Gloria Murry Ford
Former CNN news correspondent and veteran media specialist, Gloria Murry Ford was appointed as the first director of news at TCI New Media Network in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the British West Indies. TCI New Media Network is a television station built by the government, linking the island nation to a network of news and information. Murry Ford was responsible for shaping the department, the daily news operation and on-air talent development.
“I was and am very excited and pleased to have been chosen for this most important work, said Murry Ford. All of my professional experiences and expertise in the media business prepared me for the opportunity and It was wonderful to work with a team to revolutionize TCI New Media Network in the beautiful country of the Turks and Caicos Islands, making it the best and most competitive station in the business.”
With more than 30 years experience in the broadcast media and public relations industry, Murry Ford is also adept at management and media training.
She hails from Wichita, Kansas where she began her career in broadcast journalism. She became feature reporter for television broadcast stations in Atlanta, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.
A veteran media specialist with an award winning career in the broadcast media, Gloria Murry Ford has also worked as a news correspondent for Cable News Networks (CNN), covering news for the southeastern Bureau. She worked at Black Entertainment Television (BET), and CONUS (Satellite Television), America's Black Forum and broadcast outlets in Rhode Island, Wichita, Kansas and Washington, DC.
Her experiences as a national political correspondent on the broadcast scene include coverage of both the Democratic and Republican Conventions, interviewing every US President from President Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton.
Murry Ford has received national and international recognition for her production experiences. As a CNN Southeastern Correspondent based in Atlanta, she is cited with breaking the “Missing and Murdered Children's” story in Atlanta. She also worked with Black Entertainment Television as the Washington correspondent, WJAR Television in Providence, Rhode Island as the oceanic reporter and with KSNW Television in Wichita, Kansas, as the aviation reporter.
Murry Ford is noted for her work with providing media coverage, story placement and satellite tours for the Tenth Anniversary Commemoration of the “Million Man March”. She also played a major role in the media planning of the “Million Family March” and co-wrote and produced commercials as well as coordinated regional commercial buys for the event and for news coverage, on site management, press release distribution and press credentialing for more than two thousand media outlets.
In the area of public relations and media management, Gloria Murry Ford managed media training and crisis management for high profile individuals in the 2008 presidential race. That included the writing and producing of press releases, media advisories and the development of media and story hooks. She has provided media outreach for the American Clergy Leadership in response to 9/11 in New York and used media contacts to provide coverage of clergy activity at ground zero. She obtained media coverage of interdenominational day of prayer and provided story placement for the American Clergy Leadership group.
In the health and social services arena, Murry Ford has written and produced bilingual (English and Spanish) radio and television commercials and PSA's for the DC Department of Human Services social service public information campaigns, including: the Food Stamp Program, the Answers Please
Information and referral system, DC Healthy Families and Welfare to Work. She also provided flight schedules and commercial buys for those campaigns and wrote the scripts for bus ads. One of her most laudable achievements was her work as writer, producer, director and editor supervisor of health video vignettes for the Department, which were designed to be used in service center waiting rooms throughout the city. Her experience as television script writer and concept developer of the “Family Matters Show,” a pilot for the Department has received wide acclaim by many professionals in the human services and broadcast fields.
She also provided story placement and development for radio, television and print coverage of events for AMERIGROUP, Healthcare Corporation, the city medicaid provider. Having served as a team member on the "We're an Army of One" Campaign at the Department of Defense, she also developed the media strategy for the unveiling of a new technology high school in Washington, D.C., developed and implemented media strategy for D.C. Public School's school bus driver's hiring campaign.
While at DC Public Schools, Murry was an Executive Producer at its cable station, DC28 Television. In that position, she wrote and produced television specials, superintendent's show Straight Talk, newsbreaks, news stories and served as an 'on air' reporter. When the DCPS was in leadership transition, she also served as the Communications Director of the DC Public School Transition Board.
Gloria Murry is married to WLJA Television Bureau Chief Sam Ford and they have two adult children, Gina and Murry. Gina Ford is currently a news reporter/anchor/producer in downstate Illinois.