Broadcast News Anchor
Legal and Political Analyst

Jami Floyd is a nationally renowned anchor for cable and network news and a legal and political analyst across all platforms.

After a successful career in law and politics, Ms. Floyd’s professional path turned to television when she was asked to serve as a legal analyst for KPIX-TV in San Francisco, during the OJ Simpson criminal trial; soon she was reporting on local news events for KPIX radio and television and hosting a three-hour primetime radio talk show.

In 1996 Ms. Floyd joined Court TV, in New York, as an anchor and correspondent. While at Court TV, she covered the O.J. Simpson civil trial and the Oklahoma City bombing trials. She reported live, from Denver, the verdict in the federal trial of Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols. She also covered the $206 billion tobacco settlement and Michigan v. Jack Kevorkian, in which, after several acquittals, the man Americans knew as Dr. Death ultimately was convicted for his role in assisting suicide.

Ms. Floyd then joined ABC News, serving first as a general assignment correspondent. She soon thereafter joined the staff of World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, also contributing to Good Morning America and Nightline. During this time, she co-anchored World News Now (with Anderson Cooper) and the Early Morning News.

Ms. Floyd was named Law & Justice Correspondent from 1999 to 2001, and was the youngest person ever to serve in the position. During her tenure, Ms. Floyd covered police and judicial corruption in Los Angeles, the Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo cases in New York, and countless landmark United States Supreme Court cases. Ms. Floyd also pioneered national coverage of the use of DNA by the Innocence Project to reverse wrongful convictions.

In 2000, Ms. Floyd was part of the elite team of reporters sent to Tallahassee to cover the presidential recount and, ultimately, the Bush versus Gore decision that decided the election. Later that same year, Ms. Floyd’s investigation of an endemic police corruption scandal in Tulia, Texas ultimately resulted in the reversal of 43 felony drug convictions. ABC News broke the story that later received national attention.

The following year, Ms. Floyd was with the first team of ABC News reporters dispatched on September 11, 2001. She reported extensively from Ground Zero and on the rescue and recovery effort, in the days and weeks following the attacks.

In December 2002, Ms. Floyd was chosen to lead the Consumer Unit for 20/20. As such, she reported on the FDA ban of Ephedra, FCC regulation of advertising in the diet supplements industry, the congressional investigation of Clear Channel Communications and the litigation that has arisen from the reality TV phenomenon.

Also in her capacity as Consumer Correspondent, Ms. Floyd widely reported on civil rights and discrimination. These reports included a story on discrimination against people based upon their names of Arabic decent in the post-9/11 era, as well as an investigation into the practice of linguistic profiling of African and Latino Americans.

During her time at ABC News, Ms. Floyd secured interviews with prominent newsmakers in myriad fields, including Henry Kissinger, Donald Trump, musicians Dave Matthews and Lenny Kravitz, Sting, the Rolling Stones, U2, film directors Rob Reiner, John Singleton, and Spike Lee, the actors Danny Glover, Don Cheadle, Alec Baldwin, James Woods, Whoopi Goldberg, and the late Ossie Davis. Among the most personally meaningful, Ms. Floyd cites her interview with Myrlie Evers-Williams, wife of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers.

In 2005, Ms. Floyd returned to Court TV to develop her own daily live broadcast, Jami Floyd: Best Defense, a program designed to examine the criminal justice system through the prism of the Sixth Amendment, specifically the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. The program enjoyed an unprecedented four-year run in daytime, airing it’s final broadcast in December 2009.

In the course of the show, Ms. Floyd anchored many live events including the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein; the indictment of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and his subsequent trial and conviction; the Enron convictions, the trial and conviction of the so-called “20th Hijacker,” Zacarias Moussaoui, and the first and only case to be held at Guantanamo bay, the trial of Osama Bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan.

Among her most memorable interviews on Best Defense: The first ever network interview with Michael Jackson’s attorney, Thomas Mesereau (who before that date, had vowed never to give an interview to a television reporter, least of all to Court TV); Governor Rod Blagojevich (Floyd’s interview was cited as most “hard-hitting” by the New York Times); and OJ Simpson (on “Why I did it, ‘If I Did It.’”)

Ms. Floyd has been twice nominated for an Emmy and has won several awards for her work including in 2007 the Gracie Award for Outstanding Host of a Television News Program and the Telly award for Outstanding Co-Anchor for her work on Court TV during special events coverage. In 2006 she won the NABJ Salute to Excellence from the RTNDA for the aforementioned report on name-based discrimination. While at ABC News, she received a 2003 UNITY award from the Radio and Television News Directors Association for the segment on linguistic profiling. She has also won two Gold Camera Awards at the U.S. International Film & Video Festival for her post-9/11 reporting. In 2001, she was awarded the PPFA Maggie Award for Outstanding Coverage of Reproductive Rights and Health Issues.

An honors graduate of the Berkeley Law School at the University of California, Ms. Floyd began her career at the California Supreme Court as a law clerk to the late Hon. Allen E. Broussard. She then joined the California law firm of Morrison & Forester and began a civil and criminal law practice. In 1993, Ms. Floyd joined the Office of the San Francisco Public Defender, where she continued her work as a trial attorney. In late 1993, Floyd was tapped to serve as a White House fellow and she moved to Washington, DC, where she was assigned first to the office of First Lady Hillary Clinton, and later to the office of Vice President Al Gore.

Ms. Floyd holds a B.A. in political science, with a Concentration in Journalism from Binghamton University. In addition to her JD, she holds a Master of Laws degree from the Stanford Law School, where she also served as a teaching fellow.

From her first television broadcasting job with KPIX-TV in San Francisco, in 1995, Ms. Floyd joined the CBS News magazine, “Day & Date,” also as a legal analyst. She also appears on virtually every other major news network, including CBS, CNN, NBC, and MSNBC. She frequently guest hosts on WNYC Radio in New York.

Jami Floyd lives with her husband and two children in New York City.

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