 |
James Mates | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 August 1961 |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Employer | ITN (for ITV News) |
| Notable credit | ITV News |
| Spouse | Fiona Mates (m. 1991) |
| Children | 3 |
James Mates (born 11 August 1961)[ where? ] [1] is an English newsreader and journalist, currently employed by ITN, where he presents on ITV News and is Europe Editor.
Mates was educated at Marlborough College, an independent school in the market town of Marlborough in Wiltshire. He left Marlborough at the age of sixteen to sit A-levels at Farnham College in Farnham in Surrey and then studied at the University of Leeds from which he graduated, in 1983, with a degree in International History and Politics. During that time he had spent his summer holidays in 1981 working as a researcher for U.S. Republican Senator John Tower on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Mates joined ITN in 1983 as an editorial trainee and was appointed scriptwriter in the ITV newsroom two years later. He was made a general reporter at ITN in 1986.
Amongst his first assignments on becoming a reporter was to cover the Zeebrugge ferry disaster. He spent five weeks in Zeebrugge in 1987 during the operation to raise the capsized ferry 'Herald of Free Enterprise'. Another major assignment was to cover the UK's failed extradition attempt from the Republic of Ireland of Father Patrick Ryan in 1989. The failure was attributed to prejudicial comments made in Parliament by his father, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Mates, MP, which implied that Ryan was a terrorist. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher compounded the damage done by Mates' comments at PMQs on 29 November 1988. [2] In October 1989, the Irish government refused the extradition request on the grounds that Ryan would not get a fair trial in Britain. [3]
In 1989 he was made Tokyo correspondent of the World News on Channel 4's first early morning service, Channel Four Daily. In 1991 Mates was North of England correspondent for ITV, and later that year became Moscow correspondent, a role he kept until 1993. During his time as Moscow correspondent one of Mates' reports, on the use of ice as an anaesthetic in a Russian hospital, was awarded the Prix du Press Club de France at the 7th International Scoop & News Festival of Angers, France. The same story, together with a report on the Russian economy, won Mates a silver medal at the 35th Annual Film & Television Festival of New York City. Between 1993 and 1996 Mates was ITN's Diplomatic Editor.
His many assignments have numbered Kosovo, where he was during the NATO invasion of the country; former Yugoslavia where he covered the 1996 refugee crisis; Moscow during President Yeltsin's attempt to put down the uprising in Chechnya; and Rwanda where he reported on the Central African Republic 's genocidal civil war. As the only television journalist left in the capital Kigali in 1994, Mates watched the city fall to the rebel army of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. He also reported on the slaughter of countless soldiers and civilians and the plight of the 700,000 refugees who fled the carnage. ITV News won a BAFTA for its coverage of the genocide.
He also won a joint Silver Medal from New York for his 1996 coverage of the refugee crisis in former Yugoslavia. Just before covering the war in Rwanda, Mates had been in South Africa reporting on the first-ever democratic elections in the country, which culminated in Nelson Mandela's inauguration as President.
Mates was Washington correspondent between 1997 and 2001. In 2001 he was awarded the title of "Senior Correspondent" for ITV News.[ citation needed ] In 2001 Mates played a key role in ITV News coverage of the September 11 attacks, reporting from New York and Washington.
In January 2012, Mates became "Europe Editor" for ITV News, focussing on the future of the EU and what it means to the UK. [4]
As of 2016, Mates continues as Europe Editor, is making regular appearances on the ITV Weekend News, and is an occasional relief presenter on the ITV Lunchtime News and the ITV Evening News.
Mates was raised in Maidenhead, Berkshire and is the son of former Conservative Party MP Michael Mates. He lives in London with his wife Fiona and has three children: Leo, Flora Mates and Charlie. Mates enjoys playing bridge with his mates, and plays mostly at the Andrew Robson Bridge Club in west London. [5]
Living Marxism was a British magazine originally launched in 1988 as the journal of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). The magazine attracted attention for denying both the Rwandan genocide and Bosnian genocide. Rebranded as LM in 1992, it ceased publication in March 2000 following a successful libel lawsuit brought by ITN over Living Marxism's criticism of ITN's coverage of the Bosnian war. It was promptly resurrected as Spiked, an Internet magazine.
