Nik Gowing

NEWSFLASH .... Nik will be speaking at our Speaker Drinks Evening on Tuesday 7th September 2010 at The Arch, London W1. Click here for more details.

Nik's latest book, "Skyful of Lies and Black Swans" is widely acclaimed. The FT labelled this peer-reviewed study ‘important’ for all those responsible for reputational and change management.

It is a must for all political and corporate leaders. It highlights how in moments of major, unexpected crisis the institutions of power – whether political, governmental, military or corporate – face a new, acute vulnerability of both their influence and effectiveness. The impact can be devastating due to the proliferation of lightweight information technologies available to anyone anywhere. They go well beyond traditional definitions of media, creating a new, unprecedented mass ability to bear witness in a crisis. This new transparency is undermining both traditional assumptions of power and public confidence.

“This paper gets to the heart of a huge issue for politics, journalism and democracy: the uncontrolled impact of mews on the workings of society . . .Nik Gowing asks the questions none of us should duck, least of all political leaders” wrote Sir Jeremy Greenstock, former British ambassador to the UN.

"This should be mandated reading for anyone who might have to deal with a major crisis an still believes that they will be able to control the pace of events and disclosure of information” wrote Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Vice Principal of Kings College, London.

Nik is available to make presentations illustrated with dramatic up-to-date examples using video.

Click here to download a PDF copy.

About Nik

Since February 1996 Nik Gowing has been a main programme anchor for the BBC's 24-hour international TV news and information channel BBC World News, produced by BBC News. The channel's distribution is 278 million in 200 countries with a weekly audience of 78 million.

From September 2006 he has presented the premium news analysis programme ‘World News Today with Nik Gowing' for the fast-growing European peak audience. From July 2007 the focus of his programme shifted to the fast-growing South Asia audience at 1600GMT. He is also a regular moderator of the Sunday news analysis programme ‘Dateline London', BBC World Debates and the annual Nobel Minds discussion between Nobel laureates. He has been a guest presenter of ‘Europe Direct', ‘HardTalk' and ‘Simpson's World'.

Nik Gowing's role draws both on his extensive reporting experience over two decades in diplomacy, defence and international security and his presentation / chairing skills. He has been a principal programme anchor for much of BBC World's extended, continuous 24-hour/7-day week coverage of major international crises like Kosovo in 1999. In the 2003 Iraq war he anchored BBC News coverage across four BBC TV channels from near Central Command in Qatar. He was on air for the unfolding Tsunami catastrophe on Boxing day 2004, and for six hours shortly after the twin towers were hit in New York City on 11 September 2001. The 9-11 coverage won the 2002 ‘Hotbird' award. He fronted coverage of the unfolding drama of Princess Diana's accident in Paris in August 1997 and made the announcement of her death to a global audience estimated at half a billion. He also anchors special location coverage of major international events like elections, and chairs BBC World Debates at the World Economic Forum in Davos and the annual Nobel Awards in Stockholm.

Nik Gowing at IATA 2007 Nik is a distinguished conference chair/moderator and speaker. He is also a lecturer and published analyst on crisis management and the handling of real-time information in times of major emergencies.

He has an international portfolio of commitments that draw on his extensive experience over almost three decades in diplomacy, defence and international security. He was head-hunted by the BBC from ITN, where he was award-winning Diplomatic Editor for Channel 4 News in London and for 18 years covered most of the world's major news events.

He is currently updating the analysis as a Visiting Fellow at the Reuter Institute for the Study of Journalism in the Politics and International Relations Department at Oxford University.

From 1998 to 2004 he served two terms on the council of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, including membership of the Executive Committee from 2000-2002. From 1996-2005 he served as an independent governor of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, much of it as the non-party vice chair. He is a member of the executive council of the Royal United Services Institute, the council of the Overseas Development Institute, the board of the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe, the Advisory Council at the Wilton Park conference centre, and the Advisory Board for the University of Birmingham's Centre for Studies in Security and Diplomacy.,

He is a governor of the Ditchley Foundation, and a member of the steering committee of the British-German Konigswinter committee and the Strategy Committee of the Project on Justice in Times of Transition at Harvard University.

“Your drive and energy were key. Those who had not seen you in action before were amazed. . . . . You should feel mission accomplished as we do.” Nik Gowing was opening moderator at the July 2010 IMF Meeting in Korea

“An excellent, thought-provoking and challenging presentation. It really was quite special. Many people went away from his talk seriously wondering if we are as well-prepared as we need to be. Let’s hope we never have to find out.” Comment on his ‘Skyful of Lies’ presentation to Emirates senior executives. May 2010

"What is [also] noteworthy was the appreciation of my staff in working with such an experienced and challenging professional...You succeeded skillfully to steer the day and to create a different, interesting and entertaining event with a captive audience...[you drove]a provocative series of debate[s] in a marathon session which would have been impossible without your captainship".

President - World Business Council for Sustainable Development Dec 2009

"In retrospect Business Day was great fun – although I must admit I had gone through grave doubts of pulling it off – but you did inspire us to greater confidence in what was quite a challenging concept"

"as usual the programme becomes more spirited when you are around".

"The response to the Business Day, both from those that attended from the COP negotiations and from our own members and CEOs, has been overwhelmingly positive. In no small part was this due to your moderation and leadership of the plenary sessions and your guidance and support to us beforehand. Both (Barbara and I) thoroughly enjoyed the experience working with you and learnt much to take with us into the planning for our future events."

