Owen Bennett-Jones is a freelance British journalist and a former host of ''

Newshour ''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). Each edition lasts one hour. It consists of ...

'' on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. As a former BBC correspondent having been based in several countries, he also regularly reports from around the world. He currently hosts "The Future of..." on

New Books Network New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

Education

Bennett-Jones was educated at

Canford School Canford School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18). Situated in 300 acres of parkland near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, south west England, it is one of the largest s ...

, in Dorset. He graduated from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. In 1983, he obtained his

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

in politics from

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economic ...

. He also has a PhD from the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

.Renowned print and broadcast journalist Dr Owen Bennet-Jones to lecture at Aberystwyth University
''Aberystwyth University''

Career

Journalist

Bennett-Jones has written for several British newspapers, including ''The Guardian'', ''Financial Times'' and ''The Independent'', as well as the ''London Review of Books''. His recent ''London Review of Books'' articles have dealt with the MEK – a dissident Iranian militant group – and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. He has also been a presenter of many programmes on the BBC World Service as well as a resident foreign correspondent in Bucharest, Geneva, Islamabad, Hanoi and Beirut. In 2008, he won the Sony Radio Gold Award in the News Journalist of the Year. In 2009, he was the Commonwealth journalist of the year.

Professor

In 2012, he was a Ferris Professor of Journalism at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. In 2014, he was a visiting professor at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

in 2014.

Author

Bennett-Jones has lived in Pakistan as a BBC correspondent, and frequently travels to the country to cover it. His history of Pakistan, ''Pakistan: Eye of the Storm'' (2002), went into a third edition in 2010. He contributed to the

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...

guide, ''Pakistan and the Karakoram Highway'' (2004). In 2012, he co-wrote a radio play about the assassination of the Pakistani politician Salman Taseer titled ''Blasphemy and the Governor of Punjab'', which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service. In 2013, Bennett-Jones published his first book of fiction, ''Target Britain'', a thriller set amid the war on terror.

Personal life

His brother is

Peter Bennett-Jones Peter Bennett-Jones CBE (born 11 March 1955) is a British film and television producer and agent. He is perhaps best known as the former owner of TV production company Tiger Aspect where he was the executive producer of a number of British shows ...

, founder and chairman of Tiger Aspect Television.Peter Bennett-Jones: My Life In Media
''The Independent''

References

External links

''Target Britain'' Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett-Jones, Owen BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World Service people British television journalists British expatriates in Pakistan Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Living people People from Anglesey Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)