Vinnie Politan is a former attorney and journalist who anchors "Prime News with Vinnie Politan" on HLN, and, as of November 16, 2009,[1] co-anchors In Session on the cable network truTV. This is Politan's second tour of duty on the network. He previously co-anchored the daily trial coverage program Bloom & Politan: Open Court alongside Lisa Bloom, and Both Sides with Kimberly Guilfoyle. Cases covered by Politan include such as the murder trial of Michael Skakel, the Sean "Puffy" Combs case, the Zacarias Moussaoui trial, the Scott Peterson murder trial, and the Kobe Bryant rape case since joining Court TV in January 2001.[2] Politan has also made recent headlines for a comment he made during coverage of the Casey Anthony trial in June 2011, allegedly unaware that his microphone was live [3].
Additionally, Politan used to host the morning radio program Me and Vinnie on Sirius XM radio's Stars Too station, broadcasting on Sirius 108 and XM 139, weekdays from 6am to 9am and repeating 9am to noon. The show examines news and pop culture and takes listener calls. He also hosts Prime News on HLN on occasions when a substitute host is needed.[4]
Politan graduated in 1983 from West Orange High School [5] in West Orange, New Jersey, and was captain of the school's basketball team.[6] He attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, receiving an AB in Communication before attending Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. Politan, the brother of a corporate attorney and son of federal judge Nicholas H. Politan, was a prosecutor in Bergen County, New Jersey, prior to becoming a journalist.[7] Following his time as prosecutor, Politan went on to serve in several positions in the private legal sector, including a post at the Carella-Byrne law firm in New Jersey. There he served as a litigator, often being placed in charge of labor disputes, intellectual property cases, and criminal defense cases, along with malpractice claims at the world's largest insurance company, AIG. Politan’s final employment as an attorney was as in-house counsel for Grand Union, a large national supermarket chain.
Politan served Channel 10 News in New Jersey as a Memorial Journalism Award-winning reporter and anchor. Among his duties were handling general news, covering legal stories, and moderating political debates. He also produced and hosted a weekly legal program, Bergen County Justice with Vinnie Politan.
Prior to joining Court TV, Politan worked as an AP Award-winning reporter and anchor for Central Florida News 13 in Orlando. While there, he was responsible for covering live, local breaking news. During 2000, Politan covered both Democratic and Republican National Conventions as a correspondent for Time Warner.