Mark Austin

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Mark Austin (born 1 November 1958 in London) is a British journalist.

Austin is currently employed by ITN where he presents on ITV News for ITV News at Ten and since joining in 1986 he has specialised in covering foreign events.

Personal life

Austin was born in London, England but grew up in Bournemouth and was educated at Bournemouth School for Boys. Mark and his wife Catherine live in Surrey; they married in July 1991. He has two daughters, Madeleine (born 1994 in South Africa) and Beatrice (born 1998) and one son, Jack (born 1992).

Early career

Austin started his career in the media as a general reporter on the Bournemouth Daily Echo (1976-1980). He then joined the BBC as a newsroom writer, becoming a general news reporter in 1982. He was made a sports reporter in 1985.

Austin joined ITN, who produce the news for ITV, from the BBC in October 1986 in the role of Sports Correspondent. He was given his first assignment on day one - to cover England's successful Ashes tour of Australia as well as the America's Cup. He stayed in Australia for four months and during this time unexpectedly found himself reporting on the extraordinary "Spycatcher" trial.

TV career

1990s

Austin has covered all the major sporting events for ITV News, including the Olympics, Wimbledon, the British Open, Rugby internationals, football news and cricket. In 1993 he won top prize in the Sports News category at the Royal Television Society Awards for his coverage of the drug scandal affecting three British sportsmen at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. In 1995 he was seconded to ITV to report from South Africa on the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Mark was one of the first British journalists to report from the Gulf during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. From the start of the war early in 1991 he was in Bahrain, the base for many of the Tornado squadrons, sending back regular reports including those on the recapture from the Iraqis of the islands of Qaruh and Um-al-Maradin.

Austin was based in Hong Kong in 1993 as Asia Correspondent for ITV News. He returned there for his second tour as Asia Correspondent in 1996, spending over two years reporting on all the major events in the region including the handover of the island to the Chinese in July 1997. He returned to London headquarters in mid-1998.

1994-1995 saw him in Johannesburg as Africa Correspondent for ITV News. In that role he reported on the historic transition from Apartheid to democracy in South Africa, Nelson Mandela's victory in the elections and on the bloody civil war in Rwanda as well as other major events throughout the continent. During 1995 he also covered the Bosnian crisis following the fall of Srebrenica. His reporting won him a joint Gold Medal, with fellow-correspondent Paul Davies, at the 1996 Film & Television Festival of New York.

He has covered wars in several countries and in mid-1999 he played a key role in the coverage of the War in Kosovo. Based on the Albanian border for much of the conflict, Mark reported on the refugee crisis caused by the war. On the day in June Nato troops finally entered Kosovo he was airlifted in with the Gurkhas, the first troops to enter the country, reporting on their vital role as mine clearers and witnessing an early confrontation with Serb police. Mark's reporting of the war was part of ITV News' coverage which received a Gold Nymph at the 1999 Monte Carlo Television Festival.

2000s

His reporting of the devastating floods in Mozambique in the early part of 2000 received an International Emmy award in the US - American television's equivalent of an Oscar - as well as a Gold Nymph at the 2000 Television Festival of Monte Carlo and Gold and Silver Medals at the New York Television Programming Awards.

In September 2001 he covered the terrorist attacks in New York and later reported on the War in Afghanistan.

In 2001 and 2002 he presented the ITV reality series Survivor which saw him travel to a desolate island in Fiji and later Panama in series 2.

In 2003, Mark was promoted to ITV News' flagship news programme, the Evening News. In the event of a breaking news story, Mark can be presenting the main part of the programme from location, some of these details can be seen below.

In October 2006 he travelled to Beijing as part of a series of reports of ITV News on China's rapid economical growth. Austin had been to Beijing many times previously and covered the Tianmannen square uprising back in 1989.

In January 2007 he travelled to Antarctica to cover a series of reports that ITV were making addressing climate change.

In September 2007 he travelled to Zimbabwe where the ITV were investigating the current severe economic problems that the country is facing related to its leader Robert Mugabe.

Austin subsequently became chief presenter of ITV News when Trevor McDonald retired on 15 December 2005. He took up the role of presenting the flagship ITV News programme on the 3 January 2006.

Mark Austin earns a reported £300,000 for reading ITV News.

He is often chosen to be the first ITN newsreader at major news stories and can be seen covering the stories live as they unfold behind him.

Austin recently fronted a new prime-time crime programme with ex-news reader Sarah Heaney for ITV. Manhunt - Solving Britain's Crimes is a live 90 minute programme where Austin and Heaney appeal to the public for information on the UK's most wanted criminals.

Austin participated on behalf of a charity in the celebrity version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (first aired at Christmas 2005, repeated 4 September 2007 in the UK), he and Katie Derham won £32,000 for their chosen charities.

On Wednesday 31 October 2007 ITV confirmed they would be resurrecting the News at Ten in 2008. Sir Trevor McDonald would return as host with Sky News presenter Julie Etchingham co-anchoring the bulletin every night.^[1] News at Ten returned on 14 January 2008 with Mark standing in for Trevor in his absence.

In August 2008, Mark reported and presented for ITV News' Olympics: Beijing 2008 coverage, based in China.

On Friday 5 September 2008 it was announced Austin was the sexiest newsreader of all time, according to the national newspaper The Sun. Beating other newscasters such as Trevor McDonald and Dermot Murnaghan to first position.^[2]

On Monday 15 September 2008 Austin hit out at broadcasters for hiring newsreaders based on their looks.^[3]

On Thursday 30 October 2008 ITV confirmed Trevor McDonald was stepping down from News at Ten and Austin would replace him. Though he would continue to co-present the Evening News for some time.^[4]

Mark also writes a weekly column for the Daily Mirror.

In January 2009 he reported and presented for ITV News' coverage of the Israeli/Gaza border bombing attacks.

It was announced in August 2009 that Austin would be replaced by Alastair Stewart on the ITV Evening News, the reason is so that Austin could concentrate his duties on News at Ten.

He is currently co-presenter of ITV News at Ten.

References

External links

• Mark Austin at the Internet Movie Database
• Mark Austin on Twitter
• ITV News at itv.com