19 Jul 2011

Michael Crick to join new line-up as political correspondent

Channel 4 News has announced that Newsnight’s Political Editor Michael Crick will join the programme, becoming the latest high-profile name to join the team.

He will become Political Correspondent, taking the role vacated by Cathy Newman – who is set to become a regular presenter alongside Jon Snow and Krishnan Guru-Murthy.

The move represents something of a homecoming for Crick, who was a founding member of the Channel 4 News team when the programme launched in 1982. Then, he was Washington Correspondent. He joined the BBC in 1990, working first on Panorama, and then joining Newsnight in 1992. Crick has won two RTS awards – one for his coverage of the 1988 US election, and one for a special Panorama programme on the life of Jeffrey Archer.

‘I have always admired Gary Gibbon’s journalism and it’s fantastic to be returning to my ITN roots to join him and the rest of the Channel 4 News team.’

He has written several books – including biographies of Alex Ferguson, Jeffrey Archer and Michael Howard. Richard Nixon famously said that whilst visiting the Oxford Union in 1978, his toughest question came from Crick, then a student.

Crick will work alongside Channel 4 News’ award-winning Political Editor Gary Gibbon. This year, Gibbon was named the RTS’ Specialist journalist of the Year.

Of the appointment, Editor Jim Gray said: “It’s thrilling to have an established, experienced name like Michael join our team. He has a remarkable track record of finding things out that people don’t want unearthed. He is a formidable investigative journalist. With him in this role, and Gary continuing to lead our coverage as Political Editor, we have the perfect political team in place.”

Dorothy Byrne, Head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 4 says: “Michael has a talent for asking the awkward question, for spotting duplicity or ambiguity and cutting through it – and we can’t wait for him to bring this to Channel 4 News.”

Of the move, Michael Crick says: “Channel 4 News has a reputation for an indepth, analytical and cheeky approach to politics, and I look forward to delivering exactly that. Whilst I am sad to leave Newsnight after 19 happy years, I have always admired Gary Gibbon’s journalism and it’s fantastic to be returning to my ITN roots to join him and the rest of the Channel 4 News team.”