Mark Stone (journalist)

Mark Stone is the Europe correspondent of Sky News, the 24-hour television & digital news service operated by Sky Television. He is based in Brussels in Belgium, and has occupied this position since July 2015.

Education

Stone was educated in the United Kingdom at two independent schools: at Hawtreys School near the market town of Marlborough in Wiltshire, and Cheltenham College in the spa town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, followed by the University of East Anglia (BA, 2001).

Life and career

Stone joined ABC News, the news service of the American Broadcasting Company, in 2002, as a producer. Between 2003-04, he spent nearly a year living in Baghdad, and reported on the capture of Saddam Hussein and the growing insurgency in Iraq. He and his team were awarded an Emmy for their coverage of the war.

Stone joined Sky News in 2005 and became a reporter in 2007. He became a Sky News Correspondent in early 2012 before moving to his current position in late 2012.

Stone has reported from a wide number of locations in Britain and around the world, from the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya to the 2011 riots in London. He was one of the first British journalists to ‘embed’ with the British Army in Afghanistan's Helmand Province in July 2006, and the first journalist to provide an eyewitness report from inside the terminal of Glasgow Airport following the terrorist attack in June 2007. He met the former KGB spy, Alexander Litvinenko in London, two weeks before he was poisoned. He covered Mr. Litvinenko’s death and its wider implications in detail. In 2011, he spent 6 weeks reporting extensively from Libya on the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, the NATO humanitarian intervention and the subsequent death of Muammar Gaddafi at the hands of his own people. He is one of a small number of journalists to have attended almost every session of Britain's Iraq Inquiry giving him an extensive knowledge of the war in Iraq and the decisions behind it.

Stone was a key part of Sky's extensive coverage of the disappearance of Malaysia Airline Flight MH370 in 2014.

In July 2013, he travelled to North Korea as part of a select group of journalists granted access to the reclusive country. He and his team produced the first ever live international broadcasts from events at locations around the capital Pyongyang allowing viewers a real-time glimpse inside North Korea.

In August 2011, Stone played a widely reported and important role in Sky News coverage of the London riots. In one of the first examples of the use of mobile devices for newsgathering, Stone used just an iPhone, rather than relying upon the usual accompaniment of a professional television crew, to record and broadcast scenes of arson and his own confrontation with looters across the capital, which both led Sky News bulletins and were covered widely by broadcasters around the world. In one confrontation, near London's Clapham Junction, he asked a looter whether he was "proud" of what he was doing. Online, within 24 hours, his videos had been viewed by nearly a million people. He was nominated and shortlisted for an award by the Royal Television Society for his innovative coverage of the riots, and was praised in the media for his handling of the news coverage.

Awards

Mark’s work across Asia was recognised by the Royal Television Society in 2014 when he was shortlisted for RTS Journalist of the Year alongside Bill Neely and Jeremy Bowen. His work in Burma, North Korea and China has also been recognised by the OneWorld Media Awards. In 2011, he was nominated and shortlisted for an award by the Royal Television Society for his innovative use of mobile journalism in his coverage of the London riots. In 2004, working for ABC News, Mark and his team were awarded an Emmy for their coverage of the Iraq War.

Family

Stone is married with one son - Now living in Brussels, Belgium.

External links

• Mark Stone on Twitter
• Mark Stone on Journalisted