Alexander James Thomson is a British television journalist and newscaster.

Education

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

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, followed by

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

. In his gap year, he taught at

Fyling Hall School Fyling Hall is a private, co-educational day and boarding school situated near the small village of Fylingthorpe, near Robin Hood's Bay, south east of Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1923 by Mab Bradley, the school was then run fo ...

. Thomson has a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

Life and career

Thomson has worked for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. 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 foreign coverage has won BAFTA, Emmy and New York TV Festival awards. He has worked on investigations in the UK on Bloody Sunday, the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...

, the 1994 Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash and Rangers F.C. 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 Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

. He has covered more than twenty wars and conflicts as well as other international issues from climate change and natural disasters to global politics. In June 2012, Thomson's vehicle, in which he and other journalists were travelling while covering the Syrian uprising, came under fire and took 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; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

who 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 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. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdictions that facilitate reduced taxe ...

and

corporate governance Corporate governance refers to the mechanisms, processes, practices, and relations by which corporations are controlled and operated by their boards of directors, managers, shareholders, and stakeholders. Definitions "Corporate governance" may ...

issues of

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

. 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 , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, 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, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. He is a supporter of

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

of the

English Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

.A Black and White Opinion

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, 11 December 2011

References

External links

Biodata at Channel 4 website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Alex ITN newsreaders and journalists Alumni of University College, Oxford Living people People from Essex Alumni of Cardiff University Year of birth missing (living people)