# Anna Kooiman
**Anna Kooiman** (full name Anna Brooks Kooiman; born 1984) is an American news anchor and television panelist who has worked as a weekend anchor for [NewsNation](https://www.edgepedia.org/newsnation) since 2024.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Education | University of North Carolina Wilmington, communication studies, 2005[1](https://www.wect.com/story/35939477/anna-kooiman-on-the-1on1-with-jon-evans-podcast/) |
| Fox News years | New York correspondent from December 2011; permanent weekend co-host of *Fox & Friends Weekend* from 2013; left September 2016[1](https://www.wect.com/story/35939477/anna-kooiman-on-the-1on1-with-jon-evans-podcast/) • [2](https://www.thewrap.com/anna-kooiman-leaves-fox-news-australia/) |
| Australia years | Guest anchor and panelist on Network Ten's *Studio 10* and *The Project* until 2022; launched the online fitness business Strong Sexy Mammas in 2019[3](https://www.newscaststudio.com/2024/05/22/newsnation-hires-624/) |
| Return to U.S. | Moved back in 2022 to Charlotte, North Carolina, hosting *Your Day with Anna Kooiman* on WCCB-TV[4](https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/ticker-anna-kooiman-kate-bolduan-nyabj-finalists-nbcu-academy/) |
| Current role | Weekend anchor at NewsNation, hosting the weekend edition of *NewsNation Now* / *NewsNation Live* on Saturdays and Sundays[3](https://www.newscaststudio.com/2024/05/22/newsnation-hires-624/) • [4](https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/ticker-anna-kooiman-kate-bolduan-nyabj-finalists-nbcu-academy/) |
## Early life and start in television
Kooiman grew up in [Charlotte, North Carolina](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlotte-north-carolina), where her parents still live and run businesses; her first job as a teenager was in the warehouse of their shop, the Peppermint Forest Christmas Shop in Pineville.[1](https://www.wect.com/story/35939477/anna-kooiman-on-the-1on1-with-jon-evans-podcast/) She played softball and track at Myers Park High School and continued track at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she majored in communication studies.[1](https://www.wect.com/story/35939477/anna-kooiman-on-the-1on1-with-jon-evans-podcast/)
Her entry into broadcasting came through sports. A professor recommended her for courtside reporting at UNCW basketball games, which were broadcast live on Fox Sports, and during her college years in 2004 she worked as a sideline reporter for the network.[1](https://www.wect.com/story/35939477/anna-kooiman-on-the-1on1-with-jon-evans-podcast/) In the summer of 2004 she interned in the news department of a local ABC station in Wilmington, and turned that into her first reporting job at WWAY in Wilmington after graduating in 2005, often working as a "one-man band" who shot and edited her own video.[1](https://www.wect.com/story/35939477/anna-kooiman-on-the-1on1-with-jon-evans-podcast/)
## Local news in Ohio and Charlotte
In January 2007 Kooiman moved to [Toledo, Ohio](https://www.edgepedia.org/toledo-ohio), as morning anchor and reporter at the NBC affiliate WNWO.
In May 2008 she returned to Charlotte as anchor, reporter, and host of *Fox News Rising*, a four-hour news and entertainment morning show on the then-Fox affiliate WCCB.[2](https://www.thewrap.com/anna-kooiman-leaves-fox-news-australia/) She has credited her co-host there, Mark Mathis, with teaching her to be a television host rather than only a news anchor.[1](https://www.wect.com/story/35939477/anna-kooiman-on-the-1on1-with-jon-evans-podcast/)
## Fox News, 2011 to 2016
She covered news across the northeast, including blizzards, court cases, and political campaigns, and began filling in as co-host of *Fox & Friends Weekend* before becoming its permanent weekend co-host in 2013.[1](https://www.wect.com/story/35939477/anna-kooiman-on-the-1on1-with-jon-evans-podcast/)
Her reporting assignments included the San Bernardino and Pulse nightclub terror attacks, [Hurricane Sandy](https://www.edgepedia.org/hurricane-sandy), tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma, the 2016 U.S. blizzard, and the GOP primary debates in Detroit; she also hosted Fox's *All-American New Year* special and ran the franchise segment "Roadtrip with Anna Kooiman".[1](https://www.wect.com/story/35939477/anna-kooiman-on-the-1on1-with-jon-evans-podcast/)**A widely reported error.** During an October 2013 *Fox & Friends* segment, Kooiman reported that President Obama was paying out of his own pocket to keep open a museum of Muslim culture during the government shutdown. The claim traced to a story on a satirical news site called "National Report" headlined "Obama Uses Own Money to Open Muslim Museum Amid Government Shutdown," and she did not cite a source on air.[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5001735/news/)
