Jon Snow, Veteran Channel 4 News Presenter, to Step Down After 32 Years

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Veteran Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow will step down at the end of the year after 32 years at the helm of the U.K. broadcaster’s flagship news program, the longest in the show’s history.

His career with ITN, the company which produces news for Channel 4 and ITV, spanned 45 years.

Continuing to work with Channel 4 in 2022, Snow will front longer form projects that focus on his charities and his other passions, including peoples’ stories, inequality, Africa, Iran and the arts.

Snow began his career in journalism for Independent Radio News, LBC in 1973. He started at ITN in 1976 and served as Washington correspondent (1983–1986) and as diplomatic editor (1986–1989) before becoming the main presenter of Channel 4 News in 1989.

As a journalist, globally important stories he has covered include the fall of Idi Amin in Uganda; the revolution in Iran; the wars in Iraq and conflicts in Israel and the Palestinian territories; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; the fall of the Berlin Wall; the release of Nelson Mandela; earthquakes in Kashmir, Japan and Haiti; and the elections of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Tony Blair and Barack Obama.

Snow’s many awards include the Richard Dimbleby BAFTA award for Best Factual Contribution to U.K. Television (2005), and Royal Television Society awards for Journalist of the Year (2006) and a five-time winner of presenter of the year. In 2015, Snow was accorded a BAFTA Fellowship — the highest accolade BAFTA gives for “outstanding and exceptional contribution” to the film, television and games industry.

In 2017, Snow delivered the prestigious MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival and called out organizations for lack of diversity across the media.

“After three incredible decades on Channel 4 News, it is time to move on,” Snow said. “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 program.”

“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, humor and understanding,” Snow added.

Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear said: “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. It has been a great honor to be his editor and friend, and I know that everyone at Channel 4 News and ITN feels that he is far more than a colleague.”

ITN CEO Deborah Turness said: “Over a lifetime dedicated to journalism, and in a life devoted to fairness and humanity, Jon Snow has earned a unique and special place in the hearts of the British audience. There is only one Jon Snow — when they made him, they broke the mould. His warmth, intellect and decency have always prevailed, even as he held the powerful to account and sought justice for the weak and powerless.”

“No one can match the colossal contribution Jon has made to both broadcast journalism and Channel 4 over more than three decades,” said Channel 4 chief content officer Ian Katz. “He’s a talismanic figure whose combination of integrity, humanity and mischief helped make him the most trusted and well-loved news presenter of his generation, and the embodiment of everything Channel 4 aspires to be.”