Gamal Fahnbulleh (born April 1982) is a British broadcast

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

presenter Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a news program * Sports commentator, an announcer who presents analysis of a sporting event * Radio personality, presenter or announcer on a radio show * Television ...

, currently employed by

ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

. He presents Granada Reports, an evening news programme for North West England and the Isle of Man. He also is now a relief presenter across all ITV National News programmes.

Early life

Gamal Fahnbulleh was born in April 1982 in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

in West Africa. He, his parents, and his sister Miatta moved to the UK in the 80s when he was three years old settling in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

Education

Fahnbulleh was educated at

Taunton School Taunton School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, now co-educational, in the county town of Taunton in Somerset in South West England. It serves boarding and day-school pupils from the ages of 13 to 18. The current headmaster i ...

, a boarding

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

, followed by the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, where he graduated with a BA honours in politics and history, followed by a master's degree in international politics. He then enrolled on a postgraduate diploma course in

broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

at City University in London.

Life and career

Fahnbulleh was one of only ten candidates to be selected for the ''

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...

'' Bursary Scheme in 2005. He worked for

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 ...

and became a general reporter and programme presenter for '' Granada Reports'' on

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

. Fahnbulleh joined Sky News in November 2010 as a reporter. He has worked extensively with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and during the summer of 2010 was embedded with the First Battalion, the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment during a six-month tour of Afghanistan. In November of the same year, he was one of the first reporters to cover the student protests in London, and in 2011 reported live on the August riots from both Manchester and Liverpool. In the same year, he became a freelance presenter for Sky World News between 0:00 and 6:00. In June 2013 he moved to

ITV Breakfast ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited (previously known as ''GMTV, GMTV Limited'') is the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November ...

as the

North of England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire. Officially, it is a gr ...

Correspondent for '' Daybreak''. In August 2014 he rejoined Sky News as a presenter. From 2017 onwards, Fahnbulleh was one of Sky News' most frequent relief presenters, having appeared on every single timeslot operated by the channel including News at Ten, Sunrise, Sky News Tonight and Sky News at 5. Farnbulleh was also the allocated presenter for Friday from 14:00 to 19:00 whilst Sarah Hewson was on maternity leave and also presented The News Hour on Fridays. In January 2021, Fahnbulleh returned to '' Granada Reports'', becoming the main co-presenter of the programme with Lucy Meacock. Since 2022, Gamal has appeared as a relief presenter on all main ITV News bulletins, including covering on the '' ITV Evening News'' for two weeks in August 2023.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fahnbulleh, Gamal 1982 births Alumni of City, University of London Alumni of the University of Manchester British reporters and correspondents British television newsreaders and news presenters Black British television personalities English people of Sierra Leonean descent Living people People educated at Taunton School People from Taunton ITV regional newsreaders and journalists ITN newsreaders and journalists Sky News newsreaders and journalists Television personalities from Somerset