Mike McCarthy is executive vice president and general manager of CNN International. In this role he is responsible for the global network’s entire output, including schedule development, editorial production, personnel and programming at CNN’s production centers in Atlanta, London, Hong Kong, New York and Abu Dhabi as well as international newsgathering.

CNN International, which reaches 350 million households around the world, has recently been recognized with a number of prestigious awards for its coverage of major international stories including a 2021 Edward R. Murrow Award and two Emmy Awards for the network’s investigation into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny; a 2020 Royal Television Society (RTS) Award in the Breaking News category for the network’s coverage of the storming of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council by protesters; a 2020 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award for CNN’s coverage of the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi; a 2019 Edward R. Murrow Award for the network’s Shadow Over Europe investigation into the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe; four 2018 News and Documentary Emmy Awards for reporting across Iraq and Syria; a 2017 George Foster Peabody Award for the fall of ISIS in Iraq and Syria; RTS Awards for Best Breaking News Coverage for Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe Steps Down (2019) and for Paris Attacks (2016) as well as ‘News Channel of the Year’ in 2013 and 2014, and ‘Best News Coverage – International’ for its coverage of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, also in 2014.

The network has also picked up Asian Television Awards for ‘Cable & Satellite Channel of the Year’ in 2013 and 2014 and the 2014 ‘Cable & Satellite Network of the Year’; a 2015 Peabody Award for the network’s coverage of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls; Foreign Press Association Media Awards, multiple Emmys, an Overseas Press Club Award and the Golden Nymph for Best 24 Hour News Programme at the 2014 Monte Carlo Television Festival for the network’s coverage of Ukraine.

In addition, McCarthy oversees the day-to-day operations of The CNN Freedom Project, a multi-platform initiative that aims to expose the horrors of modern-day slavery and push for change. Launched in March 2011, the multi-award winning Freedom Project has generated nearly 1,000 stories of human trafficking from five continents.

Previously McCarthy served as vice president of coverage and feature programming for CNN International. He was responsible for the network’s major sponsored content initiatives including major event coverage and program franchises like ‘Eye On’ and ‘Going Green’. He also developed the increasing strand of feature programs produced at CNN’s London, Hong Kong, Atlanta and Abu Dhabi production centers.

From 2002-08, McCarthy served as managing editor for CNN International, overseeing all of the network’s day-to-day editorial production with specific oversight of the Atlanta-based programming and planning teams. He was involved in producing CNN International’s coverage of the ongoing war in Iraq, the conflict between Israel and Lebanon in 2006, the South Asia Tsunami, the Beslan School siege and the death of Pope John Paul II, among others.

McCarthy joined CNN’s London bureau as senior producer for business news in May 1999, and then was promoted to senior executive producer for news and business coverage. He was instrumental in creating CNNI’s feature strand as well as relaunching the European morning wheel of programming with integrated news and business coverage, which included Business International.

Prior to joining CNN, he held the post of deputy program editor at the London News Network. He started his career in journalism at the National News Press Agency in London.