Katty Kay NAMED New Lead Anchor of Award-winning 'BBC WORLD NEWS AMERICA' Airing on KCET

Katty Will be A Featured Guest on KCET's 9/11 Special, "In the Shadow of 9/11" Premiering Tonight at 8 p.m.

Los Angeles, CA, Sept. 7, 2011 -The BBC announced today that Katty Kay is to be the lead anchor of the corporation's flagship U.S. newscast BBC World News America.

KCET offers viewers three opportunities to see BBC World News coverage.  In addition to daily broadcasts of BBC World News at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., the station also airs BBC World News America with Katty Kay daily at 5 p.m.

Katty comments: "In an increasingly complex world, BBC World News America offers a unique global perspective on events both within and outside the U.S.  I am delighted to be anchoring a newscast that covers not just the big breaking stories, but wider analysis and reports, as well as bringing the very best of BBC journalism from our network of correspondents around the world to US audiences."

BBC World News America has won numerous awards, including a duPont-Columbia, an Emmy® and three Peabodys, one of which commended the newscast for overall excellence with the judges in 2009 describing the program as, "A nightly newscast like none the United States has ever had, it places our actions and concerns in a global context."

Launched on Oct. 1, 2007, BBC World News America delivers daily in-depth reports and analysis on the major international news stories as well as provides a unique insight into events across the U.S. From the studio in Washington D.C., Katty will interview leading opinion formers and political figures, as well as venture outside the capital to anchor the show from overseas and across the U.S.   

In September, Katty will be anchoring World News America's in-depth coverage from New York to mark the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, including wider analysis and reflection from around the world.

KCET will feature a special taped interview with Katty for its 9/11 special, "In the Shadow of 9/11," in which she talks about her experiences at the Pentagon immediately after the attacks, and offers her unique global perspective on the tragedy. "In the Shadow of 9/11" airs tonight on KCET at 8 p.m. and then again Sept. 9 at 8 p.m., Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. and Sept. 11 at 8 p.m.

Kate Farrell, Editor BBC World News America, comments: "Katty has a wealth of experience reporting from both within the U.S. and also internationally on some of the big stories that have shaped the world. I'm delighted that she will be joining the newscast as our lead anchor, and offering audiences across the U.S. a different view on world events as well as stories closer to home, like the 2012 presidential election campaign."

Katty Kay: Career

Katty's career with the BBC began in Zimbabwe in 1990, where she worked for BBC World Service (radio).  Among the stories she covered during this deployment were Zimbabwean land reform, the independence of Namibia, and the demise of apartheid in South Africa.  She went on to work as a BBC correspondent in London, and later Tokyo, reporting on stories including the Kobe earthquake, the gas attack on the Tokyo underground and the beginning of the Japanese economic recession. She moved to Washington in 1996 and has since covered three Presidential elections, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the crash of 2008 and controversies surrounding the Clinton administration. She was at the Pentagon on September 11th 2001, reporting for the BBC in the immediate aftermath of the attack. 

Katty has co-presented BBC World News America and is BBC World News America's Washington correspondent.   She is a frequent guest on Meet the Press and a regular guest host for Diane Rehm on NPR.

Katty's childhood was spent in various countries across the Middle East, where her father was posted as a British diplomat. She studied modern languages at Oxford University in the UK and is a fluent French and Italian speaker.

Outside of the U.S., BBC World News America airs globally on BBC World News channel, bringing international audiences a unique insight on U.S. news and political events.

Audiences can follow Katty on twitter @kattykaybbc and bbc.com/news/correspondents/kattykay.

Notes to editors

·  BBC World News America is carried on BBC World News, the 24 hour news channel, which is available on a range of television service providers in the U.S.

·  BBC World News America is offered as a 30-minute commercial-free newscast on public television stations, under the existing distribution agreement with KCET in Los Angeles, in partnership with American Public Television.

·  PBS stations have been carrying newscasts from BBC World News since 1998.

About BBC World News and BBC World News America on public television

 BC World News is presented nationally on public television by KCET Los Angeles. The newscast draws from the BBC's global newsgathering resource  providing news coverage with a truly global perspective; insight into world events impacting on America and major US stories impacting on the world. For more about BBC World News, please visit www.bbcworldnews.com.

BBC World News America, produced from the BBC studio in Washington, D.C. and premiering on public television on March 28, 2011, joins the line-up of BBC World News being offered on public television in markets all across the country. BBC World News America has won numerous awards, including a duPont-Columbia, an Emmy® and three Peabodys, one of which commended the newscast for overall excellence with the judges describing the program as "A nightly newscast like none the United States has ever had; it places our actions and concerns in a global context.

About American Public Television

American Public Television (APT) has been a leading distributor of high-quality, top-rated programming to America's public television stations since 1961. Since 2004, APT has distributed approximately half of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles. Among its 300 new program titles per year are prominent documentaries, news and current affairs programs, dramatic series, how-to programs, children's series and classic movies, including For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots, A Ripple of Hope, Rick Steves' Europe, Newsline, Globe Trekker, Simply Ming, Travelscope, America's Test Kitchen From Cook's Illustrated, Lidia's Italy, P. Allen Smith's Garden Home, Murdoch Mysteries, Doc Martin, Rosemary & Thyme, BBC World News, The Rat Pack: Live and Swingin', Johnny Mathis: Wonderful, Wonderful! and John Denver: The Wildlife Concert. APT also licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service. In 2006, APT launched and nationally distributed Create® - the TV channel featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming. APT is also a partner in the WORLD™ channel expansion project including its web presence at WORLDcompass.org. For more information about APT's programs and services, visit APTonline.org. For more information on Create, visit CreateTV.com

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