Kirsty Lang joins BBC Four
News
Channel
4 News co-presenter Kirsty Lang is to join BBC
Four News as chief correspondent and second
presenter. BBC Four News, which begins in March,
will be the UK’s first nightly bulletin
devoted principally to foreign news, presented
by George Alagiah.
Kirsty Lang said: “Having spent much of
my career as a foreign correspondent, I’m
very excited about working on a programme with
an unashamedly global approach to news. The
events of 11 September brought home to all of
us working in the media that foreign news can’t
be relegated to the backburner.”
George Alagiah said: “To have someone of
Kirsty’s experience and authority join
the team is a great vote of confidence in BBC
Four News. We’ve got a lot of field experience
between us and Kirsty and I will bring that
to bear on the programme every night.”
BBC Four News will be broadcast daily on BBC
FOUR from Monday to Friday at 8pm. The half-hour
programme will draw on the BBC’s newsgathering
operation - the largest of any broadcaster in
the world - and will reflect the big global
stories of the day
Kirsty joined Channel 4 News in 1998 as a studio
presenter and news reporter. She began her journalism
career as a BBC news trainee in 1986 and worked
on programmes including Today and the World
at One. From 1989 to 1991 she was the Central
European reporter for BBC World Service based
in Budapest, covering the fall of the Berlin
Wall and Balkans conflict, and went on to be
the BBC’s Paris correspondent for both
television and radio. After a period reporting
for BBC TWO’s Newsnight and prior to joining
Channel 4 Kirsty worked at the Sunday Times
as their Paris correspondent.
Notes to Editors
BBC Four News, edited by Amanda Farnsworth,
will be produced by BBC WORLD, the BBC’s
international news channel, and will be simulcast
to 192 million homes in 200 countries and territories
world-wide.
BBC FOUR is a new television channel entirely
devoted to diverse, intelligent and culturally
enriching programmes, due to launch in March
2002. As one of the BBC’s new free-to-air,
licence fee-funded channels, BBC FOUR will transmit
daily from 7.00pm, with a programme mix that
ranges from distinctive new dramas and thought-provoking
documentaries to world cinema and live performance.
The channel will also feature a wide range of
topical programmes, including BBC Four News.
