Profile
Barbara Ciara Biography
Barbara Ciara is an African American in the journalism field who works for WTKR as an award-winning anchor every weekday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on News 3. Before joining the station in July 2000, Ciara worked as a president for the UNITY, Journalists of Color.
Barbara Ciara Height
Ciara stands at a rough height of 5 feet and 6 inches
Barbara Ciara Age
Ciara is 68 years old. She was born on July 27, 1956, in Pittsburgh, USA. Every July 27, Ciara celebrates her birthday annually.
Personal Life
Barbara Ciara Relatives and Family
Ciara keeps information regarding her family and relatives away from the public eye. However, we will update this information once it’s available to the public.
Barbara Ciara Spouse and Children
Ciara is happily married to her husband, Arthur Jarrett, Jr. She manages to keep her marital and relationship status private. Nonetheless, we will update this information when details regarding it are available to the public.
Barbara Ciara Education
Ciara attended college, completing her undergraduate studies at Hampton University. She graduated Summa Cum Laude.
Professional Life
Barbara Ciara Career
Ciara works for WTKR as an award-winning anchor every weekday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on News 3. Before joining the station in July 2000, Ciara worked as a president for the UNITY, Journalists of Color. Ciara is a broadcast journalist with more than 35 years of experience and an Emmy award. When people talk about Barbara’s extensive experience, they are referring to her trips around the world to learn about the American air campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan after the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.
She started her journalism career in Tucson, Arizona, while attending the University of Arizona and working on the college newspaper at Pima Community College. In 1976, when she was a junior in college, she dropped out to accept a full-time job at Tucson, Arizona’s KZAZ-TV.
Ciara reported from operational military bases in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain for Operations Desert Shield/Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom about ten years ago. She also supplied harrowing business articles on Cubans who arrived at GITMO to flee the communist government.
Ciara delivered the accounts of the military campaign on board the command ship USS Mount Whitney when the US military arrived on the beaches of Haiti in response to an uprising. She covers political campaigns, investigative reporting, and interviews with notable figures like former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Oprah Winfrey while she is in the United States.
She has given commentary for the New York Times, the Washington Post, XM Radio, National Public Radio, and the Tom Joyner Morning Show, among other news organizations. Ciara has also offered quotes for these publications.
She also contributed to “The Daily Press” for many years as a columnist, and most recently, she held the positions of president of the National Association of Black Journalists and UNITY, two of the largest organizations of minority journalists in the world. She promoted diversity in journalism, fair community coverage, and more opportunities for minorities in management positions while serving in these capacities.
Over the course of five years, she held several production positions (audio director, technical director, photographer, reporter, assignment editor, producer, noon anchor, and finally news director) as well as news positions (reporter, producer, noon anchor). In 1978, she became the youngest woman and the first African-American to hold the position of news director of a for-profit television station in the Southwest.
Barbara has experience working for both the NBC and ABC affiliates in the Hampton Roads region, and in February 1997, she made history by accepting the position of managing editor of LNC, a pioneering collaboration combining cable, commercial television, and the Virginian-Pilot newspaper. She assisted with the format development, cross-training of print reporters, and the beginning of the 24-hour news collaboration there. She worked there for two years.
Award
In the Readers’ Choice Awards for 2017, “Coastal Virginia Magazine” voted Ciara the best local female TV news anchor in the Hampton Roads area. For her efforts in the media and the community, Barbara has received numerous accolades on both a professional and civic level.
But her job of giving voice to the voiceless is what she is most proud of. She received the prestigious Capitol Regional Emmy Award for “Guilty Til Proven Innocent,” one of her television shows. For her articles on race and ethnicity, Ciara also got praise from the esteemed Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Dan Rather of CBS and the 60 Minutes crew were her co-honorees.
She was recognized as one of the “Ebony Power 150 Organization Leaders” by Ebony Magazine in 2008 for her work as the National Association of Black Journalists’ president. In the first week of 2012, Barbara Ciara took part in an interview for the renowned national “History Makers” initiative. The Library of Congress is home to the greatest collection of African-American video oral history in the country.
Ciara’s career reached a pinnacle in 2011 when the National Capital Chesapeake Bay chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences named her a Silver Circle recipient. The Silver Circle recognizes people who have worked in the broadcast or cable industries for 25 years or more and have made noteworthy accomplishments.
This is the kind of reporting that attracts attention. Barbara has won numerous awards and nominations, including the 1997 Radio and Television News Directors Association Edward R. Murrow Award, a 1997 Emmy nomination for “Operation Haiti,” a documentary about children living in poverty on the island, and a 1995 Emmy nomination for the series “Letters from the Hood,” a riveting account of children living in dangerous urban areas.
Highlights
Highlights of her domestic reporting include an inside-the-White House interview with Barack Obama, who was president at the time. Investigative reports on consumer fraud, campaign coverage, felony voting rights, a look into Klan activity in Hampton Roads, segregation on city property at Portsmouth’s Bide-A-Wee golf course, a look into health insurance that led to coverage for a man with a terminal illness, and her one-on-one interview with Oprah Winfrey
With the use of fascinating interviews with the “Norfolk 17,” the students who integrated Norfolk School in 1959, Barbara Ciara has created a number of works that put history in the context of the modern world. One such work is her award-winning documentary on “Massive Resistance” in Virginia. Additionally, since 1986, Ciara has received multiple accolades from the Associated Press and United Press International, in addition to twelve distinguished “Excel” awards from the Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals.
When girls were not permitted to wear slacks unless it was a snow day, Barbara organized a protest in the cafeteria of her junior high school, which sparked her interest in journalism. The school newspaper did not cover the occurrence. When Barbara disagreed, her English teacher pushed her to join the paper if she thought she could perform better. Barbara accepted the challenge and said, “I guess you could say I found my calling.”
Barbara also worked as managing editor for the joint venture between WVEC-TV and WHRO public television from the fall of 1996 until the summer of 2000. Her responsibilities there included producing and co-hosting the newsmagazine “This Week in Hampton Roads.”
In addition, Barbara has experience working with several nonprofit organizations and holds a strong belief in doing good for others. She was chosen president of the National Association of Black Journalists, the biggest group of journalists of color in the world, in August 2007.
Barbara Ciara Net Worth
Ciara has garnered a net worth ranging from $1 million to $6 million during his successful career as a journalist.
Barbara Ciara Salary
Ciara receives an approximate annual salary of $110, 000 which she earns working as an anchor.
Barbara Ciara Social Media
Ciara has active social media platforms, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. She has a following of over 11K on Facebook, a following of over 2861 on Instagram, and a following of over 5969 on Twitter.
WTKR Station
At WTKR, Ciara works alongside her fellow anchors, reporters, and meteorologists, such as;
- Jessica Larche
- Kurt Williams
- Blaine Stewart
- Pari Cruz
- Myles Henderson
- Zak Dahlheimer
- Patrick Rockey
- Erin Miller
- April Loveland
- Danielle Saitta
- Kristy Steward