Sonya McNair Is Named Vice President, Communications, CBS News

NEW YORK, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sonya McNair has been named Vice
President, Communications, CBS News, it was announced today by Jeff Ballabon,
Senior Vice President, Communications, CBS News. Her appointment is effective
immediately.

In this position, McNair will work directly with Ballabon in the management of
media relations and publicity for the CBS News Division. In that role, she
will oversee the daily Communications strategy for a wide range of CBS News
broadcasts. She will also serve as liaison for media relations and publicity
with CBS Radio News, CBS Interactive and the CBS News Polling & Survey Unit.
She has been a consultant to CBS News since March.

"Sonya is an accomplished, highly respected media relations professional and
we are exceptionally pleased that she is joining our communications team full
time," said Ballabon. "This is a time of innovation and increasing critical
acclaim for CBS News and Sonya's relationships, savvy, drive and creativity
already are proving to be great assets."

Previously, McNair was Spokesperson and Director of Public Relations for The
New Yorker, where she directed press affairs and public relations strategies
for the magazine, and implemented media campaigns for special events,
including The New Yorker Festival.

Prior to her time at The New Yorker, McNair was Vice President of Corporate
Communications for Time Inc's Essence Communications Inc. and was responsible
for the communications for all corporate units, including ESSENCE magazine,
Essence Books and The Essence Music Festival. She designed the promotions
effort that garnered Advertising Age's 2003 A-List ranking, a first in the
34-year history of the magazine.

Formerly, McNair held the position of Vice President of Publicity and
Corporate Communications for the Fox Broadcasting Company. In this capacity,
she oversaw East Coast media relations for the network, handled communications
for corporate affairs and business related matters. She also worked on the
publicity campaigns for the launch of "American Idol" and "24." In addition,
McNair served as a key liaison for the network across Newscorp business units.

Before joining the Fox network, McNair was Vice President of Communications
for the Channel One Network and Primedia Digital Video. While there, she
developed media strategies for programming, press conferences and special
events.

McNair spent 16 years at ABC News and held several increasingly responsible
positions at the network, including Director of Media Relations and
Spokesperson for the network's news division, where she oversaw media
relations for the New York based shows. She provided public relations counsel
to Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer, David Brinkley and others. She also managed
the publicity surrounding the launch of ABCNews.com.

SOURCE CBS News

Jeff Ballabon of CBS News, +1-212-975-7525, BallabonJ@cbsnews.com