Colleen King

Director of the Richard and Leslie Frank Center for Leadership and Innovation in Media and Clinical Assistant Professor of Journalism

40 Gregory Hall

cck@illinois.edu

Background

Colleen King is a clinical assistant professor of journalism and the inaugural director of the Richard and Leslie Frank Center for Leadership and Innovation in Media.

She comes to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign following 17 years in television news that culminated in her tenure as executive producer of MSNBC’s The 11th Hour with Brian Williams. Under King’s leadership, The 11th Hour became the number one cable news program at 11 p.m., labeled “a success” by The Washington Post and “a must-watch program for political junkies and the Beltway crowd” by The Los Angeles Times.

King also produced MSNBC election programming and breaking news coverage anchored by Williams. She covered live events including the Parkland school shooting, the Trump-Putin summit, testimony by former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller on Capitol Hill, Supreme Court confirmation hearings, hurricanes, and other breaking news.

King has covered four presidential and five congressional midterm elections. She has booked and produced interviews with presidents, presidential candidates, and top lawmakers. King has also produced live coverage of the Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire primaries, party conventions, and presidential inaugurations.

King began at MSNBC as a booking producer for Hardball with Chris Matthews. There, she secured and produced interviews with top politicians and celebrities including Joe Biden, John McCain, Colin Powell, Sandra Day O’Connor, Robert De Niro, Matt Damon, and Robin Williams.

At MSNBC, she also served as senior producer for Morning Joe, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and other network programming.

King began her television news career at CBS News in Washington. She also worked as an associate producer and booker for the Fox News Channel prior to joining MSNBC.

King received a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication with a concentration in journalism education from Kent State University. She earned her bachelor's degree in political communication from The George Washington University.