"Many thanks for your guidance and skilled execution of the day. Without you – it would have been a lesser event"

Praise for Nik following his chairing of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development business day in Copenhagan - December 2009

"with your professionalism, our discussions on critical challenges facing the energy sector were channeled in such a way as to share a maximum amount of information in an interesting and dynamic way...thanks so much for helping to make this year's IEA Ministerial such a success."
Nik Chaired the International Energy Agency Minsterial Meeting in October 2009

"I would like to reiterate the IMF's appreciation for your absolutely critical contribution to what we feel was a very successful conference. I know that President Kikwete and the Tanzanians feel the same way...In terms of the conference, your session, in my view, was the turning point. You injected edge and energy into the proceedings...Your session was the fault line event."

The International Monetary Fund on Nik Gowing - March 2009

"For me, your contributions leading panels and interviewing Dr Kissinger were highlights of a really interesting day. I was particularly pleased with the outcome of the Kissinger interview which I know from feedback received left many awe-struck…thank you once again, it was a pleasure working with you."
Barclays Capital – Asia – November 2008

"Many thanks for your guidance and skilled execution of the day. Without you - it would have been a lesser event"

Barbara Black: World Council For Sustainable Development on Nik's involvement in Copenhagen 2009

Chair and Moderator
Public events have included:

Boao Forum For Asia Annual Conference 2007 and 2008
Televised debates between the world’s leading corporate and government figures at successive World Economic Forums in Davos (1996 to present) and New York (2002), plus regional summits in Delhi (1998- ), Jordan (2003, 2004, and re-invited for 2005), Warsaw on the eve of EU accession (2004), plus Doha and Singapore (2005). [appreciations available]
150-minute interactive debate among 600 airline CEO’s and senior airline executives at the annual meeting of IATA (International Air Transport Association) 2004 – to date. [appreciations available].
Six sessions ‘in the round’ for 600 delegates over two days at the annual World Travel & Tourism Council in Doha, Qatar (2004). [appreciations available]
Annual televised debates between the Nobel Prize winners at Nobel Foundation award ceremonies in Stockholm (1999 to present ).
Closed sessions of European Business Leaders’ Convention, Helsinki (7/2003). CEO’s/Chairmen of leading European Corporations + bankers, political leaders, government officials [appreciations available] Re-invited for televised debate in 2005.
Business conference, 600 delegates, major corporate sponsorship. IT & Telecommunications in the Arab World (2003,2004) [appreciations available] Re-invited for 2005
Public debates on global water and environmental challenges (including issues of corruption) at annual Stockholm Water Symposium (2000 to present).
Televised round table debate for major global leaders at Ambrosetti European House, Lake Como, Italy (2004). Re-invited for 2005
Club of Madrid Democracy and Terrorism Summit of global leaders to mark the anniversary of the 3/11 Madrid train bombings. (2005)
Town Hall meeting and open debate with Egypt’s new prime minister for international political/business/diplomatic audience of 600 in Cairo (12/2004)
Televised debate with senior global energy experts on ‘Energy Challenges’, Delhi (12/2004) Invited audience.
2-day European Union E-Skills Summit conference jointly hosted by the Danish EU Presidency and a consortium of international IT companies led by Cisco. 350 delegates. Copenhagen.
Televised debate between European leading business and political figures on European enlargement for BBC World ‘The Business of Enlargement’ in Solvay library, Brussels. (November 2003). Included business and political leaders from most of future 25 EU nations. Brussels,
Business conference in Veracruz, Mexico Mexico Business Summit, October 2003. [appreciations available]
Two sessions, including one with Heads of State and Government at the UN World Information Society Summit in Geneva, (12/2003)
Sessions at World Economic Forum/Southern Africa DevelopmentCommunity (SADC) meetings in Harare, Zimbabwe and Durban, South Africa involving regional presidents, government ministers and company chairmen/CEO’s.
Annual Hay Festival sessions, including with Bill Clinton in front of 1100 audience (televised by BBC)
INSEAD debate on Presidential Election (10/2004)
Intelligence Squared public debates with audience of 800 on Africa, and the Intelligence Services after the Iraq War failures. (2004)
Plenary sessions of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) annual conferences in Manila, Nagoya and New Delhi. Re-invited for 2005
British Energy seminar on future energy policy options
Joint conference for International Institute of Communications/Royal Institute for International Affairs: ‘After the Fallout: Achieving Payback in the Communication Industry’ (10/2003)
FTSE Global Index Forum in Vienna
Royal Institute for International Affairs, London
Royal College of Defence Studies, debates in London.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva;
Bosnia Reconciliation Conference bringing together senior figures (political and military) from the three warring factions. (Co-sponsors: Foundation for a Civil Society, New York and British Association for Central and Eastern Europe, London)
British Council events including a conference on Governance and Media in developing countries and the launch of policy initiatives.
World Bank conference
United Nations
Aspen Institutein Berlin
Transfuse Association conference (German Marshall Fund) in Istanbul
NewsWorld Convention for 400 global news broadcasters in Barcelona (1998-2001)
NewsXchangeconvention for 500 global news broadcasters (2002 to present).
Association of International Broadcasters annual conferences in Manchester, London
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Media

Nik's video showreel

Nik's clip on YouTube

All media files are in Windows Media format.
Click here to download the latest Windows Media player.

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