Alexandra Banner is a writer for CNN Digital, covering breaking news, politics and events of global interest. She is the lead writer for CNN’s morning newsletter, 5 Things.

Banner joined CNN in 2015. She most recently held the role as News Editor on CNN’s National Desk, covering stories in the West and Midwest region of the United States. She began her career at the network as a core member of the team that helped launch the show Newsroom on CNN International.

In 2017, Banner took on a journalism assignment on the outskirts of Athens, Greece, where she covered the Syrian refugee crisis and embedded herself in refugee camps and an abandoned airport. She also studied creative writing in Paris, France.

A San Diego native, Banner is a master’s graduate of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Loyola Marymount University, where she studied political science.