Sky News’s London bureau chief, Dominic Waghorn, is to succeed Richard Bestic as its Asia correspondent, based in Beijing.
Since joining Sky News in January 2001, Waghorn has covered numerous international stories, including the Bingol earthquake in Turkey and the Iraq war, which he reported from the Israel bureau.
He also covered the Nato deployment to Macedonia and was detained live on air during Robert Mugabe’s controversial visit to Paris in February 2003. UK assignments have included special reports on the Hutton Inquiry and the security surrounding President Bush’s visit to the UK.
Before joining Sky, Waghorn worked for news agency FSN, where he travelled frequently on foreign assignments, including Nelson Mandela’s farewell tour to Beijing in May 1999. This assignment coincided with Nato’s bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, which sparked demonstrations across the city and a siege on Western embassies – all of which he covered for international networks, including Sky News.
Waghorn began his career at News Direct/LBC before moving to FSN as its North America correspondent in 1996.
Commenting on his appointment, Waghorn said: “This has to be the most exciting patch in the business today, given China’s extraordinary transformation and the diversity of stories across Asia. It’s an awesome opportunity.”
Simon Cole, deputy head of Sky News, said: “Dominic has a wealth of experience in covering foreign assignments.
He’s been at Sky News for three years and during that time has shown his appetite for breaking news and his ability to cover foreign assignments with flair.”
Richard Bestic is now Sky’s India correspondent, based in Delhi.
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