Laura Trevelyan

Laura Kate Trevelyan (born 21 August 1968) is a British-American journalist who worked for the BBC for 30 years. She served as an On the Record reporter, United Nations correspondent (2006–2009),[1] and New York correspondent (2009–2012), before anchoring BBC World News America (2012–2023).

Laura Trevelyan
Born
Laura Kate Trevelyan

(1968-08-21) 21 August 1968
Islington, London, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
American
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Newsreader, anchor and correspondent
Years active1991–present
SpouseJames Goldston
Children3

Early life and education

Trevelyan was born in Islington, London, the oldest of three children. Educated at Parliament Hill School in North London, Trevelyan graduated with a first-class degree in Politics from Bristol University. Trevelyan gained a postgraduate diploma in Journalism from the Cardiff School of Journalism in 1991.[1]

Career

Trevelyan began her career as a general reporter for London Newspaper Group in 1991, on titles including the Hammersmith Chronicle. She then joined Channel 4 as a researcher on A Week in Politics in 1992.[1]

Trevelyan moved to the BBC in 1993, initially taking roles as a researcher for Breakfast News and as an assistant producer for Newsnight, before becoming a reporter for On the Record in 1994, where she covered the IRA ceasefire and Northern Ireland peace process. In 1998, Trevelyan shifted her focus to political reporting, covering Westminster, the 2001 general election and the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. She was a political correspondent for BBC News from 1999 and was based in London until her move to the US in 2004[1] to cover the presidential election, which coincided with her husband James Goldston’s move to the US, to become a Senior Producer at ABC News in New York, after he left his role at ITV as an executive producer.

From 2006 to 2009, Trevelyan covered the United Nations, travelling to Darfur, Congo, Burma and Sri Lanka and was the first journalist to interview Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. From 2009 to 2012, Trevelyan was a BBC correspondent based in New York, covering everything from the row over the proposed mosque at Ground Zero to Haiti's cholera epidemic.

After three years as the BBC's New York correspondent, Trevelyan joined BBC World News America as an anchor/correspondent.

Since joining WNA, Trevelyan has anchored live on location covering Hurricane Sandy, the Boston Marathon bombing, the Cleveland kidnapping rescue, the Oklahoma tornado, and President Obama's historic visit to Cuba.

Trevelyan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[2]

Grenada: Confronting the Past

Trevelyan's ancestors owned more than 1,000 slaves spread across six sugar plantations on Grenada, despite never setting foot on the Caribbean island.[3][4] After the 1833 abolition of slavery in the British Empire, slave owners were compensated by the government for the loss of their property; the Trevelyans received £34,000 (equivalent to £3,476,564 in 2021).[5][6] In the wake of a cancelled visit to Grenada by the Earl and Countess of Wessex in April 2022, Trevelyan described this as "rank unfairness fuelling calls for more than expressions of profound sorrow from the UK government and the royal family that slavery ever happened".[7]

She made a documentary for the BBC World Service called Grenada: Confronting the past in 2022.[8][6] After contemplating how best to make amends, the Trevelyans went in person to make an official apology to the people of Grenada, meeting with Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell,[9] and donated £100,000 in voluntary reparations, which went towards education projects.[10]

In March 2023, Trevelyan announced she would be stepping down from her position at the BBC after "thirty incredible years" to become a full-time advocate. Acting BBC executive Paul Royall thanked her for her "outstanding" contributions to the BBC.[11]

Books

Outside journalism, she has written the book A Very British Family: The Trevelyans and Their World, published in 2006, on the history of the Trevelyan family including her ancestor Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet.[12] Her second book, The Winchester: The Gun That Built An American Dynasty, explores the family behind America's most famous firearm and was released in September 2016.

Personal life

Trevelyan is married to James Goldston, former president of ABC News. They have three sons and live in New York.[1] Live, on the BBC's coverage of the 2016 US Presidential Election, Trevelyan said she was about to become a US citizen; she was sworn in on 9 November, the day after Donald Trump won the presidential race.[13]

References
  1. BBC – Press Office – Laura Trevelyan. Accessed 5 January 2009 and 11 January 2010.
  2. CFR (2021). Membership Roster. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  3. Lashmar, Paul; Smith, Jonathan (4 February 2023). "'My forefathers did something horribly wrong': British slave owners' family to apologise and pay reparations". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712.
  4. Dawson, Bethany (5 February 2023). "Aristocratic British family whose ancestors owned 1,000 slaves to apologize and pay $120,000 to reparations fund". Business Insider. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  5. Trevelyan, Laura (11 May 2022). "Grenada: Confronting my family's slave-owning past". BBC News. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  6. "Wealthy UK family to apologise in Grenada over slave-owning past". BBC News. 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  7. Trevelyan, Laura (23 April 2022). "Earl and Countess of Wessex: Why Grenada wanted to talk to royals about slavery". BBC News.
  8. Trevelyan, Laura (11 May 2022). "Grenada: Confronting the past". BBC Sounds. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  9. Trevelyan, Laura (25 March 2023). "My family owned 1,000 slaves and profited from the trade: this is how I am trying to make amends". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  10. O'Doherty, Cahir (12 February 2023). "Famine fiend Charles Trevelyan's heirs say sorry, but not to the Irish". Irish Central. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  11. Kanter, Jake (14 March 2023). "BBC World News Host Laura Trevelyan Quits Weeks After Apologizing For Her Family's Slavery Links". Deadline. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  12. Trevelyan, Laura (2006). A Very British Family: The Trevelyans and their World. London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1-86064-946-2.
  13. "US election 2016: Becoming citizens after Trump's win". BBC News. 9 November 2016.
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