Bill Neely is joining NBC News as the London-based chief global correspondent, TVNewser has learned. An announcement is expected this afternoon.
Neely joins from ITN where he has been International Editor for ITV News since 2002. Neely is no stranger to NBC News as he appears often from various world hotspots. The two networks have a content sharing partnership. He’ll also be re-joining his former ITN boss Deborah Turness who is now president of NBC News.
Official: News release after the jump…
NBC NEWS NAMES BILL NEELY CHIEF GLOBAL CORRESPONDENT
AWARD-WINNING VETERAN JOURNALIST JOINS NBC NEWS’ LONDON BUREAU FROM BRITAIN’S ITV NEWS
NOVEMBER 25, 2013 — Award-winning journalist Bill Neely will join NBC News as Chief Global Correspondent based in London, it was announced today by NBC News President Deborah Turness. Neely joins from Britain’s ITV News, where he currently serves as International Editor.
Bill Neely has regularly appeared on NBC News through the network’s partnership with ITN and will leverage his decades of experience, insight, and sources to cover major international news and events for all of the news division’s broadcasts and digital platforms. He will also rely on his considerable experience in the United States, having served as ITV News Washington Correspondent for six years and covered five of the last six presidential elections.
“Bill is one of the greatest television journalists of this generation,” said Turness said in a memo to NBC News staff. “He embodies a unique combination of high-end analysis, hunger to win, and superior story-telling skills. Quite simply, Bill is the kind of journalist who competitors don’t want to see turn up on a story, and I’m delighted that from now on he will be on our team. He complements NBC News’s already stellar lineup of world-class correspondents whose talents, experience, and dedication make me proud each and every day.”
“After almost twenty five wonderful years at ITN during which I’ve been privileged to cover so many of the biggest stories of our time, I’m thrilled to be joining NBC as their Chief Global Correspondent,” said Neely. “Every change is a challenge, but broadcasting to a new audience at a great American network has to be one of the best challenges – and opportunities – any journalist could be offered.”
Neely has served as ITV News International Editor for the last eleven years. Over the course of thirty years in journalism, he has covered more than a dozen wars and conflicts from Northern Ireland to Syria, and has been embedded regularly with U.S. and British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union and he has reported more than a dozen natural disasters including Hurricane Katrina, the Asian tsunami, and the deadly earthquakes in China, Haiti, and Pakistan. During his six years as ITV News Washington Correspondent, which spanned the presidencies of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s first term, he covered key stories in the U.S. such as the Oklahoma City bombings, the Atlanta Olympics, and the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. He later closely followed the aftermath of 9/11 and, most recently, superstorm Sandy.
His reports from across the globe have earned many prestigious awards, including numerous Royal Television Society awards, an Emmy for coverage of the 2008 earthquake in China, and an unprecedented three consecutive BAFTA awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, for his work in China, Haiti, and the UK.