Biographies

News Presenter, BBC World News

Alastair Yates presents the simultaneous news broadcast seen on BBC World News; on PBS in America; and on the UK's domestic channels – BBC News, BBC One and BBC Two. This programming includes a one-hour edition of World News Today.

He was one of the founding anchors on the former BBC World Service Television in 1992, which expanded and metamorphosed into the channel now known as BBC World News.

Alastair remained a firm part of the line-up throughout the channel's transition, anchoring programmes across the output.

In addition to his role at BBC World News, Alastair joined the line-up of BBC News 24, which launched in the UK in 1997. The channel was re-branded as the BBC News channel in April 2008.

Alastair's career in broadcast news spans 37 years and, in that time, he has covered thousands of major stories including the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and Michael Jackson's death in June 2009.

As the first presenter/reporter to be seen on Sky News in Britain at its launch in 1989, Alastair has always been at the forefront of non-stop global news and he is amongst the few anchors who have been in international 24-hour TV news for more than 20 years.

In 1998, Alastair was posted to Berlin to report on the Presidential election and joined Germany's global TV service, Deutsche Welle, where he stayed for two years before returning to London and the BBC.

His earlier TV career took him to newsrooms around the UK. Alastair has been a reporter for BBC Midlands, Grampian TV in Scotland and Anglia TV in the East of England.

Before appearing on the screen, his career in journalism began on radio.

At BBC Radio Derby he reported for, and later fronted, the breakfast news programme. He presented with BBC Radio Leicester and at BBC WM in Birmingham, where he hosted a daily current affairs magazine – The Alastair Yates Show. He also filed despatches for national BBC Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 4.