James Stephenson becomes Deputy Head of BBC Newsroom

James Stephenson, Editor of the BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten on BBC One, has also been appointed Deputy Head of the BBC Newsroom.

He will continue in his current role and deputise for the Head of the BBC Newsroom, Mary Hockaday on Newsroom-wide matters.

Mary Hockaday, Head of the BBC Newsroom, said: “James is an extremely experienced BBC News editor with very sound news judgement and an excellent grasp of the strategic issues facing BBC News. As Editor of the flagship BBC One news bulletins he is also well placed to help develop the multimedia Newsroom of the future.”

James Stephenson joined the BBC as a researcher on Panorama in 1988. He worked as Deputy Editor of Newsnight, including the year following 9/11. He then launched the Politics Show on BBC One in 2003. He edited the 2005 general election night programme and was Executive Editor of Question Time before becoming Middle East Bureau Editor in 2007. Based in Jerusalem, he was responsible for BBC coverage of the conflict in Gaza, the 2009 Israeli election and the crisis in Iran.

He took over as Editor of the BBC News at Six and Ten O’clock News in September 2009 and has been responsible for coverage including the 2010 general election, the Eurozone crisis, the Arab Spring, the death of Bin Laden and the Olympics.

James Stephenson said: “I am excited to be taking on this role. I look forward to helping make the most of the huge journalistic and creative opportunity as the BBC Newsroom moves into its state of the art digital home in New Broadcasting House.”

The newsroom at New Broadcasting House opened in July 2012. It is one of the largest multimedia newsrooms in the world and the biggest in Europe.  By early 2013, it will be the home of BBC News output across TV, radio and online, including the News at One, Six and Ten, the BBC News Channel, radio bulletins, the BBC News website, World News and World Service news.