Nik Keith Gowing (born 1951) is a British television
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
.
Overview
![Nik Gowing - World Economic Forum on the Middle East 2010 crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Nik_Gowing_-_World_Economic_Forum_on_the_Middle_East_2010_crop.jpg)
Nik Gowing was educated at the
Simon Langton Grammar School in
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
and
Latymer Upper School
(Slowly Therefore Surely)
, established =
, closed =
, sister_school = Godolphin and Latymer School
, type = Public schoolIndependent day school
, head_label = H ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, followed by the
University of Bristol
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
.
A foreign affairs specialist and presenter at
ITN
Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...
from 1978, Gowing became Diplomatic Editor for the flagship ''
Channel 4 News
''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982.
Current productions
''Channel 4 News''
''Channel 4 News'' ...
'' from 1989. During his time with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, Gowing has since presented ''
The World Today'' (1996–2000), ''Europe Direct'', ''
HARDtalk
''HARDtalk'' is a BBC television and radio programme broadcast on the BBC News Channel, on BBC World News, and on the BBC World Service.
Broadcast times and days vary, depending on broadcasting platform and geographic location. ''HARDtalk'' i ...
'', ''
Dateline London
''Dateline London'' is a weekly BBC News discussion programme. A panel of four leading journalists, lecturers, and foreign correspondents discussed top news stories from an international perspective. The last episode made was on the 15th October ...
'', as well as ''Simpson's World''.
At the time of the
death of Princess Diana
In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died from injuries sustained earlier that day in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and Henri Paul, their chauffeur, were found d ...
in 1997, Gowing anchored coverage for over seven hours, reportedly only having had 40 minutes sleep before being driven back to
Television Centre to present.
BBC World
BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...
was being
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
for the first ever time with the BBC domestic channel
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
, making up a global audience of around half a billion, to whom he announced her death.
Gowing was on air for six hours during the BBC's coverage of the aftermath of the
September 11th 2001 attacks, which led to the channel receiving the 2002 Hotbird Award.
Gowing was a moderator at the 'Peace to Prosperity' conference, organized by
Jared Kushner
Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He served as a senior advisor to 45th U.S. president Donald Trump, his father-in-law. Since leaving the White House, Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a pri ...
, part of a US-led initiative to normalize relations between Israel and regional states without reaching a political solution on Palestine. Gowing expertly steered discussion away from any mention of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, according to Jack Moore, a journalist covering the conference. 'Only God knows how much he was paid,' said Moore.
He is also a Member of Council of the
Royal United Services Institute
The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI, Rusi), registered as Royal United Service Institute for Defence and Security Studies and formerly the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, is a British defence and security think tank. ...
. In April 2014 he announced he would be semi-retiring from BBC.
Gowing founded the Thinking the Unthinkable project in 2014.
Personal life and early career
Nik Gowing is the son of Professor
Margaret Gowing
Margaret Mary Gowing (), (26 April 1921 – 7 November 1998) was an English historian. She was involved with the production of several volumes of the officially sponsored ''History of the Second World War'', but was better known for her books ...
, author of the two volume work ''Independence and Deterrence: Britain and Atomic Energy, 1945–52'', who died in 1998. After attending
grammar schools
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, ...
in London and Canterbury, Gowing read
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
at the
University of Bristol
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
.
At university, he worked on local radio; he then joined Thomson Regional Newspapers in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
.
He and his wife Judy have two children and live in west
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
Published work
* ''The Wire'', Hutchinson (31 May 1988),
:A novel about the infiltration of the secret police into
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
's
Solidarity
''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
movement, based on Gowing's extensive knowledge of Solidarity's activities.
* ''The Loop'', Hutchinson (5 Aug 1993),
:A thriller, again based on Gowing's first-hand journalistic experience, set in the new
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. A highly-decorated
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
colonel, who fought to defend the
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
system, must survive in a world of turmoil and anarchy.
*
Real-time media is changing our world: Cheap 'go-anywhere' cameras and phones are challenging the credibility of governments, corporations and the traditional media" The Guardian, 11 May 2009
2009,
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) is a UK-based research centre and think tank founded in 2006, which operates Thomson Reuters Journalism Fellowship Programme, also known as the Reuters Fellowship.
History
The institute ...
* ''Thinking the Unthinkable: A new imperative for leadership in the digital age'' (John Catt Educational, 8 Jun. 2018) , co-authored with Chris Langdon
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gowing, Nik
1951 births
Living people
People educated at Latymer Upper School
People educated at Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys
Alumni of the University of Bristol
British television presenters
British reporters and correspondents
ITN newsreaders and journalists
BBC newsreaders and journalists
BBC World News
BBC World Service presenters