Jon Snow To Leave Channel 4 After Three Decades As News Presenter

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

The 73-year-old has been a major centre personality in the program since 1989.

Snow said it was “time to move on” after “an amazing thirty years”.

What Did Jon Say?

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

In a statement, Snow said: “I’m happy with a lot of things I want to achieve but I have to say I enjoy every minute of my time with this program.

“It has brought me the fun, and the sadness in some of the stories I had to report and the joy of reporting others, but most of all, it has brought me the community to work with a wonderful group of people bound in wisdom, humor and understanding.

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

Career

Snow joined Channel 4 News after working as an ITN correspondent in Washington and a political editor in the 1980s.

As well as being a fixture in the nightly program’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.

He was awarded by Bafta for reporting on the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He was also honoured with 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.

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

Peer Wishes

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

“His fearless journalism, natural sympathy, 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.

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”.