Sarah Smith (news reporter)

The Honourable Sarah Smith (born 1968), is a radio and television news reporter with BBC Scotland, having joined in Spring 2014 for the run-up to the Independence Referendum on 18 September 2014.^[1] Smith has covered stories ranging from the United States presidential elections and the Madrid train bombings (for which Channel 4 News won an International Emmy in 2004), to the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith and an exclusive interview with Saddam Hussein's defence lawyer.

Career

Smith graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1989^[2] and then began her journalistic career as a graduate trainee with BBC Scotland. She spent a year living and working in Belfast for BBC Northern Ireland, during which time she was held at gunpoint by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in its West Belfast headquarters.

In 1991, Smith moved to London as an assistant producer with BBC Youth Programmes, working on Rough Guide, Rapido and Reportage. Two years later she moved to news and current affairs, first as assistant producer with the Public Eye and Here & Now programmes. She then worked as a producer for the BBC on programmes as diverse as Newsnight, Public Eye and Rough Guides.

On 5 News she was a reporter for two years. Smith was then the first newsreader on More4 News on Channel 4's digital television sister channel More4.

She was Channel 4 News's Washington correspondent before moving to the post of Business correspondent in the summer of 2011.^[3]

She will also present BBC Two's new Scottish current affairs programme, Scotland 2014 alongside sports presenter Jonathan Sutherland. The programme will air on 27 May 2014.^[4]

Family

She is the eldest daughter of the late Labour Party leader John Smith, and of Elizabeth Smith, Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill. Her mother's status as Baroness affords her the right to use "the Honourable" before her forename. The John Smith Memorial Trust, on whose Advisory Council she sits, lists her as "The Hon. Sarah Smith". Smith married Simon Conway, an author and co-chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition, on the island of Iona, where her father is buried, on 22 September 2007.

References

External links

• Biography at the John Smith Memorial Trust
• Sarah Smith at the Internet Movie Database