Питер Сиссонс: Жизнь и карьера британского журналиста

English journalist and broadcaster (1942–2019)

Peter George Sissons (17 July 1942 – 1 October 2019) was an English journalist and broadcaster. He was a newscaster for ITN, providing bulletins on ITV and Channel 4, before becoming the presenter of the BBC's Question Time between 1989 and 1993, and a presenter of the BBC Nine O'Clock News and Ten O'Clock News between 1993 and 2003. He retired from the BBC in 2009 and died in 2019 from leukaemia at the age of 77.

Born at Smithdown Road Hospital in Liverpool on 17 July 1942, He attended Dovedale Junior School with John Lennon and Jimmy Tarbuck, passed the eleven plus and attended the Liverpool Institute for Boys from 1953 to 1961 with the theatre producer Bill Kenwright, the politician Steven Norris, and George Harrison and Paul McCartney from the Beatles. He read philosophy, politics and economics at University College, Oxford, where he was treasurer of the University College Players, with whom he also acted, produced, directed and organised.

Sissons joined ITN in 1964, working his way up to the role of journalist. He was wounded by gunfire whilst covering the Biafran War in 1968, sustaining severe nerve damage in his left leg. After recovering from his injuries, he became ITN's Industrial Editor, covering many high profile disputes during the 1970s. On 6 September 1976, Sissons joined the list of presenters of ITN's lunchtime News at One bulletin, alternating with Leonard Parkin. He also co presented ITN's coverage of the 1983 general election with Sir Alastair Burnet and Martyn Lewis, and again in 1987 with Burnet and Alastair Stewart. In 1982, Sissons, along with Trevor McDonald and Sarah Hogg, presented the first edition of Channel 4 News. He remained on the programme for seven years, anchoring the only debate between National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill and National Coal Board leader Ian MacGregor during the 1984–85 miners' strike. He was also the presenter on the night of the Lockerbie bombing in December 1988. In early 1989, Sissons received a death threat following his interview of an Iranian representative as part of the reaction surrounding the publication of The Satanic Verses, with the fatwa covering Salman Rushdie extended to cover him as well. Sissons left ITN in 1989 to join the BBC.

Following his retirement, Sissons published his 2011 autobiography When One Door Closes, in which he was highly critical of his former employer, the BBC. He argued that the organisation had a left wing mindset "in its very DNA" and that BBC News had a bias towards New Labour, the United Nations, the European Union, environmental groups, Islam, ethnic minorities, and women. He wrote, "I am in no doubt that the majority of BBC staff vote for political parties of the Left". Sissons also highlighted the BBC's corresponding bias towards the Independent and Guardian newspapers, stating "producers refer to them routinely for the line to take on running stories, and for inspiration on which items to cover." and had a second home on the island of Barbados. Sissons was a Liverpool John Moores University Honorary Fellow and delivered a lecture on 19 June 2008 speaking about the city of Liverpool. He was a lifelong supporter of Liverpool Football Club.

Sissons died at the age of 77 on 1 October 2019 at the Maidstone Hospital in Kent from leukaemia. The Director General of the BBC, Lord Hall of Birkenhead, hailed him as "one of the great television figures of his time". Other tributes to Sissons were paid by Huw Edwards, Tony Blair, Piers Morgan, Simon McCoy and Jon Snow.