Walker jumps from Fox hole to CNN

Amara Walker

Amara Walker

Imagine going from the worst local news operation in Chicago to the international anchor desk of CNN in one move.

That’s the story of Amara Walker, who bailed out last December from Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32, where she had been a weekend news anchor on the rise. She quit to move with her husband, plastic surgeon Thomas Walker, who'd landed a new position in Atlanta.

A CNN spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that Walker signed a contract this week with CNN International as an anchor. She has been filling in on a free-lance basis for several months and appearing occasionally on CNN’s domestic channel.

A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California with a dual degree in political science and broadcast journalism, Walker spent seven years at WTVJ-TV, the NBC-owned station in Miami, before she joined Fox 32 as a per diem reporter in July 2012. She was promoted to weekend anchor alongside Larry Yellen the following October.

Fox 32 still hasn’t named a replacement for Walker as weekend anchor. Reporter Lisa Chavarria has been filling in with Yellen.