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With wall-to-wall coverage of the Germanwings plane crash, CNN had its best prime-time week since January, according to new data from Nielsen Media. CNN

Clarissa Ward, a globe-trotting, award-winning reporter for CBS, is joining CNN as a senior international correspondent. Ward has made a name for herself covering conflict zones such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine, as well as Japan during aftermath of the tsunami that struck in 2011. This year she won a Peabody Award and two Emmys for reporting from the trenches of Syria's civil war.

"CNN is, simply put, the most important name in news," Ward said in a press release. "No other organization has the same scope and depth and recognition across the world. And no other organization devotes the same amount of resources and airtime to the most important international stories of our time."

Before working at CBS, Ward reported from Beijing and Moscow for ABC News, as well as Beirut for Fox News. At CBS she contributed reports to "60 Minutes" and the evening news.

CNN president Jeff Zucker announced the hire and also mentioned his excitement to work with her and report "important stories of our time."

“CNN has the best team of international reporters of any news organization in the world, by far. And today, we got even stronger,” Zucker said. "Clarissa Ward is an exceptional correspondent, a reporter and storyteller who has covered the world’s toughest assignments. She is unique in her field."

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