JAMES LONGMAN

JOURNALIST, BROADCASTER AND AUTHOR

James is a foreign correspondent for ABC News. Based in London, he travels around the world on breaking news assignments and on longer-form features, reporting for Good Morning America, World News Tonight and Nightline, as well as the network’s ABC News Live streaming service. A varied brief, his work has taken him to more than 60 countries: the Ukrainian frontline, wars in Israel and Syria, anti-war protests in Moscow, the fight against ISIS; confronting Chechen and Ugandan authorities about abuses against LGBTQ+ people; virus hunting in Liberia… and even tagging humpback whales in the Antarctic. His book The Inherited Mind, is due to be published in January 2025, and tells the story of his father’s schizophrenia and suicide. Part memoir, part science, the book explores the genetics of mental illness and the latest science on what we inherit, and why.

James has won News Emmys for his coverage of the war in Ukraine and the climate crisis in India, and the David Bloom award and a Deadline Club award from the Society of Professional Journalists for his work in Chechnya. Before joining ABC News, he was at the BBC, where he spent time as the corporation’s Beirut correspondent. A fluent Arabic and French speaker, he started his career in Syria, where at 24 he reported for British newspapers on the protests that started the civil war. He has a degree in Arabic from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and a Master of Science in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics. He lives in West London with his husband, Alex.