Jim Laurie

Vice-President for Network News and Current Affairs, STAR Group Limited

Jim Laurie has been a Journalist, Broadcaster and Television executive for more than 30 years.

In June 1999, Jim Laurie joined the Satellite Television Asia Region Ltd. now known as STAR Group Limited, as a broadcast executive charged with developing news and current affairs programming for the News Corp owned company. He lives in Hong Kong.

For STAR News and Current Affairs, Laurie is Executive Producer of a weekly one hour magazine programme called "Focus Asia."

It is the one of the few in depth programmes on television covering East, Southeast and South Asia.
See: http://focusasia.startv.com

FocusAsia has won numerous awards, including two Asian Television Awards in Singapore and three New York Festival Finalist Awards in the category of best magazine programme.

In October 2001, "FocusAsia" made its American debut on KCSM Television in the San Francisco area. In August 2003, 35 American Public Broadcasting Stations were carrying the series including channels in Honolulu, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

In January 2000, Laurie also launched the first 30 minute evening newscast on the STAR WORLD channel: STAR News Asia is STAR's main English language news programme. STAR also produces news and current affairs programming in Mandarin Chinese and Hindi.

In 2003, Laurie was principal advisor on the launch of a new 24 hour news channel in India. The Mumbai based STAR NEWS broadcasts in Hindi and was launched on March 31, 2003. After one month on the air, it became the second highest rated news channel in stiff competition among five Hindi language channels in India.

Laurie also consults for STAR on news in Taiwan, in mainland China and news on the National Geographic Channel.

Although in television management since 1999, Jim Laurie tries to keep his hand in as a reporter as well. In November 2000, Laurie accompanied the American President, Bill Clinton, on his ground breaking visit to Vietnam.

He again entered the world of on-air reporters in November 2001, by venturing into Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban defeat and the American led war effort.

Years with ABC News
From October 1995 to May 1999, Jim Laurie was the ABCNEWS (American Broadcasting Company) Senior Correspondent for China and Southeast Asia. From a base in Hong Kong, he travelled widely.
Throughout 1999, he covered China's political and economic initiatives, meeting both President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji.
In March 1999, he wrote and presented a half-hour special report on Cambodia for ABC's Nightline program.
In another special assignment in 1997, Laurie travelled to Tibet to report for ABC's World News Tonight on economic, social, religious & human rights conditions there.
Also in 1997, Laurie covered the historic hand-over to China of the British colony of Hong Kong.
Other reporting in the late 90's included the Asian economic crisis, developments in India and Pakistan, elections in South Korea, and the death of the former dictator Pol Pot in Cambodia.
Based in London
Jim Laurie was previously based in London for more than four years, from where he covered Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Travelling from London, he reported extensively on war in Croatia and Bosnia from 1991 through 1993. In 1994, he covered for six months the rise to power of Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
Other reporting during the period included the famine in Somalia in 1992, the 1993 U.S. air attacks on Baghdad, the parliamentary rebellion against Boris Yeltsin in Moscow in 1993, "Operation Uphold Democracy" in Haiti in 1994 and a look at Rwanda's displaced people in 1995.
Beijing
In the summer of 1981 Jim Laurie established the first American television bureau in Beijing. He served as bureau chief until he moved to Tokyo in 1984.
Earlier he reported on U-S China relations as the two nations achieved full diplomatic relations in January 1979.
In 1989, Laurie was a witness to the Chinese military crackdown on the democracy movement near Beijing's Tian An Men Square.
Moscow
From 1989 through 1991, Jim Laurie served as Moscow bureau chief, supervising a staff of 15 and reporting on the dramatic events of both the Gorbachev and the early Yeltsin years. He witnessed the last days of the Soviet Union.
Earlier he travelled to Afghanistan to report on the Soviet withdrawal. As the old Soviet empire disintegrated, he reported from Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan.
Other Asia Assignments
From 1984 to 1987, Jim Laurie served as Chief Asia Correspondent based in Tokyo. He reported extensively on U-S Japan trade relations.
In 1984, Laurie witnessed the killing of Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino.
In 1986, he travelled again to Manila to report on the so called "Yellow Power" movement of Corizon Aquino which resulted in the departure of President Ferdinand Marcos and the restoration of Philippine democracy.
Documentaries
In March 1980, Jim Laurie wrote and presented a one-hour ABCNEWS documentary, "Cambodia: This Shattered Land." The program examined the Khmer Rouge' destruction of Cambodia and the resulting famine.
Near twenty-five years on, it still serves as a primer on the efforts in the 1990s to find lasting peace in Cambodia.
In December 1981, Laurie wrote and presented an ABCNEWS "Close Up" documentary on Japan. Titled "Myths behind the Miracle," the one-hour program proved a cautionary tale, highlighting social problems affecting the rapidly growing economy. As Japanese growth stalled in the early 1990's, many of the observations in this programme seemed prophetic.
In 1988, Laurie anchored an ABCNEWS documentary special on China.
The one-hour program produced as a joint venture with China Central Television and Japan's NHK network portrayed life along China's "Yellow River."
War in Vietnam and Cambodia
Through many assignments in Asia, Jim Laurie maintains a long association with Vietnam and Cambodia.
He was a resident of Saigon from 1970 to 1973, covered the expansion of the war into Cambodia, and the North Vietnamese offensive across the "D-M-Z" in the spring of 1972.
In 1975, he returned to Cambodia for NBC NEWS, and was evacuated by helicopter from Phnom Penh with the U-S Embassy.
Less than two weeks later, Laurie embarked on his most dramatic assignment. In Saigon, he became one of the few U.S. journalists to witness the Communist takeover, thus ending the American backed war in Vietnam.
Years with NBC News
In the 1970's, Jim Laurie covered a number of important stories around the world for NBC NEWS: including the 1975 declaration by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the "Emergency" in India, the start of the Civil War in Beirut, Lebanon, that same year and the growing opposition to President Park Chung Hee in South Korea which continued through the '70's.
His Vietnam Coverage for NBC News produced a number of awards for journalism including the prestigious "Peabody Award" from the University of Georgia.
Years with The Far Eastern Economic Review
Also in the 1970's, Jim Laurie was a writer for the Hong Kong based magazine FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW . As the REVIEW'S Washington contributor, he wrote both of Asian affairs and domestic American politics.
His analysis pieces included assessments of U-S China relations in the years between Nixon's groundbreaking 1972 visit and the establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1979.
Laurie also covered the Nixon "Watergate" hearings and wrote of their impact on U-S foreign policy.
Awards
Over the years Jim Laurie has been honoured with a number of awards for news and broadcasting, including a Peabody, an Overseas Press Club Award and three Emmy's.
Education
Jim Laurie is a graduate, with a BA in History and certificate in Asian Studies, of the American University in Washington D.C.