Jim Sutherland's Journalism

Journalism Career

News Management

Most recently Sutherland led war coverage as Senior International Editor and Manager of Northern Iraq, from CNN's Headquarters in Atlanta. The picture at the left is at the moment that the invasion of Iraq first started coming in on satellite feeds. Other management positions held by Sutherland include Executive Producer at The Weather Channel. When he went there in 1993, TWC was not very adept at live coverage. The policy was to only do so in extreme emergency situations. Viewer data though indicated that there was great demand for live coverage and video tape, so Sutherland led the process improvements and program development, resulting in ratings bonanzas and a new way of covering weather.

Early Years

From the early years, the Tampa Tribune recognized the unique attention to detail and strategy that made Sutherland an award-winning investigative journalist. After just two years in television, Sutherland already had a Peabody Award, won with reporter Mark Feldstein (pictured with Sutherland). One year later he won his third Emmy. At KCAL in Los Angeles, Sutherland had four Emmy nominations in one year. A list of awards is on this site. His dedication to public service, attention to detail and what he calls just plain common sense led to successes in large market and network investigations.