The Hill’s Changemakers: Kaitlan Collins, CNN host

Kaitlan Collins’s career in the media took off in a big way in 2023. 

A former campaign reporter turned White House correspondent for CNN during President Biden’s first few months in office, Collins was selected by network leadership this year to host a weeknight program in its high-profile 9 p.m. hour.  

Collins has been at the forefront of much of the chatter inside and outside of CNN in 2023, moderating a town hall event with former President Trump in May and regularly making news with segments and interviews on her recently launched prime-time newscast.  

“What we do best is the news,” Collins told The Hill of her colleagues and teammates at the network. “That’s what drives everyone from anchors to producers … that’s our guiding light. Just getting back to that, focusing on that, this is what we should be focused on, not any of our internal drama or anything like that.”  

Collins’s 9 p.m. show burst onto the scene in July with a headline-grabbing interview with Sen. Tommy Tuberville during which the anchor peppered the Alabama Republican with questions about prior comments on whether white nationalists should be barred from serving in the U.S. military. 

“This is not going to happen, but if I did have a magic wand, what I hate the most is canned answers and talking points,” she said. “It drives me crazy. Nobody wants to interview someone who isn’t interested in engaging in the questions and nobody wants to watch that interview.”  

Collins does take time to reflect on the successful year she’s had, she said, but tries not to let the spotlight, now burning brighter on her than it ever has, blind her.  

“I’m really grateful … I’m never like ‘Oh I achieved this, and it’s so great,’” she said. “I really look at it as a responsibility to make sure that I’m the best educated on whatever topic we’re focused on or whatever we’re doing. If people are taking an hour of their time to watch my show, to watch CNN, we want to make sure it’s time well spent.”