Jon Snow to leave Channel 4 News after 32 years

Snow picked up a Bafta award for Channel 4’s coverage for the 2015 Paris massacre

Jon Snow, one of the UK’s longest-serving TV news presenters, has announced he is to leave Channel 4 News after 32 years.

The 73-year-old, who has been the programme’s main anchor since 1989, said it was “time to move on” after “three incredible decades”.

He said he was “looking forward to new adventures and new challenges”.

Snow will now “front longer-form projects… and represent the channel in other matters”, Channel 4 said.

Jon Snow

In a statement, Snow added: “I am excited by the many things I want to accomplish but I have to say I have enjoyed every minute of my time with the programme.

“It has brought me adventure, as well as sorrow in some of the stories that I have had to report and also joy in reporting others, but above all, it has brought me community in working with the most fantastic group of people who are bound in intellect, humour and understanding.

“Together, we have forged a wonderful service. I feel proud to have contributed to Channel 4 News let alone to have anchored the programme for the last 32 years.”

Snow joined Channel 4 News after serving as ITN’s Washington correspondent and diplomatic editor in the 1980s.

‘Fearless journalism’

As well as being a fixture in the nightly programme’s London studio, the job has taken him around the world to report on stories including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama’s inauguration.

The programme has won 10 Bafta TV awards during his tenure, while Snow received Bafta’s Richard Dimbleby Award for the best factual contribution to television in 2005, and the Bafta Fellowship – the organisation’s highest accolade – in 2015.

His other honours include 10 Royal Television Society awards, including six for presenter of the year.

Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear described Snow as “a wonderful man” who has been “the driving force behind Channel 4 News for the last 30 years”.

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“His fearless journalism, inherent compassion, a nose for a good story as well as sympathy for the underdog have been powered by relentless energy, charm and a mischievous sense of fun,” he said.

Jon Snow interviewing artist David Hockney in 2015

Snow will now “focus on his charities and some of his many passions in life, people’s stories, inequality, Africa, Iran and the arts”, according to Channel 4.

Channel 4’s chief content officer Ian Katz said Snow was “a talismanic figure”.

The programme’s remaining team of presenters includes Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Cathy Newman, Matt Frei and Jackie Long.

Newman tweeted that it had been “a total privilege to present alongside” him.

In 2018, Snow took a 25% cut to his salary to help reduce the gender pay gap.

His announcement comes two months after he revealed he had become a father for the third time.