Jon Sopel (journalist)

Jon Sopel
Sopel during an outside broadcast for BBC News with former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper in March 2008
Born	(1959-05-22) 22 May 1959 (age 57) London, UK
Education	University of Southampton
Occupation	News editor, television producer, newsreader
Notable credit(s)	BBC News The Politics Show The Campaign Show (2010 UK Election) Election 2010 Global BBC World News
Spouse(s)	Linda Sopel

Jon Sopel (Jonathan B. Sopel, born 22 May 1959 in London, England) is a British television presenter and correspondent for the BBC's international news channel, BBC World News, currently serving as the North America Editor for the BBC. He was previously chief political correspondent for BBC News 24, a presenter on The Politics Show on BBC One and the BBC News Channel; and from 2013 to 2014, the main presenter on Global.

Sopel was educated at Christ's College, Finchley in north London before graduating with an honours degree in politics from Southampton University.

Sopel was a freelance writer and broadcaster before joining the BBC in 1983 as a reporter and producer for BBC Radio Solent. He went on to become the chief political correspondent for BBC News 24 and later spent three years as the BBC's Paris correspondent. Stories he covered while he was in Paris included the French ban on the importation of British beef, the millennium celebrations in Paris, the oil spill in Brittany, the French presidency of the EU in 2000 and the Concorde crash in July 2000. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Sopel was the BBC's correspondent in Kuwait City.

In 2005, Sopel joined The Politics Show on BBC One replacing Jeremy Vine as the programme's main presenter. It broadcast every Sunday at noon and Sopel interviewed key politicians and advisers, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, opposition leader David Cameron, Jack Straw, Gordon Brown and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The show ended in December 2011 and was replaced by Sunday Politics in January 2012.