Nightline

Weeknights at 11:35 p.m., ET

MARTIN BASHIR
Co-anchor, "Nightline"
"20/20" Correspondent

Martin Bashir was named co-anchor of ABC News "Nightline" in October 2005 and is based in New York. He joined ABC's newsmagazine "20/20," in September 2004 and continues to report for both programs.

Bashir is best known for making landmark documentaries including "Living with Michael Jackson," for which 27 million American viewers tuned in to watch in 2003 and prompted the extensive police investigation of the singer. He also conducted an exclusive interview with the late Princess Diana, which remains the only television interview with her.

In May 2008, Bashir anchored a documentary on the Sistine Chapel for "20/20," which marked the 500th year since Michelangelo began painting the ceiling frescos. Additionally, his contributions to "Nightline" include an exclusive interview with a soldier in Iraq from his prison cell in Kuwait who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the pre-meditated murder of Iraqi civilians. He also provided the most authoritative account of the Queens shooting in New York, including exclusive interviews with a victim and a witness, when police fired 50 shots at three unarmed men, killing Sean Bell, who was due to be married the following day.

Since joining ABC News in September 2004, Bashir has anchored a number of high-profile documentaries. His first, which featured evidence of steroid abuse by Olympic athletes and included an exclusive interview with BALCO President Victor Conte, provoked the Senate to investigate the use of performance enhancing substances by baseball players and other American sportsmen and women. The BALCO documentary won an award at the 2007 Chicago TV and Film Festival.

Before joining ABC News, Bashir reported for Britain's ITV. His reports included: "Who Wants to be a Millionaire: A Major Fraud," a documentary about the couple found guilty of cheating their way to the top prize in the British version of the game. It achieved the biggest audience for any factual program in the UK since 1997. In addition he launched a new current affairs program, "Tonight," with a film about the five youths suspected of murdering a black teenager. The film won the Royal Television Society's Program of the Year Award. He also conducted the only interview with Louise Woodward, the au pair found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Boston.

Bashir has conducted a number of high profile investigations, including one into the financial activities of England soccer coach Terry Venable. Following the broadcast, Venables admitted to the charges leveled against him and was banned from being a company director. Bashir also raised serious questions about the British government's sale of the English coal regions to businessman Richard Budge, focusing on Mr. Budge's financial probity. His work on allegations of so-called Satanic Abuse in Scotland provoked a government inquiry, as did his documentary about safety concerns at the UK's Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston.

In 2002 Bashir reported and produced a special documentary featuring the parents of conjoined twins, Jodie and Mary Attard, which included a follow-up interview with Jodie herself as she recovered and returned to Malta. This world-broadcasted documentary also included interviews with the medical team that performed the complex surgery and featured the ethical dilemma of allowing one twin to die so that the other can live.

Also in 2002, Bashir accompanied British backpacker Joanne Lees on her return to Australia for an ITV documentary which focused on the abduction and disappearance of Peter Falconia, Miss Lee's boyfriend. Australian authorities charged the prime suspect with Falconia's murder and he was found guilty in November 2006.

In June 2001, Bashir presented a special three-part ITV documentary series on the subject of Xeno-Transplantation entitled "The Organ Farm." The series revealed how generations of genetically modified pigs have been bred in secrecy and how experiments are ongoing to test the possibility of transplanting animal organs into human bodies. The series won two awards at the New York Film and Television Festival.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on September 11, Bashir reported and presented an ITV special entitled "A Day in September", which comprised a detailed account of the events of 9/11. The film was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award and granted special commendation by the Independent Television Commission.

In addition to being credited with countless exclusive interviews and ground-breaking documentaries, Bashir has written for a variety of publications including: the Financial Times, the Sunday Times, the Standard, the Sunday Express, the Tatler and a sports column in the Observer newspaper.

Among Bashir's numerous honors is a BAFTA Award (as well as several nominations for the British equivalent of an Academy Award), and he has been named the Royal Television Society's Journalist of the Year. He has also been recognized widely across the U.S., including receiving several awards at the 49th Columbus International Film and Video Festival in Ohio, as well as, being honored twice at the Houston Film and Television Awards.

Bashir completed a first degree in English and Post-graduate research at Kings College in London before starting work as a journalist in 1986. He is married with three children.