Fergal Patrick Keane is an Irish foreign correspondent with BBC News, and an author. For some time, Keane was the BBC's correspondent in South Africa. He is a nephew of the Irish playwright, novelist and essayist John B. Keane.
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since continued to produce all news programmes on ITV. The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the ITV Evening News held the title of "RTS News Programme of the Year". The flagship ITV News at Ten has won numerous BAFTA awards, and also being named "RTS News Programme of the Year" in 2011, 2015, 2021 and 2022.
ITV News at Ten is the flagship evening news programme on British television network ITV, produced by ITN and founded by news editor Geoffrey Cox in July 1967. The bulletin was the first permanent 30-minute news broadcast in the United Kingdom, and although initially scheduled for only thirteen weeks due to fears that its length would turn viewers off, the bulletin proved to be highly popular with audiences and became a fixture of the ITV schedule.
Mark William Austin is an English journalist and television presenter, currently working for Sky News.
Thomas Matthew Bradby is a British journalist and novelist who currently presents the ITV News at Ten. He was previously political editor for ITV News from 2005 to 2015, and presented The Agenda with Tom Bradby, a political discussion series, from 2012 to 2016.
John Irvine is a television news journalist, and the principal ITV News overseas journalist.
Stephen James Young Scott is a multi award-winning British journalist and presenter employed by ITN as the sports editor and newscaster for ITV News.
Michael Nicholson was an English journalist and newscaster, specializing in war reporting. He was ITN's Senior Foreign Correspondent.
Richard Gizbert is a Canadian broadcast journalist. He is the presenter of the Listening Post on Al Jazeera English.
Keir Hardie Brennan-Simmons is an English journalist. He has been the chief international correspondent for the NBC morning show Today since December 2018. He also appears regularly on the evening broadcast NBC Nightly News, and fills in as an anchor on MSNBC.
Mark Doyle is a British journalist and former world affairs correspondent for BBC News. He is known in particular for his articles on topics related to Africa.
Dele Olojede is a Nigerian journalist and former foreign editor for Newsday. He is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his work covering the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. He serves on the board of EARTH University, in Costa Rica, and of The Markup, the New York-based investigative journalism organization focused on the impact of large tech platforms and their potential for human manipulation. He is the founder and host of Africa In the World, a hearts and minds festival held annually in Stellenbosch, in the Cape winelands of South Africa. He was a patron of the Etisalat Prize for Literature.
David Chater is a British broadcast journalist. Chater has more than 35 years' experience in international television news, having worked for Independent Television News, Sky News and Al Jazeera English. He joined ITN in 1976, Sky News in 1993 and Al Jazeera English in 2006. In 2008 he also took time out to serve as Head of News at Georgian television channel Kanal Pik, run under licence by K1.
Mark Webster is an English journalist of over thirty years' standing. He is a former correspondent for Independent Television News, having worked for the company for over twenty years. He was its Industrial Correspondent, Northern Correspondent, Political Correspondent, Business Correspondent, Business Editor, Moscow Correspondent, Ireland Correspondent and a presenter of the ITV Morning News. He was also news correspondent for five news, at the time produced by Sky News for Channel five television.
Jon Steele is an American expat author living in Europe.
Vénuste Nshimiyimana is a Rwandan-born Belgian journalist. He is a presenter of the daily One o'Clock News show for the Great Lakes Region on Voice of America. He is a former presenter for the BBC TV bulletin programme and the weekly news roundup for BBC Hebdo. As a senior team manager, he was editorially responsible for BBC Afrique’s TV output.