**Departure.** In August 2016 [Fox News](https://www.edgepedia.org/fox-news) co-president Bill Shine announced that Kooiman would step down as co-host of *Fox & Friends Weekend* to relocate to Australia, where her husband, a Sydney native, had accepted a job at Tullet Prebon. Her last day on the show was Monday, September 5, 2016, and she continued afterward as a Fox News freelance correspondent.[2](https://www.thewrap.com/anna-kooiman-leaves-fox-news-australia/) Media Matters describes her Fox tenure as correspondent and weekend co-host from 2011 through 2016.[6](https://www.mediamatters.org/index.php/anna-kooiman)
## Australia, 2016 to 2022
Through the corporate relationship among 21st Century Fox, Foxtel, and Ten Network Holdings, she worked as a substitute anchor and panelist until 2022 on Network Ten's news programs *Studio 10* and *The Project*.[3](https://www.newscaststudio.com/2024/05/22/newsnation-hires-624/)She also kept freelance ties to Fox News, returning to New York repeatedly for anchoring stints. In a December 2018 opinion column she wrote that she would anchor overnight cut-ins and appear on *Fox & Friends* on [New Year's Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-years-day) with her baby son Brooks to demonstrate fitness routines.[7](https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/anna-kooiman-fox-news-has-brought-me-home-for-the-holidays-from-australia) In January 2020 she appeared on *Tucker Carlson Tonight*, reporting from Taronga Zoo in Sydney on the Australian bushfires' impact on wildlife; Media Matters noted the segment highlighted arson arrests without mentioning climate change.[8](https://www.mediamatters.org/murdoch-family/fox-news-prime-time-avoided-covering-australian-bushfires-until-murdoch-paper)
**Fitness business.** She has described the business as aimed at helping new mothers recover physically and emotionally through exercise.[7](https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/anna-kooiman-fox-news-has-brought-me-home-for-the-holidays-from-australia)
## Return to the United States and NewsNation
Kooiman and her family moved back to the U.S. in 2022 and settled in Charlotte, where she hosted the lifestyle show *Your Day with Anna Kooiman* for the local CW affiliate WCCB-TV, the station where her network career had begun.[4](https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/ticker-anna-kooiman-kate-bolduan-nyabj-finalists-nbcu-academy/)
In 2024 she joined Nexstar's NewsNation. Trade coverage differs slightly on the timing: NewscastStudio and Nexstar's press release say she joined in March 2024 as anchor of the weekend edition of *NewsNation Now*, airing Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Eastern,[3](https://www.newscaststudio.com/2024/05/22/newsnation-hires-624/) • [9](https://www.nexstar.tv/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/NewsNation-24-Hour-Expansion-Press-Release.pdf) while Adweek reported her as the weekend anchor of *NewsNation Live* beginning Saturday, April 13, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET.[4](https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/ticker-anna-kooiman-kate-bolduan-nyabj-finalists-nbcu-academy/) She remains based in Charlotte and commutes to New York for the weekend shows.[4](https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/ticker-anna-kooiman-kate-bolduan-nyabj-finalists-nbcu-academy/) Her hiring came as NewsNation completed its conversion to a 24/7 cable news network on June 1, 2024, filling out a weekend lineup that also included *Morning in America* and *The Hill Sunday*.[9](https://www.nexstar.tv/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/NewsNation-24-Hour-Expansion-Press-Release.pdf) • [10](https://apnews.com/article/5d330f503aa9a82f6ce125385d74d56d)
## References
1. [Anna Kooiman on the "1on1 with Jon Evans" podcast, WECT (2017)](https://www.wect.com/story/35939477/anna-kooiman-on-the-1on1-with-jon-evans-podcast/)
2. [Fox News' Anna Kooiman Leaving Network for New Life in Australia, TheWrap (2016)](https://www.thewrap.com/anna-kooiman-leaves-fox-news-australia/)
3. [NewsNation hires three, NewscastStudio (2024)](https://www.newscaststudio.com/2024/05/22/newsnation-hires-624/)
4. [Ticker: Anna Kooiman, Kate Bolduan, NYABJ Finalists, NBCU Academy, Adweek TVNewser (2024)](https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/ticker-anna-kooiman-kate-bolduan-nyabj-finalists-nbcu-academy/)
5. [Anna Kooiman - News, IMDb (The Hollywood Reporter item on the 2013 museum claim)](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5001735/news/)
6. [Anna Kooiman, Media Matters for America](https://www.mediamatters.org/index.php/anna-kooiman)
7. [Anna Kooiman: Fox News has brought me home for the holidays from Australia, Fox News (2018)](https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/anna-kooiman-fox-news-has-brought-me-home-for-the-holidays-from-australia)
8. [Fox News prime-time avoided covering Australian bushfires until a Murdoch paper minimized the role of climate change, Media Matters for America (2020)](https://www.mediamatters.org/murdoch-family/fox-news-prime-time-avoided-covering-australian-bushfires-until-murdoch-paper)
9. [NewsNation Expands to 24/7 Cable News Network on June 1, Nexstar press release (2024)](https://www.nexstar.tv/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/NewsNation-24-Hour-Expansion-Press-Release.pdf)
10. [NewsNation completes transition to cable news outlet next week, Associated Press (2024)](https://apnews.com/article/5d330f503aa9a82f6ce125385d74d56d)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Broadcasting and journalism › Broadcast organizations and stations › Broadcasters as people › Broadcast journalists and news presenters › American broadcast journalists and news presenters › Fox News journalists and anchors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license