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Justin Oliver Webb (born Justin Oliver Prouse, 3 January 1961 in Portsmouth,

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 ...

) is a British journalist who has worked for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

since 1984. He is a former BBC North America Editor and the main co-presenter of

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

's '' Breakfast News'' programme. Since August 2009, he has co-presented the ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' programme on BBC Radio 4,
BBC press release. Website accessed 26 August 2009 and also regularly writes for the '' Radio Times''.

Early life

In an article in the '' Radio Times'' in January 2011, Webb revealed that his natural father was Peter Woods who was formerly a reporter with the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...

'' and later became a BBC newsreader. Woods was married and Webb's mother, then Gloria Crocombe, was a secretary at the ''Daily Mirror'' and was divorced from her first husband at the time of the affair with Woods. Webb commented that his mother's split from Woods may have been as much her doing as his, saying "I do not believe she was abandoned". Woods provided financially for Webb but saw his son only once, when he was six months old. Webb took the surname of his stepfather when his mother remarried in 1964. Webb grew up in Bath. He was privately educated at the independent

Sidcot School Sidcot School is a British co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils, associated with the Religious Society of Friends. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The school is based in the Mendip Hills near the village of ...

, a Quaker school in Somerset, and the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

, where he wrote articles for student newspaper '' The Beaver''.

Career

Webb joined the BBC as a graduate trainee in 1984 working in

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

for

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster ( ga, BBC Raidió Uladh) is a Northern Irish radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. It is ...

based in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. He then worked as a reporter for BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme, before becoming a foreign affairs correspondent based in London and covering news around the world. He reported on the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

and the war in Bosnia, the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and the first democratic elections in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. He then became a

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

presenter based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and the main presenter on

's '' Breakfast News'' programme from 1992 to 1997. He also presented the BBC's '' One'' and '' Six O'Clock News'' bulletins and presented BBC Radio 4's '' The World Tonight'' from 1997–1998. From 1998 he spent three years working as the BBC's Europe correspondent based in Brussels. During that time he reported on the workings of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

and Parliament, the politics surrounding Britain's decision on whether to join the

single currency A currency union (also known as monetary union) is an intergovernmental agreement that involves two or more states sharing the same currency. These states may not necessarily have any further integration (such as an economic and monetary union, ...

and the enlargement on the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. In 2001, Webb moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, as the BBC's chief Washington correspondent. Much of his time was spent on local Washington Radio, most notably, WAMU, a public radio station, on ''

The Diane Rehm Show ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was a call-in show based in the United States that aired nationally on NPR (National Public Radio). In October 2007, ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was named to the Audience Research Analysis list of the top ten most powerful nati ...

''. He raised eyebrows within the BBC in 2006 when, at a seminar on impartiality, he said the corporation was anti-American and treated the US with "scorn and derision", according it "no moral weight". He has also presented a Radio 4 series on anti-Americanism. In December 2007, he became North American Editor for BBC News, a role newly created in time for the American presidential election of 2008. He replaced Matt Frei who moved to present the new World News America bulletin. Since November 2007, Webb has maintained a regularly updated

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

on the BBC website. In August 2009, Webb returned to the UK to replace Edward Stourton on BBC Radio 4's early morning news programme ''

''. In October 2017, Webb disclosed that his presenting colleague Nick Robinson was being paid £100,000 more than him, for doing "essentially the same job". Webb's pay amounted to £200,000, whilst Robinson's reached £300,000, despite his joining the programme six years before. Webb promoted that the era of the "big beast" news anchor would likely be drawing to a close, with the "very well-paid"

John Humphrys Desmond John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943) is a Welsh broadcaster. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter for the '' Nine O'Clock News'', the flagship BBC News television programme, and from 1987 until 2019 he presented on the BBC Radio 4 ...

and

Huw Edwards Huw Edwards (; born 18 August 1961) is a Welsh journalist, presenter, and newsreader. Edwards presents ''BBC News at Ten'', the corporation's flagship news broadcast. Edwards also presents BBC coverage of state events, international events, th ...

"in the firing line". Webb received criticism for appearing to endorse the view that: "antisemitism is a bit like the way some of our people might regard anti-white racism, that actually it's a different order of racism. It's not as important - it's still bad - but it's not as important as some other forms of racism..." on the BBC on March 12, 2019; a BBC spokesperson clarified that he was "not expressing any personal view" and that Webb "is the first to admit he should have phrased his question better." In 2022, the BBC said Webb was not sufficiently accurate when he described the philosophy professor

Kathleen Stock Kathleen Mary Linn Stock is a British philosopher and writer. She was a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex until 2021. She has published academic work on aesthetics, fiction, imagination, sexual objectification, and sexual ori ...

– who resigned following protests over her views on gender identity and transgender rights – as being "falsely" accused of transphobia. However, said that it was accurate to describe her as a subject of abuse by students.

Personal life

Webb married his long-term partner Sarah Gordon in the early 2000s. They have three children together: Martha, Sam and Clara. Whilst in the United States, their son Sam fell ill and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus. As a result, Webb experienced the United States healthcare system first-hand. His son commonly joins his father in speaking about the disease. In 2012, Webb joined son Sam at

Addenbrooke's Hospital Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Camp ...

in Cambridge, meeting

Queen Camilla Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the a ...

(then Duchess of Cornwall) as she visited the facilities. She later became a Royal Patron of the children's charity, JDRF, a charity which Webb supports on a regular basis. In August 2009, Webb returned to Britain with his wife and children. They currently live in Camberwell, South London. In 2008, his mother, Gloria, died and he inherited her home in Bath, Somerset.

Bibliography

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References

External links

*
BBC World biography

Justin Webb's BBC blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Justin 1961 births Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics People from Bath, Somerset BBC newsreaders and journalists English expatriates in the United States People educated at Sidcot School