop-culture historian, and a student of several martial arts. He has written several screenplays and was the lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist in the Surrender Monkeys – a pub band that played to dozens of fans across Europe. (info culled from www.vantagereportage.com)

Welcome to Naija, Vlad!

More About Christian Purefoy

Purefoy was named to the position in early 2008 an was an integral part of CNN’s presence in Lagos, where he regularly reported stories of global relevance from within the region.

Purefoy served for three years as a producer, editor and cameraman on various assignments for CNN that included extensive work on Inside Africa, CNN’s weekly current affairs program that provides global viewers with an inside look at political, economic, social and cultural affairs and trends in Africa.

Before joining CNN full time, Purefoy was based in Lagos, Nigeria and worked as a freelance journalist writing for a variety of UK and US newspapers and publications including The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Newsweek.

He first joined up with CNN International in June 2002 as a producer at ‘Vivid Features’, an Africa-based production company, where he helped produce a number of CNN-commissioned projects. Purefoy is British and studied International Politics and International History at Keele University.

Goodluck Chris and Congrats on holding down the beat!