Tom Aspell (1950 – February 11, 2013) was a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
-born
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
television
news producer {{refimprove, date=October 2008 The news producer takes all the elements of a newscast (packages, video, graphics, etc.) and compiles them into a cohesive show.
In the hierarchy of the newsroom, the news producer is under the executive producer, ...
, foreign
correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
, and
cameraman
A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task.
In filmmakin ...
.
He was employed by
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
for 28 years and previously worked for
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
,
CBS News, and
Visnews
{{nofootnotes, date = March 2016
Visnews was a London-based international news agency. It began as the British Commonwealth International Newsfilm Agency (BCINA), which was setup with help from The Rank Organisation when that company closed its cin ...
.
Career
Aspell began his career as a scriptwriter and cameraman in 1970 with Visnews.Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...
when Saigon fell to communist forces on April 30, 1975.Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
.[ In 1978, he joined CBS News as a cameraman covering ]Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, where he then worked as a producer for ABC News from 1981 to 1983.Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
.Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
in August 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait.[ From 1992 on, he spent considerable time covering the war-torn region of Bosnia.][
]
Personal life
Aspell lived on Cyprus with his wife Nujud Dabbagh and their two sons.
Death
Aspell died on February 11, 2013, following a two-year battle with lung cancer.NBC Nightly News
''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...
'', said Aspell was a journalist with "an intense brand of cool under fire".Steve Capus
Stephen Allan "Steve" Capus (born October 4, 1963) is an Executive Editor of CBS News.
He is the former president of NBC News.
Early life and career
Steve Capus was born in 1963, the son of Jean and Paul Capus. His mother is a teacher's aide; his ...
described Aspell as "understated, selfless, perpetually cool, shrewd, wry, curmudgeonly, and a damn good reporter".
Awards
*National Press Photographers Association
The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) is an American professional association made up of still photographers, television videographers, editors, and students in the journalism field. Founded in 1946, the organization is based in at ...
Award for coverage of the Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...
(1979)[
* Emmy Award for coverage of the ]Romanian Revolution
The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...
(1989)[
*]National Headliner Award
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
for coverage of Yugoslavia (1993)[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aspell, Tom
1950 births
2013 deaths
NBC News people
American television reporters and correspondents
American people of New Zealand descent
New Zealand emigrants to Cyprus