Mark Webster (journalist)

Last updated

Mark Webster
Born (1953-11-21) 21 November 1953 (age 70)
Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Education The King's School, Worcester
Occupation(s)Journalist, correspondent, media advisor
Employer ITN (1982–2004)
Known forJournalist and media consultant

Mark Webster (born 1953) 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.

Contents

Early life

Webster was born on 21 November 1953 in Birmingham, Warwickshire. [1]

Education

Webster was educated at the King's School, a boarding independent school for boys (now a co-educational day school) in the county town of Worcester in Worcestershire, between the years 1962-1972, where he was a day pupil at Wulstan House. [2]

Life and career

After leaving school, Webster joined the Gloucestershire Echo newspaper. After a year on the paper, he moved to Paris where he worked as a freelance broadcaster and journalist. On his return to London, he joined the London Evening Standard as a leader writer. In 1977, he joined the Financial Times and became its Africa Correspondent, and then its Industrial Correspondent.

In September 1982, Webster joined Independent Television News as a scriptwriter for ITN's Channel 4 News, and in 1983 became ITN Industrial Correspondent for ITN programmes on ITV. He reported extensively on the year-long miners' strike, the arrest of Arthur Scargill and the miners' subsequent return to work. In September 1987, he was appointed ITN's Northern Correspondent.

In 1990, Webster became ITN Political Correspondent, based at ITN's Westminster bureau, covering the 1992 General Election and the political troubles facing John Major's Government after his re-election with a much-reduced Conservative majority. In March 1994, he became ITN Business Correspondent, followed by ITN Business Editor in 1995.

In 1998, Webster became ITN Moscow Correspondent, reporting on the political problems of Boris Yeltsin and Russian-US relations, and in 2000, became ITN Ireland Correspondent.

In 2003, Webster became a presenter of the ITV Morning News and a News Correspondent based in the UK. [3] In 2005, he became a news correspondent at five news, with its news content provided by Sky News .

In June 2007, Webster became a senior media spokesman for Menzies Campbell, the then-leader of the Liberal Democrats, working alongside Puja Darbari, Sir Menzies's Press Secretary and Communications Director Jon Oates. Sir Menzies said: "Mark is a highly experienced journalist and I am delighted that he has agreed to join our communications team. He has the perfect experience for this role and I know that he will make a significant contribution to our communications as we prepare for the next general election." [4]

In 2008, Webster became Director of Communications for the Charities Aid Foundation, [5] and in 2012, a Strategic Communications Associate for the Thomson (Media) Foundation. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Sergeant (journalist)</span> British television and radio journalist and broadcaster (born 1944)

John James Sergeant is an English television and radio journalist and broadcaster. He was the BBC's Chief Political Correspondent from 1992 to 2000 and the Political Editor of ITN from 2000 until 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITN</span> British-based news and content provider

Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaus and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washington, D.C.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Burnet</span>

Sir James William Alexander Burnet, known as Alastair Burnet, was a British journalist and broadcaster, best known for his work in news and current affairs programmes, including a long career with ITN as chief presenter of the flagship News at Ten; Sir Robin Day described Burnet as "the booster rocket that put ITN into orbit".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Stewart</span> English former journalist and newscaster

Alastair James Stewart OBE is an English former journalist and newscaster.

Michael John Brunson OBE is a British broadcasting political journalist of over thirty years' standing. He is a former Political Editor, Diplomatic Editor and Washington Correspondent of Independent Television News, and an occasional ITN newscaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Owen (journalist)</span> British journalist

Nicholas David Arundel Owen is an English journalist, television presenter and radio presenter. He previously presented on the BBC News channel and BBC One, and hosts a weekly programme on Classic FM radio.

James Mates is an English newsreader and journalist, currently employed by ITN, where he presents on ITV News and is Europe Editor.

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.

Penelope Jane Clucas Marshall is a British journalist, working for ITV News as Africa correspondent since September 2019, before that as ITV News social affairs editor.

Geraint V. Vincent is a British journalist, currently employed by ITN as a Correspondent for ITV News.

Mark Longhurst is a British news presenter and journalist. For 20 years, he worked at Sky News, joining in 1996 as its business correspondent and later becoming a senior presenter. He hosted various programmes on the channel including Sunrise and Sky News at Ten, until his departure in 2016. Longhurst presented ITV's regional news programme ITV News West Country from March 2017 to October 2017.

Daisy Candida McAndrew is an English journalist.

George Norman Ffitch was an English newsreader, television presenter, radio personality and journalist. He began working for ITN as an industrial and political correspondent and later a programme editor when it was founded in 1955, covering elections and results broadcasts, political conventions in the United States and party conferences in the United Kingdom Ffitch presented television programs such as This Week and News at Ten. He also worked as the political and assistant editor at The Economist and also at the Daily Express. He was managing director of LBC and Independent Radio News from 1979 to his retirement in 1985.

Glen Oglaza is a journalist. He was previously a senior international correspondent for Independent Television News (ITN) and political correspondent for Sky News. He was based at Westminster, in Central London. Whilst at ITN, he appeared on its flagship News at Ten and Channel 4 News programmes, reporting from over 30 countries, including the United States, the former Soviet Union and countries in the Middle East. He became Sky News' Political Correspondent in 1997.

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.

Jonathan Glyn Mathias, is a British print and broadcasting journalist of over thirty years' standing. He was a lobby correspondent at Westminster for thirteen years, and is the former Political Editor of Independent Television News (1981–1986) and BBC Wales (1994–1999). He was the Electoral Commission's Commissioner for Wales (2001–2008), and as of 2013 is a member of OFCOM's Content Board and Chair of OFCOM's Advisory Committee for Wales.

David Charles Walter, was a British journalist and a former Political Correspondent for Independent Television News programmes on ITV from 1980 to 1986, then on ITN's Channel 4 News from 1986 to 1988, followed by Paris Correspondent for BBC News, a BBC television and radio producer and presenter, and a Liberal Democrat contender for a seat in the British Parliament. He was a direct descendant of John Walter, the founder of The Times newspaper, whilst his mother was a cousin of former Home Secretary William Whitelaw.

References

  1. ↑ Who's Who on Television 1990-91 Publisher: Independent Television Publications Ltd. & Boxtree Ltd. Published: 1990. Retrieved: 11 January 2013.
  2. ↑ King's, Worcester OVs 1970 - 1979 Mark Webster Archived 22 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine Publisher: The King's School , Worcester. Retrieved: 11 January 2013.
  3. ↑ ITV News Channel - Mark Webster Archived 17 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine Publisher: Newschannel.org.uk. Retrieved: 11 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Ex-ITN man joins Lib Dems' team Publisher: BBC News . Published: 24 April 2007. Retrieved: 11 January 2013.
  5. ↑ Former ITN journalist appointed Director of Communications at CAF Publisher: Fundraising UK Ltd. Published: 21 January 2008. Retrieved: 11 January 2013.
  6. ↑ Mark Webster - Strategic Communications Associate Archived 30 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine Publisher: Thomson Foundation. Retrieved: 12 January 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.