Al Jazeera hires former BBC anchor for 24-hour news channel

by Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 02-Dec-05, 11:00

LONDON - Al Jazeera has named former BBC World frontman Stephen Cole as the anchor of its London broadcast centre ahead of its 24-hour English-language station launch next year.

Cole has an extensive background in international television news, having held roles at Sky News, CNN International and BBC News 24 over the past 15 years, and has been working in journalism for 26 years.

Most recently he was senior anchor with BBC World in London and host of the BBC Click Online programme.

At Al Jazeera, Cole will be the main male news anchor in London -- one of four regional broadcast centres for the news channel. The others are located in Doha, where Al Jazeera is headquartered, Kuala Lumpur and Washington DC.

Steve Clark, Al Jazeera's director of news, said: "I am pleased to confirm that Stephen Cole has been appointed as our news anchor out of London.

"We will be announcing more of our on-air talent line-up as launch approaches in the spring of next year."

Al Jazeera has already recruited Sir David Frost ahead of its launch.

Last week the Daily Mirror claimed that US president George Bush had outlined plans to bomb Al Jazeera's offices in Qatar but that British prime minister Tony Blair had talked him out of the plan. The story has been denied by the White House.

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