Joseph Ataman

Associate Field Producer

Joseph Ataman is an associate field producer for CNN based in the network's Paris bureau.
Read Full Bio

Latest

Sails of the landmark red windmill atop the Moulin Rouge, Paris' most famous cabaret club, are seen on the ground after a fall off during the night in Paris, France, April 25, 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Blades fall off Moulin Rouge windmill in Paris
Apr 25, 2024
The blades of the windmill atop the famous Parisian dancehall the Moulin Rouge fell off overnight, damaging the facade of the building, it was reported Thursday.
This aerial photograph taken on July 11, 2023, onboard a helicopter of the French army shows a view of the Parc des Princes Stadium (Bottom) and the Jean Bouin Stadium (Top) in Paris. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP) (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)
Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
Champions League quarterfinal matches to go ahead with increased security despite Islamic State terror threat
Apr 9, 2024
Paris police will “considerably boost security measures” for the Champions League quarterfinal between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona this week.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Lafargue Raphael/ABACA/Shutterstock (14375670s) View of the Maurice Ravel high school in Paris on March 5, 2024 during a visit of the French education minister after a teacher headmaster is threatened with death after asking students to take off their veil. Nicole Belloubet visits the Maurice Ravel high school - Paris, France - 05 Mar 2024
Lafargue Raphael/ABACA/Shutterstock
France to sue student it says falsely accused principal of forcibly removing headscarf
Mar 28, 2024
A French high school student is being sued by the government for falsely accusing her former principal of assaulting her after he made her remove her headscarf on school premises, the country’s prime minister said Wednesday.
French soldiers patrol near the Eiffel Tower as part of the "Sentinelle" security plan in Paris, France, May 23, 2023. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Paris 2024: Olympic Opening Ceremony capacity slashed in half to ensure security
Mar 6, 2024
Attendance capacity at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games’ opening ceremony – the first to be held along a river – will be halved due to security reasons, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said Tuesday in an interview with French broadcaster France 2.
French President Emmanuel Macron had promised that “in 2024, women’s freedom to have an abortion will be irreversible.”
Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
French Senate votes to enshrine abortion rights in constitution
Feb 28, 2024
France is one step closer to enshrining abortion rights in its constitution after French senators overwhelmingly endorsed the change on Wednesday.
Natalia holds her daughter next to her father's photo during an exhibition in Kyiv. // Natalia says that Vitalina is becoming more and more like her father, both in appearance and emotional expressions.
Courtesy Natalia Kyrkach-Antonenko
Ukrainian soldiers will soon be able to have children from beyond the grave
Feb 18, 2024
When Natalia Kyrkach-Antonenko’s husband Vitalii was killed on the frontlines fighting Russia, she was 13 weeks pregnant with their daughter, Vitalina.
“Indestructable Kharkiv” reads a banner in one of seven classrooms at one of the metro school’s sites. Every morning, the children observe a minute’s silence for their dead compatriots in the war against Russia.
Joseph Ataman/CNN
‘We won’t hear the bangs’: Ukrainian city moves schools into metro stations
Feb 12, 2024
It was a special day for Elmira Dergousova when Russian tanks rolled across the border into Ukraine: her fifth birthday.
Ukraine's new army chief is Oleksandr Syrskyi the former Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
Outmanned and outgunned: Ukraine’s new army chief faces big challenges in taking the fight to Russia
Feb 10, 2024
The worst kept secret in Kyiv has finally been confirmed: the man who led Ukraine’s armed forces for two years is out of his job.
Ukraine has used sea drones to attack Russia’s fleet in the Black Sea, racking up unprecedented victories. Each drone carries at least 250kg (500lb) of explosives.
Peter Rudden/CNN
A Ukrainian pilot outlines how drones powered by jet skis sunk a Russian warship
Feb 5, 2024
All it took was six sea drones, powered by jet skis, to fell a Russian guided missile ship last week, according to a rare interview with the secretive Ukrainian unit behind the attack.
KYIV, UKRAINE -- APRIL 19: Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov gives an interview on April 19, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images
Ukraine’s spy chief downplays risks of Trump presidency as he makes fresh plea for aid
Jan 31, 2024
Aid to Ukraine is frozen in US Congress, and Kyiv could be dealing with a Trump presidency more sympathetic to Moscow. But Ukraine’s spy chief isn’t losing any sleep over the US.
OPTION 1: With the temperature far below freezing, the Soviet rockets operated by one Omega Special Forces team outside Avdiivka wouldn't launch on one early morning fire mission. OPTION 2: Reliant on the Soviet kit they have, not the Western arms they crave, Ukrainian troops have learned to be more creative with their weapons in battle.
Joseph Ataman/CNN
Russia’s relentless ‘meat assaults’ are wearing down outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian forces
Jan 23, 2024
Straddling the frontlines, the small town of Avdiivka has become the epicenter of the war in Ukraine. Still in Ukrainian hands – just – it’s enclosed on three sides by Russian troops and cannons.
"Smeta" a soldier from a mobile air defense unit guarding the approaches to Kyiv, practices with a training unit for the US-made stinger missile system. (NB please stick close to this language as it's not a real missile in his hands). Some of the hand-held US missiles used by the mobile air defense units were manufactured in the 1980s, the unit said, years before some of the soldiers were born. Ukrainian air defense troops practice drills with a Soviet-made anti-aircraft cannon outside Kyiv.
Joseph Ataman/CNN
Missile blitz, jet drones, night camouflage: Kyiv warns how Russia could overwhelm air defenses
Jan 11, 2024
In the skies above Ukraine, a deadly game is playing out. Russia’s shifting tactics are forcing Kyiv to meet an evolving threat with limited Western defense systems.
An undated photo of Alex Batty before he went missing.
Greater Manchester Police
British boy missing for six years found in France
Dec 15, 2023
Alex Batty had not been seen since he was 11 years old, when he went to Spain on holiday in 2017 with his mother and grandfather.
wolf hostage family vpx
First testimonies shed light on the conditions endured by Hamas’ Israeli hostages
Nov 28, 2023
The hostages released from Gaza are now giving a glimpse into their lives in captivity since October 7.
Farm volunteer Danny Parizada picks zucchini just a few kilometers from the border with Gaza.
Joseph Ataman/CNN
Israel’s farms need foreign labourers. The Hamas attacks triggered an exodus
Nov 27, 2023
On the morning of October 7, Hamas fighters streamed into the quiet lanes of kibbutz Alumim, setting off on a rampage of killing and destruction. But most of their victims in the community weren’t Israeli, or even Jewish, they were Thai and Nepali farm workers, sleeping in a dormitory right in the militants’ path.
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from Israel, November 3, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Amir Cohen/Reuters
South Africa and Chad recall diplomats from Israel
Nov 6, 2023
South Africa and Chad have announced they will recall diplomats from Israel for “consultation” in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

About

Joseph Ataman is an associate field producer for CNN based in the network’s Paris bureau.

Ataman led CNN’s coverage of the 2022 French election and has covered the Channel migrant crisis, wildfires, and the climate crisis in France. Field producing and writing for CNN, he has also reported on Europe’s response to the war in Ukraine and the 2021 evacuation of Kabul.

Ataman started working at CNN on the international video team, shooting and producing stories from across Europe, covering Covid-19’s first wave, Brexit and the First World War centenary. Prior to this, he worked as a freelance journalist in the Middle East.

Ataman earned a first-class degree in Geography from the University of Cambridge and was a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University during his Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies.