James Cook is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster. He is currently Scotland Editor for

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 ...

and an occasional presenter of the BBC’s

Newscast News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or televi ...

podcast. Previously, he was Chief News Correspondent on the Nine nightly news programme on the

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irelan ...

channel and, before that, Los Angeles Correspondent and Scotland Correspondent for the BBC. Educated at

Forfar Academy Forfar Academy is a comprehensive school serving the community in and around the market town of Forfar, Angus, Scotland. In 2019, Forfar Academy was ranked 251 out of 339 secondary schools in Scotland for pupils achieving 5 highers or more. Nota ...

, Cook began his career at

Radio Tay Radio Tay is a group of two Independent Local Radio stations serving Tayside and northeast Fife in Scotland. Radio Tay is owned and operated by Bauer Radio, based at studios at 6 North Isla Street in Dundee and forms part of Bauer’s Hits R ...

in Dundee where he first read the news at the age of 15. Since joining

in 1998, Cook has gone on to present many news and current affairs programmes including

Good Morning Scotland ''Good Morning Scotland'' ( gd, Madainn Mhath Alba) is a Scottish breakfast radio news programme. It is broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland weekdays from 06:00 to 09:00. Established in 1973, it is the longest-running radio show broadcast from Scot ...

and

Reporting Scotland ''BBC Reporting Scotland'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the headquarters of BBC Scotland at Pacific Quay in Glasgow. History Although BBC Television was established in Scot ...

. Cook covered the lead up to the

2014 Scottish Independence Referendum A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side w ...

for the

BBC News Channel BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

and hosted various debates between

Yes Scotland Yes Scotland was the organisation representing the parties, organisations, and individuals campaigning for a ''Yes'' vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. It was launched on 25 May 2012 and dissolved in late 2014 after Scotland voted ...

and Better Together. Cook hosted "The Big, Big Debate" at the newly opened SSE Hydro in September 2014 in front of more than 5,000 16- to 17-year-old registered Scottish voters.

References

Living people Scottish television presenters Journalists from Glasgow Year of birth missing (living people) BBC Scotland newsreaders and journalists People educated at Forfar Academy {{Scotland-bio-stub