Fred Emery (journalist)

Last updated

Frederick Emery (born 19 October 1933) is a British television presenter and investigative journalist.

Contents

Early life

Fred Emery was born in south-west Essex. He attended Bancroft's School in north-east London from 1944-51. [1] He was head boy in 1951.

Career

Newspapers

Emery has had a distinguished career as a newspaper journalist. He served as a foreign correspondent covering the Vietnam War. During the 1970s he was Washington Bureau Chief for The Times throughout the Watergate scandal. He would later write a detailed history of the scandal Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon (1994), based on extensive interviews with key participants that according to the New York Times "stands on its own as a comprehensive account of this century's most notorious political scandal." [2] He also narrated an accompanying 5-part BBC documentary series. [3] His archive from this research is held by Senate House Library, London. [4]

Panorama

After leaving The Times, Emery was a presenter for the investigative current affairs programme Panorama , working on various episodes from 1978-1992. [5] [6] He interviewed Margaret Thatcher [7] on 8 June 1983, on the eve of the 1983 general election. Among the episodes he presented was the controversial 1984 programme 'Maggie's Militant Tendency'. This episode would be the subject of a 1986 libel case brought by the Conservative MPs Neil Hamilton and Gerald Howarth which the BBC would eventually settle.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watergate scandal</span> Early 1970s political scandal in the US

The Watergate scandal was a major political controversy in the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974, ultimately resulting in Nixon's resignation. The name originated from attempts by the Nixon administration to conceal its involvement in the June 17, 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters located in the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Bashir</span> British journalist (born 1963)

Martin Henry Bashir is a British former journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's Panorama programme, for which he gained an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales under false pretences in 1995. Although the interview was much heralded at the time, it was later determined that he used forgery and deception to gain it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Bernstein</span> American journalist (born 1944)

Carl Milton Bernstein is an American investigative journalist and author. While a young reporter for The Washington Post in 1972, Bernstein was teamed up with Bob Woodward, and the two did much of the original news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations and the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon. The work of Woodward and Bernstein was called "maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time" by long-time journalism figure Gene Roberts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Frost</span> British television host and journalist (1939–2013)

Sir David Paradine Frost was an English television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme That Was the Week That Was in 1962. His success on this show led to work as a host on American television. He became known for his television interviews with senior political figures, among them the Nixon interviews with US president Richard Nixon in 1977 which were adapted into a stage play and film. Frost interviewed all eight British prime ministers serving from 1964 to 2016, from Alec Douglas-Home to David Cameron, and all eight American presidents in office from 1969 to 2008, from Lyndon B. Johnson to George W. Bush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. Patrick Gray</span> American lawyer

Louis Patrick Gray III was acting director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from May 3, 1972, to April 27, 1973. During this time, the FBI was in charge of the initial investigation into the burglaries that sparked the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Nixon. Gray was nominated as permanent Director by Nixon on February 15, 1973, but failed to win Senate confirmation. He resigned as Acting FBI director on April 27, 1973, after he admitted to destroying documents that had come from convicted Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt's safe—documents received on June 28, 1972, 11 days after the Watergate burglary, and given to Gray by White House counsel John Dean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dean</span> American author, Watergate figure (born 1938)

John Wesley Dean III is a disbarred American attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal and his subsequent testimony to Congress as a witness. His guilty plea to a single felony in exchange for becoming a key witness for the prosecution ultimately resulted in a reduced sentence, which he served at Fort Holabird outside Baltimore, Maryland. After his plea, he was disbarred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Humphrys</span> Welsh broadcaster, journalist and author (born 1943)

Desmond John Humphrys is a Welsh broadcaster. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter of the Nine O'Clock News, the flagship BBC News television programme, and from 1987 until 2019 he presented on the BBC Radio 4 breakfast programme Today. He was the host of the BBC Two television quiz show Mastermind from 2003 to 2021, for a total of 735 episodes. Humphrys now presents a regular Sunday afternoon show on Classic FM, where he also sometimes fills in on the weekday More Music Breakfast show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Butterfield</span> American retired military officer, public official, and businessman (born 1926)

Alexander Porter Butterfield is a retired United States Air Force officer, public official, and businessman. He served as the deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973. He revealed the White House taping system's existence on July 13, 1973, during the Watergate investigation but had no other involvement in the scandal. From 1973 to 1975, he served as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Senate Watergate Committee</span> 1973 US Senate committee to investigate the Watergate scandal

The Senate Watergate Committee, known officially as the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, was a special committee established by the United States Senate, S.Res. 60, in 1973, to investigate the Watergate scandal, with the power to investigate the break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and any subsequent cover-up of criminal activity, as well as "all other illegal, improper, or unethical conduct occurring during the controversial 1972 presidential election, including political espionage and campaign finance practices".

