Karen Holmes Ward is the Director of Public Affairs and Community Service for WCVB Channel 5 in Boston, as well as host and executive producer of CityLine, WCVB’s award-winning weekly magazine program which addresses the accomplishments, concerns and issues facing people of color living in Boston and its suburbs. Karen has a 40-year career in broadcasting including early stints as a writer at WEEI News Radio, News Director at WILD-Radio and reporter at WGBH-TV.
Karen Holmes Ward is the Director of Public Affairs and Community Services as well as host and executive producer of CityLine, WCVB’s award-winning weekly magazine program which addresses the accomplishments, concerns and issues facing people of color living in Boston and its suburbs. Many notables including Oscar winners Lupita Nyong’o, Forest Whitaker, Octavia Spencer and Denzel Washington and Oscar nominees Daniel Kuluuya, Taraji P. Henson, Oprah Winfrey, Louis Gossett and Quvenzhane Wallis have been interviewed by Karen for CityLine. CityLine has been a recipient of the Associated Press Massachusetts/Rhode Island ‘Best’ Public Affairs Program and numerous Emmy nominations.
Karen also oversees WCVB’s public service and community outreach efforts including the station’s work on Extreme Makeover: My Hometown, raising awareness about the need for affordable housing in the Greater Boston area, and WCVB’s first-of-its-kind web-based initiative, Commonwealth 5. This on-line project promoted philanthropy by matching viewer-donors with non-profits via the Internet and was nominated for a National Emmy Award. Karen served as Executive Producer for Return to Glory, a one-hour prime-time documentary hosted by Emmy Award-winning actor Andre Braugher about the famed Massachusetts 54th Regiment. Return to Glory was syndicated nationally and seen in over 80% of the country.
A graduate of Boston University’s School of Public Communications (now COM) , Karen has received numerous awards for her work in the community including the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences ‘Silver Circle’ Award for Lifetime Achievement, Boston Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Leaders Award; National Association of Black Journalists Region I Journalist of the Year; Big Sister of Greater Boston Achievement Award; Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts President’s Award; Women of Courage and Conviction Award from the Greater Boston Section National Council of Negro Women, Inc. among others.
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