Bill Neely
Encyclopedia
Bill Neely is International Editor for ITV News
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. Since 1955, ITV's news bulletins have been produced by Independent Television News . The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the...
, the news service produced by ITN for British commercial broadcaster ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. He has been a broadcaster since 1981. Neely was appointed to his current post in 2002 and reports from all over the globe.
In 2010, he reported on the earthquake in Haiti, for which he won the 2010 BAFTA British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
award for the best news coverage. He covered the campaign of David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
in the 2010 UK general election. More recently, he has reported on the killing of Osama bin Laden, the Libyan,Egyptian and Syrian revolutions, the Iranian elections of 2008, the terrorist attack in Mumbai, and the 2008 Presidential election in the US.
His reports from the deadly earthquake in China won the 2009 International Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for News and the 2009 British Academy of Film and Television Award for Television News, the BAFTA. Earlier in 2008 he reported from the Antarctic-600 miles from the South Pole-on global warming. He covered the aftermath of the devastating Pakistan earthquake, the 2005 floods in New Orleans and the Asian tsunami.
He is one of the few television journalists to return regularly to Helmand and Kandahar Provinces, Afghanistan to report on the battle UK and US troops are fighting with the Taliban. He was also part of the ITV News team whose reports from the Asian Tsunami won the 2005 BAFTA British Academy of Film and Television award for news ("Seven Days That Shook The World").
He won the 2011 BAFTA for his reporting of the killings in Cumbria in July 2010; his third BAFTA success in three years. He was voted Broadcasting Journalist of the Year by the London Press Club in 2011.
Early life and education
Neely was born in Belfast in 1959, graduated with joint honours in Modern History and English from Queen's University, Belfast. He began his career with the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in Northern Ireland in 1981. He covered the violence there for six years before joining BBC television's news and current affairs department in London.
Career
After a period with Sky NewsSky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
,during which he helped launch the channel,Neely joined ITN in 1989 and has covered many world events, including the fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
, the breakup of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, the first and second Gulf Wars, the attack on the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
, the mass killings in Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
, the death of Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, the siege of Beslan
Beslan
Beslan is a town and the administrative center of Pravoberezhny District of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. In terms of population, Beslan is the third largest town in the republic behind Vladikavkaz and Mozdok...
, and numerous natural disasters. He was nominated for a prestigious Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
, one of the four Emmy nominations he has received.
He won three Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
awards,most recently the International News Award for coverage of the Haiti earthquake,and received numerous other awards and nominations for international news reporting over the past decade.
Neely was Washington correspondent and US Bureau Chief for six years (1991–97), covering two Presidential elections, the bombings of the World Trade Center, the Atlanta Olympics and Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
, the OJ Simpson trial,the Waco siege as well as many major stories across North and South America and the Caribbean. From 1997-2002 he was Europe Correspondent, covering the death of Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
for which he was part of the team nominated for a BAFTA award; the crash of Concorde and the wars in Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. ITN received the Golden Nymph from the Monte Carlo Television Festival, Europe's top award for television journalism, for his work in Kosovo. He has also reported regularly from the Middle East and Northern Ireland. On occasions, Neely can be seen as a presenter on various ITV News
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. Since 1955, ITV's news bulletins have been produced by Independent Television News . The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the...
programmes.
Marriage and family
He lives in Richmond, SW London with his wife, Marion.They have two daughters, Sarah and Emma. Bill runs for the Ranelagh HarriersRanelagh Harriers
Ranelagh Harriers is a road running and cross-country club based in Richmond, south-west London, UK. The headquarters are its clubhouse behind the Dysart Arms pub and right next to Richmond Park, allowing plenty of opportunity for off-road running...
running club and completed the 2011 Virgin London Marathon in 3.09.48.
External links
- Bill Neely on TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...