Jon Sopel becomes BBC World News anchor

BBC News presenter and reporter, Jon Sopel will join BBC World News as an anchor.

Sopel will present a new show that will launch early next year from the channel’s new home at New Broadcasting House in central London.

He is currently one of the lead anchors at the BBC News channel in the UK. In the past few years he has anchored coverage from the Middle East during the Israel Lebanon war, Sri Lanka after the tsunami, New Orleans after Katrina, Beijing for the Olympics, and South Africa for the World Cup. He also served as the Paris correspondent for BBC News.

He has been closely involved in covering the Eurozone crisis, reporting from the riots in Athens and the political manoeuvrings in Brussels. Sopel also fronted the BBC’s coverage of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 from New York and has travelled extensively in the US covering the last two presidential campaigns. He is currently in the US covering this year’s presidential campaign.

Jon is a well-respected political journalist and in addition to extensive reporting across UK politics, he served as the presenter of the BBC Politics Show and was named political journalist of the year in 2007 by the Public Affairs Industry.

Jon will continue to present on the BBC News Channel and BBC One, in addition to his BBC World News role, as well as being deployed on domestic and international live coverage reporting across BBC TV channels and on the web.

Jon said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining the channel to create a new show at a time when BBC World News is going from strength to strength, both in terms of investment and ambition. I just can’t wait to get started.”

Richard Porter, Controller of English, Global News said: “We’re delighted that such a well-respected presenter as Jon is joining the BBC World News team. He has a wealth of experience, from his international reporting from Paris and the US, and as a presenter on The Politics Show, the BBC News Channel and BBC News at One. I’m sure he will be a great addition to the team.”