Anita McNaught (born 1965) is a United Kingdom/New Zealand dual nationality freelance journalist and television presenter, currently working for Al Jazeera English.
Born in London in 1965, at the age of 20 she moved to New Zealand where she worked for 12 years before returning to the United Kingdom in 1997. She has worked as a television reporter for Television New Zealand (TVNZ), CNN and Al Jazeera English, and has also contributed prominently to radio as a regular contributor on Radio New Zealand - and in print journalism.
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At the age of 22, McNaught began work as a reporter for TVNZ. She went on to become a popular presenter for a number of news and current affairs programmes. In 1995, she moved to the competitor channel TV3 where she worked as a reporter on the current affairs programme 20/20.
Upon her return to the United Kingdom in 1997, she joined the BBC as a freelance journalist, presenting on BBC World News until 2004. During her time in the country, she also presented BBC Two's Open Minds arts and culture series in 1999, as well as Channel 4 television's miscarriage of justice series Clear My Name in 1998. Between 2000 and 2001, she also wrote features for The Times newspaper. Upon leaving BBC World, she continued to work on a freelance basis for other BBC departments, in one case working on BBC Radio 5 Live's 5 Live Report.
McNaught has covered events from the studio such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings of Winnie Mandela, and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. She anchored rolling coverage of the entry of UN forces into Kosovo and Baghdad, and with Al Jazeera covered events in Libya.
She has also covered stories for the media criticism show Eating Media Lunch, and was a founding board member of WIFT[1] - Women in Film and Television - in New Zealand.
Her ex-husband, Olaf Wiig, is a cameraman for Fox News. On August 14, 2006, he was taken hostage in the Gaza Strip along with fellow colleague Steve Centanni. Wiig and Centanni were released after 13 days in captivity, August 27, 2006, having appeared in a videotape saying - at gunpoint - that they had "embraced Islam with the Islamic prophet Muhammad as their leader". Upon release, Olaf and Steve were reunited with family and friends. Wiig and McNaught were then taken to New York City in Rupert Murdoch's (owner of News Corp, Fox's parent company) private jet and reunited with Wiig's New Zealand family members who had flown to New York.