Annelise Nielsen breaks new ground as Sky’s Washington correspondent

Annelise Nielsen will this week be announced as Sky News Australia’s first-ever dedicated Washington correspondent

Annelise Nielsen has been appointed Sky News Australia’s first dedicated Washington correspondent.

In January, Annelise Nielsen approached her bosses at Sky News with an ambitious pitch.

The political journalist wanted to travel to the US to cover the Iowa caucuses — the crucial, make-or-break litmus tests for presidential candidates.

“It was obviously the biggest political story in the world, and I really wanted to be there. I offered to pay my own way … and the response was: ‘OK, here’s a camera kit, go for it’.”

Ten months on, Nielsen will this week be announced as Sky News Australia’s first-ever dedicated Washington correspondent.

“I’m so excited,” Nielsen tells Media from her new home in the American capital. “This is where I want to be.”

The appointment caps off an extraordinary year for the 30-year-old, who impressed viewers and network executives alike with her on-the-ground election coverage — first, the entree of the caucuses at the beginning of the year, and then her three-month stretch in the US in the lead-up to election day.

The chief executive of Sky News Australia Paul Whittaker said Nielsen’s posting to Washington was recognition of her journalistic talent, but also the network’s need to establish a firm presence in the US.

“It’s a crucial time in international affairs with many nations at crossroads economically, socially and politically,” Whittaker said.

“Over the coming months Annelise’s coverage will be pivotal as the change of administration takes place in the US, which will have a vast impact across the world. She is a highly accomplished journalist whose national and foreign affairs reporting has added informed perspective to our news coverage.”

Nielsen, who was born and raised in Perth, has taken a circuitous route to Washington. After completing a law degree in Queensland — “I wasn’t the best law student, I must admit” — Nielsen worked as an auditor for a year, but soon realised that her passions lay elsewhere.

A brief internship at Channel 7’s Los Angeles bureau led to a job as a television producer in Ballarat, which was a stepping stone to on-air reporting roles in Hobart, Adelaide, Melbourne, Beijing and Canberra, where she was an integral part of the 2019 federal election coverage.

Nielsen has adjusted to the around-the-clock requests from the newsdesk, which she says are the lot of the foreign correspondent. She recalls how her father Thomas — an American citizen who grew up in the US Midwest — travelled with her when she was covering the Iowa caucuses at the start of 2020.

“Dad was a bit surprised at how hard I had to work. But it was great to have him along for the ride.”

Nielsen hopes to stay in the US for at least the duration of the coming four-year presidential term.