Tim Franks

Tim Franks has presented Newshour, the flagship news and current affairs programme on the BBC World Service since 2013. Before that, Tim spent almost 20 years as a reporter. He cut his teeth covering the Troubles in Northern Ireland before eading to Westminster and becoming the Today programme’s special political correspondent.

Tim spent nine years as a foreign correspondent, based in Washington, Brussels and Jerusalem, and travelling across Europe and the Middle East. He’s covered several major conflicts, from Iraq and Israel–Lebanon, to South Sudan and Ukraine. Tim won one of the most prestigious international war-reporting awards – the Bayeux – for his coverage of war in Gaza. He also spent two years as the BBC’s most improbable sports correspondent.

Although he’s now based in London, with Newshour, Tim does still regularly report from the field, and has co-presented the programme from locations as diverse as Managua, Beijing, Addis Ababa, Caracas, Damascus, Berlin and Bujumbura.