Lisa Aziz

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Lisa Aziz
Born (1962-06-19) 19 June 1962
Nationality British
Ethnicity Bengali-English
Education BA (Hons) in History of Art and Religious Studies
Alma mater University of London
Occupation Journalist, presenter
Years active 1988–present
Notable credit(s) TV-am, Sky News, ITV News

Lisa Aziz (born 19 June 1962) is an English news presenter. She is best known as the co-presenter of the Bristol based ITV West Country nightly weekday news programme The West Country Tonight. Before this she worked for TV-am and Sky News, and was one of the first Asian presenters to be seen on television. In 2004, she was the recipient of an EMMA (Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy) award for Best Television News Journalist.

Early life

Aziz is of mixed descent, born to a Bangladeshi father and an English mother.[1]

Aziz studied at the University of London, gaining a BA (Hons) in History of Art and Religious Studies, after which she joined Radio City, in Liverpool, as a presenter. In 1983, she moved to Bristol where she worked as both a television reporter and presenter for the BBC and HTV West.[2]

Career

In 1988, Aziz joined TV-am as a reporter before presenting news bulletins for the station the following year. She was one of the first half Asian presenters to be seen on mainstream television,[3] and the first Muslim news presenter.[2] She joined Sky News in 1992, but continued to present bulletins for TV-am,[2] and later went on to become one of the main news presenters at Sky News. In 2004, she won the EMMA Best Television News Journalist Award.[4][5] She returned to the West Country in 2005,[6] and has since been one of the main presenters of the ITV West main news programme The West Tonight. From 16 February 2009, she became co-presenter of the pan-regional news programme The West Country Tonight, which replaced The West Tonight (ITV West) and Westcountry Live (ITV Westcountry) alongside Steve Scott.

In June 2009, Aziz was reported to have gone on leave from ITV West Country after suffering tendinitis.[7] However, on 10 July it was reported that she had been suspended from her job because of irregularities with her expenses.[2] However, ITV would only say that she had been off work for personal reasons.[2]

In mid June 2009, Aziz disappeared from her presenting role, and was replaced by two younger female presenters, Ellie Barker (ITV West) and Claire Manning (ITV Westcountry).[2]

On 10 July 2009, Mail Online reported that Aziz, who by then had not been seen hosting nightly news programme The West Country Tonight for the past month, had been suspended for irregularities with her expenses, one of the irregular items apparently being a £5.75 bill for dry cleaning a child’s top.[2] The Mail report appeared after an article in Private Eye published on 7 July.[8] According to the Daily Mirror the claims amounted to £200.[9] It was also reported that Aziz planned to sue ITV for religious, race and sex discrimination after an alleged prolonged bullying and harassment campaign aimed at forcing her out of the organisation.[2] It was later reported that she had initiated legal proceedings against her employers in response to the allegations, and had lodged complaints about four people at ITV West.[10]

Aziz also said that she had not been suspended, but had been signed off work for three months due to stress caused by the expenses allegations. She also received treatment at the Priory Clinic for work related stress and depression.[10]

On Wednesday 24 February 2010, The Bristol Evening Post reported that Lisa Aziz had officially left ITV West and had dropped all allegations against the broadcaster.[11]

Television

Awards

  • 2004 - EMMA Best Television News Journalist Award

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bangla babes rule Britannia". The Telegraph India. 29 April 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2009. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "ITV embroiled in race row after suspended news presenter Lisa Aziz sues for discrimination". Mail Online. 10 July 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2009. 
  3. ↑ "ITV presenter Lisa Aziz suspended". This is Gloucestershire. 10 July 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2009. 
  4. ↑ "EMMA awards honours media personalities in glitzy ceremony". AIM Magazine. 25 May 2004. Retrieved 4 July 2009. 
  5. ↑ "Nagra 'bends it' at UK's Emma awards in TV category". IndianTelevision.com. 28 May 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2009. 
  6. ↑ "Lisa Aziz joins ITV West". TV Newsroom. 6 June 2005. Retrieved 10 July 2009. 
  7. ↑ "Tendonitis takes Lisa Aziz off air". Bristol Evening Post'. 25 June 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2009. 
  8. ↑
    Private Eye Issue 1240, 7 July 2009
  9. ↑ Smith, Richard (11 July 2009). "TV newsreader Lisa Aziz's pain over suspension". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 12 July 2009. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "TV's Lisa has hospital care". Bath Chronicle. 29 July 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2009. 
  11. ↑ "ITV West presenter Lisa Aziz quits after withdrawing allegations". Bristol Evening Post. 24 February 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2010. 

External links

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