Bill Neely

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Bill Neely
foreign correspondent
Notable credit(s)	ITV News, NBC News
Spouse	Marion Kerr
Children	2

Bill Neely (born 21 May 1959) is a Northern Irish journalist. He was the Chief Global Correspondent for NBC News from 2014 to 2021.^[1] He has been a broadcaster since 1981. Neely spent 25 years at ITN's ITV News before retiring from NBC in April 2021.

Early life and education

Neely was born in

. He was named the Queen's University Graduate of the Year in 2021 for his work as a broadcaster.

Career

Bill Neely began his career with

in June 1989. He has covered many of the major world news events of the four decades, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, which he describes as "the best story I ever covered", the break-up of the Soviet Union, numerous wars and terrorist attacks including 9/11, multiple natural disasters and national elections. He has won four awards, including the International News Award for coverage of the Haiti earthquake. He has twice been nominated for Broadcasting Journalist of the Year by the London Press Club, winning in 2011.

Neely was Washington correspondent and US Bureau Chief for six years (1991–97), covering two Presidential elections, the

programmes including News at Ten & the ITV Evening News.

Neely has covered five US Presidential election campaigns since 1992. In addition, he has covered elections in Russia, Germany, France, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Jamaica, Iran, and Israel, and has interviewed numerous presidents, Prime Ministers and Heads of State.

His reports from the deadly earthquake in China in 2008 won him the 2009 International

Beslan siege

. He was also part of the ITV News team whose reports from the Asian tsunami won the 2005 BAFTA award for news ("Seven Days That Shook The World").

In 2010, he reported on the earthquake in Haiti, for which he won the 2010 BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award for the best news coverage. He covered the campaign of Tony Blair in the 1997 United Kingdom general election and David Cameron in the 2010 general election. He also reported on the killing of Osama bin Laden, the Iranian 'Green Revolution' of 2008, as well as terror attacks in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Israel and across Europe.

He reported regularly on the "Arab Spring", firstly from Egypt, then Libya, and during more than a dozen visits to Syria; frontline dispatches that have been broadcast around the world. He interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2016. In October 2013, he was voted one of the 100 most influential journalists in the world covering conflict.

He won the 2011 BAFTA (

, winning the award in 2011.

In 2011, Neely took part in a documentary called As Others See Us which looked back on his reporting of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. He highlighted reporting on the Droppin Well bombing in Ballykelly. He was joined by Peter Taylor, Kate Adie and Martin Bell.

In 2013 he was nominated for the

at Monte Carlo for his work in Syria.

On 25 November 2013, it was announced that Neely would be joining

on 20 January 2014.

In 2014, Neely reported on the

war in Gaza

.

With NBC News, Neely was part of the team that won a prestigious

during four trips to the country in 2016–2017 and was told by officials that he was the first Western journalist in 70 years to visit a section of N. Korea's border with China.

Neely received eight

Emmy

nominations at NBC, including for work on the Brussels terror attacks in 2016 and in the Best Interview category for his exclusive interview with Syria's President Assad.

Neely reported on the COVID crisis of 2020–21 from Hong Kong, Italy, Sweden, Austria, London, and Brazil.

NBC paid tribute to him in broadcasts on the Today show and Nightly News on his final day, 2 April 2021.

Neely recorded a TedX talk in 2022, asking if 'Mainstream Media' are 'Enemies of the People'. He has given talks at several UK Universities.

Despite retiring, Bill still pops up on ITV News and Northern Ireland's political show "Today at Stormont", every so often.

Marriage and family

Neely and his wife, Marion Kerr, live in Richmond, London and have two daughters.

Bill Neely has completed eleven London marathons, most recently in 2021 with a time of 3.12.25 and with a best time of 3.09.48 in the 2011 event. He also competes in Triathlons and regularly takes part in Richmond Park's Parkrun.

He is the patron of the heart charity CRY, Cardiac Risk in the Young and has raised more than £60,000 for it to tackle undiagnosed heart defects in young people.

He has been an active supporter of Leeds United since 1967.

References

External links

• Bill Neely on
  Twitter