What The Papers Say is a British radio and television series. It consists of quotations from headlines and comment pages in the previous week's newspapers, read in a variety of voices and accents by actors. The quotes are linked by a script read by a studio presenter, usually a prominent journalist. The show did not have a regular host, and was intended as a wry look at how British broadsheets and tabloids covered the week's news stories. The programme was most recently broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Dimbleby</span> British commentator and presenter (born 1938)

David Dimbleby is an English journalist and former presenter of current affairs and political programmes, best known for having presented the BBC topical debate programme Question Time. He is the son of broadcaster Richard Dimbleby and elder brother of Jonathan Dimbleby, of the Dimbleby family.

<i>Panorama</i> (British TV programme) BBC Television current affairs documentary programme

Panorama is a British current affairs documentary programme broadcast on the BBC. First broadcast in 1953, it is the world's longest-running television news magazine programme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Mardian</span> American politician (1923–2006)

Robert Charles Mardian was a United States Republican party official who served in the administration of Richard Nixon, and was embroiled in the Watergate scandal as one of the Watergate Seven who were indicted by a grand jury for campaign violations. His conviction for conspiracy was overturned because of procedural unfairness and he was not subsequently retried.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Mitchell</span> Political socialite and Watergate whistleblower (1918–1976)

Martha Elizabeth Beall Mitchell was the wife of John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General under President Richard Nixon. Her public comments and interviews during the Watergate scandal were frank and revealing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Taylor (journalist)</span> British journalist and documentary-maker

Peter Taylor, is a British journalist and documentary-maker. He is best known for his coverage of the political and armed conflict in Northern Ireland, widely known as the Troubles, and for his investigation of Al Qaeda and Islamist extremism in the wake of 9/11. He also covers the issue of smoking and health and the politics of tobacco for which he was awarded the WHO Gold Medal for Services to Public Health. He has written books and researched, written and presented television documentaries over a period of more than forty years. In 2014, Taylor was awarded both a Royal Television Society lifetime achievement award and a BAFTA special award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stapleton (English journalist)</span> English broadcaster and journalist

John Martin Stapleton is an English journalist and broadcaster. He is known for his work as a presenter and reporter on ITV breakfast television in addition to hosting Nationwide and Watchdog for the BBC.

Joe Crowley is an English television presenter and broadcast journalist, best known for presenting and reporting on Countryfile and The One Show as well as for his environmental investigations on BBC Panorama and ITV's Tonight programme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Sandwedge</span> 1971 proposed American intelligence-gathering operation

Operation Sandwedge was a proposed clandestine intelligence-gathering operation against the political enemies of U.S. President Richard Nixon's administration. The proposals were put together by Nixon's Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, domestic affairs assistant John Ehrlichman and staffer Jack Caulfield in 1971. Caulfield, a former police officer, created a plan to target the Democratic Party and the anti-Vietnam War movement, inspired by what he believed to be the Democratic Party's employment of a private investigation firm.

Watergate is a documentary series co-produced by the BBC and Discovery, broadcast in 1994. It was based on the book Watergate: The Corruption and Fall of Richard Nixon, by Fred Emery. The series was directed by Mick Gold and produced by Paul Mitchell and Norma Percy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Hewlett (journalist)</span>

Stephen Edward Hewlett was a British print, radio and TV journalist, and visiting professor of Journalism and Broadcast Policy at the University of Salford.

References

  1. Bancroft's School 2012
  2. "Nixon's America".
  3. "BBC Two - Watergate, Series 1, Scapegoat".
  4. "Watergate / Fred Emery papers - Archives Hub".
  5. "Fred Emery". IMDb .
  6. BBC Archive
  7. 1983 interview transcript