Alexander James Thomson (born 22 December 1960) is a British television journalist and newscaster.

Education

Thomson was educated at the state comprehensive Cranbourne Secondary School, in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, followed by

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

. In his gap year, he taught at Fyling Hall School. After graduating from

, with a First in English , Thomson gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

Life and career

Thomson has worked for the BBC in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. He has been with ITN's Channel 4 News since 1988 and is the longest-serving onscreen journalist on the programme. Since then he has won several Royal Television (RTS) Awards for domestic and foreign coverage and TV Journalist of the Year. His extensive foreign coverage has won BAFTA, Emmy and New York TV Festival awards down the years. He's worked on extensive and award winning investigations in the UK on Bloody Sunday, Hillsborough, the Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash and Rangers FC. His current role is Chief Correspondent and Presenter for ''

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

'', produced by ITN. He has covered more than 20 wars and conflicts as well as other major international issues from climate change and natural disasters to global politics. In June 2012, Alex Thomson's vehicle, in which he and other journalists were travelling while covering the Syrian uprising, came under fire and was forced to take evasive action. According to Thomson and others present, this was the result of a small group from the

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA) ( ar, الجيش السوري الحر, al-jaysh as-Sūrī al-ḥur) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down the govern ...

who intentionally attempted to have the team killed in no-man's land by the government forces as a propaganda stunt to discredit Damascus. In 2012, Thomson turned his journalistic attention to the events associated with the administration and liquidation of Rangers FC, with Phil Mac Giolla Bhain concentrating on the

tax avoidance Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdi ...

and

corporate governance Corporate governance is defined, described or delineated in diverse ways, depending on the writer's purpose. Writers focused on a disciplinary interest or context (such as accounting, finance, law, or management) often adopt narrow definitions ...

issues of Rangers. Thomson produced a number of ''

'' reports as well as blog posts on this topic. He contributed the foreword to Phil Mac Giolla Bhain's book ''Downfall: How Rangers FC Self Destructed''. In addition to his broadcast journalism, he has written a travel book on cycling across India, ''Ram Ram India'', published by Harper Collins India, ''Smokescreen: The Media'', ''The Censors, The Gulf'', about media coverage of Operation Desert Storm in the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, and numerous articles on media and wider issues relating to journalism.

Personal life

Thomson's partner is Sarah Spiller. They have twin sons and live in

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

. He is a supporter of

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

of the English Premier League.A Black and White Opinion

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

, 11 December 2011

References

External links

Biodata at Channel 4 website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Alex ITN newsreaders and journalists Alumni of University College, Oxford 1960 births Living people People from Essex Alumni of Cardiff University