The BBC has today announced the appointment of James Stephenson as Head of News for BBC World News, the BBC’s commercially funded international news channel. James is currently Editor of the BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten in theUK. He is also Deputy Head of the BBC Newsroom and will continue in that role.
James Stephenson has been Editor of the BBC News at Six and News at Ten since 2009. The period has included the 2010 General Election, the Eurozone crisis, the Arab uprisings, the 2012 US Presidential Election and the Olympics.
In October 2012, he was also appointed Deputy Head of the BBC Newsroom with responsibility for BBC news output on TV, radio and online in the UK and internationally.
James joined the BBC as a researcher on Panorama and worked on a range of current affairs programmes before becoming Assistant Editor of Newsnight in 1998 and Deputy Editor in 2000. The programme won RTS News Programme of the Year for its coverage of the year following 9/11.
In 2003, James launched the Politics Show on BBC One. He was also responsible for a number of other political programmes, including as Editor of the 2005 General Election Night and Executive Editor of Question Time.
James served as Middle East Bureau Chief from 2007 to 2009.
In January, BBC World News completed a very successful launch from new studios in Broadcasting House. James will lead the next phase of the channel’s news development, driving the coverage of breaking and developing stories as well as big events and global themes. Innovation will continue, focusing on continued development of the channel’s programmes, innovative production and engaging storytelling in line with the channel’s commitment to help audiences Live the Story.
He will also take a leading role in improving how we deliver the best BBC news video in a multiplatform way, to our international website, BBC.com as well as on BBC World News.
Mary Hockaday, Head of the BBC Newsroom said: “James will bring excellent editorial leadership to BBC World News, an absolute commitment to the highest quality and most trustworthy journalism as well as an ambitious approach to television production and sharing our journalism across platforms for audiences in a digital age. James has a very strong track record leading high profile output and newsgathering teams in BBC News, as Editor of the BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten, the Middle East Bureau and political programmes atWestminster. He has all the right qualities to develop our international journalism working with our production teams and journalists inLondonand around the world.”
Richard Porter, Controller of English, BBC Global News said: “I’m absolutely delighted that James will be leading the next phase of development of our news output. This is a very big year for BBC World News, with investment in new studios and in our journalism, and the launch of the Live the Story brand campaign. James is ideally suited to take us further forward, with his huge experience of journalism and production, and his understanding of the competitive landscape. I look forward to welcoming him into the World’s Newsroom.”
James Stephenson said: “I am delighted to have been asked to run BBC World News. The channel is the strongest it has ever been and this year’s move to Broadcasting House has placed it at the heart of the BBC Newsroom. I look forward to working with the World News team and the whole of BBC News to make the most of all we can offer to our global audience.“
James will take up the role shortly. His predecessor, Andrew Roy was recently appointed to run the BBC’s international Newsgathering operations in the role of World Editor, BBC News.