Carol Costello (born October 11, 1961) is an American television anchor and former host of CNN Newsroom. In 2017, she left CNN to join sister network HLN, based in Los Angeles. In October 2018, HLN announced that Costello would be let go, with the final broadcast of her show taking place on October 26.
Early life and education
Costello is a graduate of Minerva High School, a public high school in Minerva, Ohio, and Kent State University where she earned a B.A. in journalism.[1][2][3] After attending Kent State University, Costello worked at Akron, Ohio's WAKR-TV as an award-winning police and court reporter. Following that Costello was an Emmy Award-winning anchor/reporter for WSYX, the ABC affiliate, and WBNS 10-TV, the CBS affiliate in Columbus, Ohio. She also worked as the 6 and 11pm news anchor for WBAL-TV in Baltimore between 1992 and 1995.
Costello elicited criticism when she referred to audio of Bristol Palin describing an assault on her to police as "quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we've ever come across."[7][8]Paul Bedard called Costello's "rude and crude enjoyment" an easy slap by a prominent female media star on a young woman.[9] Costello later stated that "in retrospect, I deserve such criticism and would like to apologize."[10]
On January 30, 2017, Costello announced that she would return to HLN to host a new program from Los Angeles.[11] On August 21, 2017, her new show Across America with Carol Costello debuted.
On October 16, 2018, it was announced by HLN that Costello was to be laid off, along with Michaela Pereira and Ashleigh Banfield, as part of the network's decision to scale back their live news programming. The final broadcasts for their programs took place on Friday, October 26, 2018.[12] Although both Ashleigh Banfield and Michaela Pereira stayed to host their shows until their last days, Costello did not appear on air after October 16, 2018, with CNN correspondent Dianne Gallagher hosting the final broadcast.
Since then, Costello has taken a more active role at Loyola Marymount University where she serves as first lady. She is a professor in the newly established journalism major and now also hosts a podcast developed by the university. According to Costello herself, she had been wanting to start a new venture for a while, even back on her days at CNN.[13]
In April 2015, Costello wrote that she became a "lapsed Catholic" after losing her younger brother Jimmy to cancer when she was 25. However, she stated that Pope Francis "reawakened my faith".[15]
References
^Porter, Todd (2012-06-26). "Minerva's grass-roots Hall of Fame is open". CantonRep.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2012-07-12. The thinking is if current Minerva students are able to see the success of past students, such as CNN news anchor Carol Costello, it can motivate and inspire them.
^Freismuth, Renee (2004-02-19). "CNN Anchor Costello to Return to Kent State". eInside. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2010-02-15. Costello attended Kent State until 1982, when she left the university without earning her degree...Costello's visit will fulfill the requirements for her to earn her undergraduate degree from Kent State.
^"Carol Costello". CNN.com. CNN. Retrieved 2012-07-12. Costello earned a degree in journalism from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.