David Culver is a senior national correspondent for CNN Worldwide, based at the network’s Los Angeles bureau. Culver’s award-winning work has played a central role in CNN’s coverage around the world. Most recently, Culver has reported on the ongoing migration crisis from the U.S.-Mexico border and delivered an hour special with immersive reporting on psychedelics from Jamaica. Culver was previously based in Beijing and was responsible for covering major news stories from China and the Asia-Pacific region.

In China, Culver reported on the coronavirus and the country’s unprecedented containment measures, remaining within China’s near sealed off borders for more than two and a half years. His coverage included traveling to the original epicenter of Wuhan and living through the punishing Shanghai lockdown. His reporting at the start of the outbreak, and while in the midst of hotel quarantine, led to Culver being recognized with three of the most prestigious awards in journalism: the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in TV Journalism, the Overseas Press Club of America’s David Kaplan award and the George Polk Award, marking the first time in the 73-year history of the Awards that the top honor for Foreign Reporting went to a television report.

Culver has also reported on China’s alleged human rights abuses and in 2021 he and his team traveled to Xinjiang to investigate the separation of children from their families. Culver’s work in China also includes coverage of the controversial 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the U.S-China trade war, the NBA controversy, and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, chronicling the military and economic superpower’s rapid rise.

Prior to joining CNN, Culver was an anchor and reporter for NBC Washington, covering crime, politics and education. He also reported on multiple national breaking news events, covering the Parkland Florida school shooting, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and various hurricanes that ravaged parts of the US.

Of Cuban-American descent, Culver has traveled multiple times to Cuba, reporting on the reopening of the U.S. Embassy, Pope Francis’ visit and the death of Fidel Castro. He also produced a 30-minute Emmy award winning documentary, “Rediscovering Cuba: A Journey Home”, which chronicles his mother and grandmother’s return to their native Cuba more than 50 years after they fled the island-nation. Before NBC Washington, Culver was an anchor and reporter for WAVY-TV in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Culver graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Hispanic Studies from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He minored in Middle Eastern Studies and studied Arabic. He is fluent in Spanish.