Ed Lavandera
Ed Lavandera
Ed Lavandera is a correspondent for CNN. He is based in the Dallas bureau.
Education
Lavandera earned a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and is fluent in Spanish.
Career
Before CNN
Ed Lavandera was a news reporter at KVUE-TV in Austin, Texas. He reported on the aftermath of the El Salvador earthquake, spending a week chronicling victims' lives. He also covered Pope John Paul II's visit to.Cuba Lavandera covered numerous breaking news stories across the state of Texas, including the 1997 Republic of Texas standoff, flooding in southern Texas, and Gulf Coast hurricanes. In 1994, Lavandera covered the gubernatorial race between George W. Bush and Ann Richards and in 1992, he reported from the Republican and Democratic political conventions.
Ed Lavandera also worked as a news anchor and reporter at KOSA-TV in Midland, Texas and Odessa, Texas.
CNN
Ed Lavandera joined CNN in 2001. Since then, he has covered numerous key stories for the network.
In February 2003, Lavandera covered the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Lavandera followed the effort to recover debris from the shuttle as well as the emotional affect the disaster had on those Texas communities. Additionally, he has reported on stories across the Southeast, including the Andrea Yates story, the Houston mother accused of drowning her children, and the execution of Timothy McVeigh.
In 2004, Lavandera covered three of four hurricanes to hit Florida.
In 2005, Lavandera reported from President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, during the anti-war protest led by Cindy Sheehan and covered the "Mississippi Burning" trial of Edgar Ray Killen.
In 2010, he helped cover the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast; the CNN team who reported on the even won a Peabody Award.
In 2012, Lavandera investigated the mysterious deaths at the Florida School for Boys, a reform school that was subject to allegations that its staff abused, beat, raped, tortured, and even murdered their students.
In 2016, Lavandera produced an hour-long documentary on the 2015 Waco, Texas shootout between rival motorcycle clubs, the Bandidos and the Cossacks. The documentary Biker Brawl: Inside the Texas Shootout included never-before-seen surveillance video obtained by CNN, along with exclusive access to major figures of the outlaw motorcycle clubs.
On February 8, 2017, Lavandera provided coverage about Donald Trump's proposal to build a wall along the U.S./Mexico border.
Assault in Charlotte, NC
On September 21, 2016, while reporting live in Charlotte, North Carolina, Ed Lavandera was knocked to the ground by a protester. Violence had erupted in the area following the fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. Lavandera returned to report from the same spot later that night, providing an update on the incident. According to Lavandera, the protester came up to him, hugged him and apologized for what he had done.
Awards & Accomplishments
Winner of the Katie Award (Dallas Press club)
Nominated for an Emmy for his work on a Hispanic news magazine program at WFAA-TV
Part of the CNN team that won of the Peabody Award in 2010
Winner of the Peabody Award for "The Hidden Workforce: Undocumented in America" in 2020. The Peabody organization wrote in its winners announcement:
The statement concluded:
"Correspondent Ed Lavandera visits rural communities in Minnesota, Iowa, and New Jersey transformed by immigrants (many undocumented) to explore the new landscape.
For humanizing and placing value on immigrants who enrich the social, economic and cultural fabric of the nation, The Hidden Workforce: Undocumented in America deserves a Peabody Award."[41][42]