Hawthorne 's television career started in August 1989 when he joined Thames Television as a researcher on a business and economics show , '' The City Programme '' . A year later , he joined the BBC as an Assistant Producer on '' Business Breakfast '' and '' Breakfast News '' , where he began appearing on camera as a reporter . He moved to Bristol , joining the ITV franchisee HTV West in order to work full-time as a reporter and get more on-screen experience . Here he produced short films on local current affairs and presented HTV News . He created a weekly business programme , '' Money Week '' , which he presented . Hawthorne returned to London at the launch of '' London Tonight '' for Carlton Television and London Weekend Television in January 1993 . There he was a regular face reporting on London news , covering a wide range of topics including IRA terrorism , crime , business and showbiz . In 1993 , Hawthorne hired a Michael Jackson lookalike for a report on the singer ’s alleged stay at London ’s Priory Clinic . Hawthorne ’s arrival with the fake Jackson in a limousine outside the clinic caused a stir , with hundreds of fans and TV crews mobbing the scene . In the frenzy , one radio station , LBC , reported extensively live on the " arrival " of Michael Jackson , only later to have to apologise for the mistake . In 1996 , Hawthorne joined CNN as a World News Anchor , initially working from its London bureau before moving to the network ’s headquarters in Atlanta . His shows ran at 7.00 pm , 8.00 pm and 10.00 pm and included coverage of the death of Princess Diana ; the murder of Gianni Versace ; the commando raid on the Japanese Embassy in Lima , Peru and the resulting rescue of hostages held by the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement ( MRTA ) ; and a live interview with Italian Premier Romano Prodi . In 1998 , US Vice President Al Gore , on a walkabout around the CNN newsroom mistook Hawthorne for one of his Secret Service agents , a fact which caused some hilarity among the assembled journalists and possible consternation for the Secret Service . Hawthorne returned to London to join the BBC as a Political Correspondent . He was a member of the " Lobby " , the select group of journalists attending daily briefings at 10 Downing Street given by then Prime Minister Tony Blair ’s Press Secretary , Alistair Campbell . Hawthorne reported for BBC1 's '' On The Record '' ; Radio 4 ’s '' The Westminster Hour '' and '' Today Programme '' ; and he presented '' Despatch Box '' on BBC2 . Whilst working for the BBC , Hawthorne became disillusioned by the bureaucracy and profligacy of the state broadcaster and remarked to a friend " this is no way to run a TV company " . She challenged him to do something better and that planted the seed for creating his own TV channel
Japanese Embassy
Japanese embassy hostage crisis
Leon Hawthorne