A day after announcing the opening of seven global, one-man band bureaus, ABC News has named Clarissa Ward as the correspondent in the Moscow bureau.

Before joining ABC, Ward was a Beirut-based correspondent for Fox News Channel. Before reporting on air, Ward worked as an assignment editor at FNC headquarters in New York and later as field producer for the News Channel throughout the Middle East.

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October 4, 2007

CLARISSA WARD NAMED ABC NEWS’ MOSCOW CORRESPONDENT

Clarissa Ward has been named ABC News’ Moscow correspondent, News President David Westin announced today. Ward will report from Russia for all ABC News’ broadcasts and platforms, including “World News with Charles Gibson,” “Nightline,” and “Good Morning America,” as well as ABC News Radio, ABC News Now, and ABCNEWS.com.

“Clarissa joins ABC News with a great deal of experience reporting from overseas. I look forward to her contributions from a region rich with compelling and important stories that must be told,” said Mr. Westin.

Before joining ABC News, Ward was based in Beirut and worked as a correspondent for FOX News Channel in the Middle East. She covered major events in the region, including the execution of Saddam Hussein, the Baghdad surge, the Beirut Arab University riots, and the Ain al Alaq bus bombings. She conducted interviews with notable figures such as General David Petraeus, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. She also spent time embedded with the US military in Iraq, most notably in the restive city of Baqubah.

Before reporting on air, Ward worked as a field producer for FOX News Channel. In that role, she produced coverage of events throughout the Middle East, including the Israeli-Lebanese war, the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit and subsequent military action in Gaza, the trial of Saddam Hussein, and the referendum on the Iraqi constitution.

From 2004-2005, Ward was an assignment editor for Fox News Channel in New York. She worked on the international desk coordinating coverage for stories such as the capture of Saddam Hussein, the Indian Ocean tsunami, and the deaths of Yasir Arafat and Pope John Paul II. She joined FOX News Channel in 2003 as an overnight desk assistant.

Ward began her career in journalism in Russia as an intern for CNN Moscow. She graduated with distinction from Yale University, where she studied comparative literature.

Ward, a native of London and New York, is fluent in French and Italian and has a command of Arabic, Russian and Spanish.