Dermot
Murnaghan to present Breakfast on BBC ONE
The
BBC today announced that award-winning news presenter Dermot Murnaghan
will be the new presenter of BBC ONE's Breakfast, alongside
Sophie Raworth.
Breakfast
runs from 6.00 to 9.00 each morning on BBC ONE and BBC News 24,
and has more than seven million viewers each week.
Dermot
will take over from Jeremy Bowen, at a date to be confirmed.
Jeremy
has enjoyed two successful years on the programme and will be taking
a short break to write a book before returning to foreign reporting
and presenting further programmes for BBC ONE.
Lorraine
Heggessey, Controller, BBC ONE, said: "Dermot Murnaghan is
a first class journalist and news broadcaster. He's informed and
witty and will be the ideal addition to Breakfast, which is hugely
important to BBC ONE."
Richard
Sambrook, Director, BBC News, said: "We are delighted that
Dermot has decided to join BBC News as the new Breakfast presenter.
"He
is an outstanding journalist whose interviewing skills and broadcast
experience will ensure that BBC Breakfast continues to give viewers
the best possible start to their day."
Dermot
has spent most of his career in broadcast journalism, and for the
past 11 years he has fronted ITV's Lunchtime, Nightly and, most
recently, Evening news bulletins.
He
has won numerous awards for his journalism, winning the Royal Television
Society Journalism Award in 1998 for his revelatory interview with
Peter Mandelson over the Geoffrey Robinson loan affair, which led
to Mandelson's resignation from Government the next day; and in
2000 the Television & Radio Industries Club named him Newscaster
of the Year.
After
graduating with an MA in History from Sussex University, Dermot
completed a postgraduate course in Journalism at City University.
He
worked as a trainee reporter on local newspapers before joining
Channel 4 as a researcher then reporter for The Business Programme.
He
then moved to Switzerland to present the European Business Channel
before being recalled to front ITN's World News on Channel 4 Daily.
Dermot
said today: "I've had 11 marvellous years at ITN but the opportunity
to work for the BBC, presenting breakfast news, is an irresistible
challenge.
"I'm
really looking forward to joining such a prestigious news organisation.
And the early mornings won't bother me - I have four children!"
Jeremy
Bowen said: "Dermot is an excellent choice, he has real warmth which
is what you need for the Breakfast slot. I
wish him all the best.
"I'm
looking forward to writing my book - a history of the 1967 Arab/Israeli
war - then, in the new year, returning to news reporting and presenting
and making other programmes for BBC ONE."
Notes
to Editors
BBC
Breakfast has been running in its current format since September
2000, with presenters Sophie Raworth and Jeremy Bowen.
Looking
at four weeks in May 2002, the average weekly reach of BBC Breakfast
is 7.3 million viewers.*
*Source:
BARB, based on minimum viewing of 15 minutes.
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