Nic Robertson is a senior international correspondent, based in CNN’s London bureau. During more than a decade with CNN, Robertson has been involved in some of the most significant news stories around the world and his experience, knowledge and expertise have established his reputation as one of the finest field correspondents in the industry.
Robertson reported for CNN from Baghdad throughout autumn 2002 and early 2003 during the build up of tension between Saddam Hussein’s government and the west, remaining in Baghdad during the build up to the strikes on the city in 2003. His reporting continued until he was expelled from Iraq, along with the three other members of the CNN crew, by government officials on March 21, 2003. He returned to Iraq in the immediately after Baghdad fell to coalition forces.
Robertson has also reported extensively for CNN from Afghanistan, where he has followed events since the Taliban took power in 1996. On September 11, 2001, while the terror attacks unfolded in the United States, Robertson was one of the only western television journalists in Taliban-held Afghanistan and, was able to report on the Taliban response and the attacks by the Northern Alliance on Kabul live via satellite videophone. Over the next few days he reported on developments in the country and was the last journalist to leave the country, when expelled by the Taliban. Weeks later, Robertson was the first journalist to return to Kandahar following the city’s liberation, where he also secured the first interview with Hamid Karzai, who later became president of Afghanistan. Through 2002 he continued to report on the War Against Terror including the fall of the Taliban and Operation Anaconda in the Tora Bora mountains, reporting live for CNN from all over the country.
In August 2002, CNN aired a series of packages taken from videotapes Robertson uncovered in Afghanistan. The exclusive, never-before-seen Terror on Tape series showed the expertise, resources and resolve of Al Qaeda and was the culmination of weeks' of work tracking the story, for which Robertson relied on sources cultivated during his years of reporting from Afghanistan
Other major on- going stories he has covered have included the Northern Irish peace process and the conflicts in the Balkans since 1991. During the refugee exodus from Kosovo in Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia, Robertson entered Kosovo with the first wave of NATO troops entering the country by military helicopter in June 1999 and was on the road with British Paratroopers all the way to Pristina, Kosovo.
In addition, Robertson has covered significant global news stories that have ranged from the invasion of Haiti and the Rwanda genocide in 1994 to the 2001 Indian earthquake. His professional assignments around the world have included civil unrest in Zimbabwe, the 10th anniversary of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, the coup in Pakistan, U.S. air strikes on Baghdad and the South African presidential elections.
Robertson’s first role on joining the network in January 1990 was as an engineer and he was the only CNN engineer in Baghdad during the Gulf War. He was also responsible for the first live satellite links out of Iran, Ethiopia and Iraq. His knowledge of technology has been beneficial both as a producer and a reporter. He has been able to file reports using the latest in technological advancements, including TOKO receivers and digital videophones, from the most remote places, such as Afghanistan, without electricity and telephones.
In 2002, Robertson received an Alfred I. DuPont silver baton award for outstanding television and radio news and a CINE golden eagle award for a documentary on the Northern Irish peace process. Robertson’s technical expertise was also instrumental in CNN winning the Innovation Award for the use of the satellite videophone at the 2001 Royal Television Society Awards. Robertson was producer for CNN's award-winning Bosnian War team from 1992-1995 and was also part of CNN's Emmy Award-winning team for the live coverage from the shores of Mogadishu, Somalia as the U.S. troops launched operation Restore Hope in 1992.
Prior to joining CNN, Robertson worked for Independent Broadcasting Authority and the UK’s TV-AM.
A British citizen, Robertson attended Aston University, Birmingham, Dundee College of Technology in Scotland and Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic where he qualified in electrical and electronic engineering.
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