Sackur lands presenter role on HARDtalk

BBC Europe
correspondent, Stephen Sackur, will take over from Tim Sebastian as
presenter of News 24’s daily current affairs show, HARDtalk.

Sackur,
who has been a BBC foreign correspondent since 1990, is currently based
in Brussels and will take up his new role on 18 April.

His
postings include five years as BBC Middle East correspondent, having
been located in Cairo from 1992 to 1995, and in Jerusalem from 1995 to
1997, followed by five years in the US as Washington correspondent.

He
moved to Brussels in 2002, and covered major stories from around the
continent, including the Madrid bombing in 2004, and the expansion of
the European Union.

Sackur said: “This is a huge challenge for
me. I’ve spent the past 15 years as a foreign correspondent,
representing the BBC abroad, and am very much aware of the massive
pulling power of HARDtalk.

“I’ve met many world leaders, all of whom respect HARDtalk, and I can think of no bigger programme with which to be involved.”

Sebastian
has presented HARDtalk since it began in March 1997. He announced last
September that he would be stepping down to concentrate on other BBC
projects.