Brian Thomson (born 1965 in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Scotland) is the former Senior Correspondent of SBS World News (World News Australia). He is currently SBS' International Editor.

Education

Thomson was educated at Kirkcaldy High School, a comprehensive

state school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, before studying Politics and History at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

, where he was

Deputy President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

of the Newcastle University Union Society. He went on to gain a postgraduate diploma in radio and television journalism at the Lancashire Polytechnic (now the University of Central Lancashire).

Life and career

Thomson joined Radio Forth in 1989 as a News Reporter and in 1992 moved to

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

where he was Scotland Correspondent. From 1994 to 1997 Thomson worked as a freelance journalist for Reuters Television in Bangkok, Thailand and for

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

in London, England. In 1997 Thomson emigrated to Sydney, Australia, where he joined SBS as Senior Producer. In 2006 Thomson became Senior Correspondent for SBS World News (World News Australia). In 2015 he became the network's International Editor.

Reporting

Thomson started his international career reporting on the First Gulf War, travelling between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. He has since reported from more than 20 countries, covering conflicts in East Timor (the 2006 East Timorese crisis), Indonesia ( the downfall of Suharto), Thailand, Fiji (2006 Fijian coup d’état), Papua New Guinea, and Egypt ( 2011 Egyptian protests), elections in Nepal ( 2008 Nepalese Constituent Assembly election), the United States of America (

2008 United States Presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John Mc ...

and 2012, the United Kingdom ( 2010 general election), Australia ( 2007 federal election) and Zimbabwe ( 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election), on sports in China (

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

), Germany (

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

), and South Africa (

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

), and on major events including the Inauguration of Barack Obama and the death of Nelson Mandela. He has also covered a number of natural disasters.

Awards

Walkley Award for Sports Reporting 2006 (commended), Walkley Award for Television News 2007 (winner),

Logie Award The TV Week Logie Awards (known colloquially as The Logies) is an annual ceremony celebrating and honouring the best shows and stars in Television in Australia, Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The eve ...

for TV News Reporting 2008 and 2012 (finalist), United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award 2011 (winner).

Miscellaneous

Thomson attracted attention by attending the 2008 Logie Awards dressed in a kilt.

References

External links

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Brian Alumni of Newcastle University Alumni of the University of Central Lancashire British television journalists People educated at Kirkcaldy High School People from Kirkcaldy Walkley Award winners Living people Australian television journalists 1965 births