Emmy Award winning international journalist, filmmaker, primetime news anchor and host of Al Jazeera America based in New York City, Tony Harris, met with local media practitioners in Anguilla on, Thursday, February 11. Tony, who is now the President/CEO of his own media company, Mere Media, has been part of the CNN family for over six years.
His visit initially to St. Maarten was arranged through the Tallahassee–St. Maarten Foundation. Through a longstanding partnership between the Tallahassee–St. Maarten Foundation and Austin ‘Bennie’ Connor of Bennies Travel & Tours, his trip also brought him to Anguilla where he toured and spent one night at the Cap Juluca Hotel.
The press arrangement to meet with Mr. Harris was made through KCNTV4. It was held at the Anguilla Chamber of Commerce & Industry Board Room where Arthur J.R Lugisse, Executive Director, Tallahassee-St. Maarten Foundation, introduced him to the media: “The way this started – there is a photographer in the United States by the name of Hassan Kareem who I met in St. Maarten a year ago and the idea was to create Celebrity-VIP tourism. Surprising as it might be, Tony doesn’t want to admit it, but he [Hassan] sent Tony as one of those Celebrity-VIPs. Tony is the one that I think in the long run will be able to bring to us other VIPs and other celebrity to our region by several ways and means”. Former sales and marketing manager of Sonesta Maho Hotel and Casino [St. Maarten], Bernard Hunt, is also working along Arthur and Bennie on this initiative. Bernard and Arthur have worked together over the years to promote St. Maarten as a tourist destination.
Mr. Harris shared a lot of his experiences including his stint as a journalist at CNN. He also spoke of the work he is now doing with his company, Merge Media. When asked what would be his role in promoting the two destinations, St. Maarten and Anguilla, Tony responded: “I’m working with a couple production companies in the U.S.A to produce content that will be airing on the Discovery Communications channels. Right now I am working on a series of special reports on hate in America on Discovery ID to be aired on February 29th at 9 pm local time. From that standpoint I am gaining greater visibility in the States, than even my work on Al Jazeera America”. He went on: “The production arm that I am working with on the films for Discovery ID is Peacock Productions which is an arm of NBC News, and we are about to begin conversations on some travel adventure content.”
Harris noted that, ideally, he would love to create a travel adventure show similar to that of Anthony Bourdain: “I been working on a concept, for 8-9 years, called the ‘Mission Quest’. It is an exploration of culture, food and lifestyle and also the roots of the various islands that I visit. I would love for that programme to focus initially, maybe even in its first season, on the Caribbean”. He observed that getting the show on the air becomes paramount and that he was working with Arthur, Bernard and Bennie on everything in the VIP space which gives him a bigger and broaden platform to share his experiences. Tony is on a quest to showcase the diversity of the various islands and believes that the Caribbean has become a part of his life.
While on island, Harris visited Heritage Collection Museum, in East End and also met with several government officials including Governor Christina Scott.
