Sara James
SARA JAMES IS AN EMMY AWARD-WINNING FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, AUTHOR, AND COMMENTATOR.
James covers Australasia for NBC News, filing reports for The Today Show, Dateline, and NBC Nightly News.
Among her many assignments, James covered the 2012 tour of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge to Singapore, Malaysia and the Solomon Islands. She reported on the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, the 2009 Black Saturday bush fires in her home state of Victoria, and Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Australia. Her recent Interview subjects have included Lindy Chamberlain Creighton and Terri Irwin.
Before moving to Australia in 2008, James was based in New York for more than a decade. She earned many awards for her reports on the most significant international stories of our era, including 9/11 in her hometown. James also covered the Taliban of Afghanistan, modern day slavery in Sudan, the Bosnian War Crimes Tribunal, the Columbine High School massacre, the Oklahoma City bombing, famine in Somalia, and political upheaval in Haiti. James was the first network reporter to travel to the bottom of the Atlantic to the site of the Titanic for the Dateline/Discovery Special “Raising the Titanic.”
James served as substitute newsreader on The Today Show, and as a guest host of Weekend Today. She frequently anchored on MSNBC and was the first host of NBC Nightside.
In Australia, James is a guest commentator on politics and current affairs on ABC News Breakfast, ABC’s Planet America, and on Evenings with Lindy Burns on 774 ABC Melbourne.
She also has been interviewed by Channel 7, Meet the Press, and The 7PM Project. She provided political analysis of the historic 2008 U.S. Presidential Race for Channel 10’s 9 a.m. with David and Kim.
James’ report on Australia’s Stolen Generation won the Overseas Press Club of America Citation for Excellence. She received the U.S. National Press Club award for her investigation of modern day slavery in Sudan, a New York Festival award for her report on the first woman considered for the U.S. space program, and a coveted Emmy for her coverage of the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. She received a Headliner Award for her report on a victim of the September 11 bombings, and a Gracie for her story about methamphetamine addiction in women.
James is an accomplished public speaker who has addressed a wide range of audiences in the U.S. and Australia.
James was born and raised in the United States and graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia. She lives in the Macedon Ranges near Melbourne with her Australian husband, Andrew Butcher, their daughters, Sophie and Jacqueline, a golden retriever, Nanci Drew, and a hen house full of chooks.