I'm leaving the BBC. Yes it's official, announced today. The BBC is not an easy organisation to leave – there are few places which are as creative, as woven into the fabric of national life, and which can provide as many opportunities and privileges as the BBC. However, 2010 will mark 30 years in BBC journalism for me – and, from March next year, it's time to go.
I have enjoyed fantastic opportunities as a producer and editor, witnessing moments of history, meeting the powerful and the powerless and touching the lives of millions through landmark programmes. I've had the privilege to lead three different divisions - Sport, News and Global News. It has been a joy to work with hugely talented teams and individuals across the BBC and in particular in the last few years in the World Service and Global News. Their commitment to strong impartial, independent News, which I've been proud to support, develop and defend, remains as important today as it has ever been. And with audiences for the BBC' international news as high as they have ever been (238 million each week), it's a good time to step off.
As I remarked before, I have some great memories: being in Berlin as the wall came down and the Cold War era ended, being in China as it started to open up in the 80s, the Soviet Union in the 90s as it fell apart. And moments of challenge: the Iran-Iraq war, Northern Ireland, major disasters. Moments of high adrenalin in live TV galleries and the longer term satisfaction of growing and developing teams and services. There've been some low points too - the deaths of colleagues lowest among them.
Next year I will spend some time as a Visiting Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University before taking up a new role, outside journalism and broadcasting, in the spring. More of that in due course.
