Quick Facts
Biography
Jason Dasey (born 11 April 1962) is an Australian-born journalist, broadcaster and digital media executive who works as coordinating producer and senior editor for ESPN at The Walt Disney Company in Singapore. He is best known for being the first Australian sports host on CNN International and BBC World News and the original anchor of ESPN's SportsCenter Asia and SportsCenter India (English edition). Based in Asia since 2001, Jason is a Singapore Permanent Resident.
Early career
The eldest of four brothers, Jason grew up in Sydney where he attended North Sydney Boys High School and worked as a co-editor of the school's magazine. His first newspaper articles were published at the age of 15 in the North_Shore_Times in 1977. From 1978, he became a freelance sports reporter for Australian Associated Press. At the start of 1980 before his 18th birthday, Jason became a cadet journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia's oldest newspaper.
Towards the end of his four years with the Herald, Jason stumbled on his biggest story in September 1983 when a personal vacation to New York City coincided with Australia winning sailing's America's Cup. Jason borrowed a blazer and talked his way into the New York Yacht Club before sending back an insider's account to the Sydney Morning Herald on the night the United States lost the America's Cup for the first time after 132 years.
Move to Television
That exclusive, front-page story helped 21-year-old Jason land a job at Australia's Seven Network in Sydney where he worked between 1983 and 1985 as an on-air reporter for Seven News and its nightly 'Willesee' current affairs show. At the end of 1985 after a six-month stint as a researcher for BBC_Nine_O'Clock_News in London, he became a producer and reporter for SBS-TV in Sydney.
In 1987, Jason returned to London where he would base himself for most of the next decade. Initially, he freelanced as a producer/reporter for SBS-TV, Fairfax Media, Reuters TV and BBC TV for whom he was an assistant producer on Breakfast Time, contributing to its coverage of Australia's Bicentenary, including producing a back-stage interview with Barry Humphries in London's West End. In January 1989, Jason became a sports producer and reporter for European satellite network Sky News as it launched in Britain. A year later at Sky, he gained his first regular experience in the studio, as a weekend sports presenter.
BBC and CNN Jobs
Jason's biggest break came when, as a freelance producer and occasional presenter for BBC World Service Television in London, he was promoted to senior sports anchor on the re-branded BBC World News after a fill-in stint as host at the end of 1994. It made him the first Australian newsreader on the global network as part of ‘Newsday’, a breakfast show for Europe, with co-hosts Philip Hayton, Melinda Wittstock and Richard Quest.
After three years in London with the BBC, Jason moved to the U.S. in 1997. After working as a freelance reporter for BBC World Service and Denver local station, KUSA-TV 9-News (NBC), Jason re-located to Atlanta in early 1999 to take up a job at CNN International. He was initially a news producer/writer, but in May 1999, Jason became the first Australian sports anchor on CNN International's World Sport, broadcasting daily to more than 200 countries, often in partnership with Pedro Pinto. That year, he also made his first forays into digital journalism with a regular column on the CNN_Sports_Illustrated website.
ESPN career
In November 2001, Jason left CNN to become the senior news presenter at Asian network ESPN Star Sports, based in Singapore. After hosting the India-focused Sportsline, Jason was the original anchor as SportsCenter Asia was launched in earnest in May 2002 and when SportsCenter India was reshaped as an English-language show in October 2003. With Jason as co-host, SportsCenter Asia was voted Best Sports Programme at the 2003 Asian Television Awards. In 2005, he appeared as a judge on the first Dream Job Asia series, including the final with Pakistan cricket legend Wasim Akram.
In addition, Jason presented major sporting events for ESPN STAR Sports, including three tennis Grand Slams in 2003 and 2004, the 2005_United_States_Grand_Prix, international cricket, rugby, plus the 2006 FIFA World Cup where he was an on-site 'live' reporter in Germany. He also wrote a weekly column called Dasey Direct for Espnstar.com.
After hosting more than 1000 news programmes over five years at ESPN STAR, Jason relocated to ESPN's world headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut in late 2006 to be an anchor for the launch for two more international versions of SportsCenter while reporting on major events like the 2008 Masters Tournament and 2008 French Open. He also conducted in-depth SportsCenter Conversations with sports legends that included Sugar Ray Leonard, Nadia Comăneci and George Foreman. His meeting with Foreman in Houston for ESPN was featured in Episode 6 of the Family Foreman reality TV series, airing in August 2008 on TV Land.
In November 2008, Jason moved back to Asia, setting up a base in Hong Kong while freelancing for ESPN, primarily as a feature interviewer of sports identities like Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Venus Williams and Justin Langer while continuing to write a weekly column on Asian and Australian football for ESPN Soccernet.
ASTRO
After almost eight years within the ESPN group, Jason joined Asian satellite network ASTRO in May 2009 as a sports presenter and executive producer. Based in Kuala Lumpur, he built an in-house production team and anchored seven major tournaments, including 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2010 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2012, 2014 FIFA World Cup and devised new programming like FourFourTwo TV Show, Bola@Mamak, BPL Turning Points & Stadium Unplugged. In November 2011, two of the shows were nominated for Asian_Television_Award in non-sports categories: Best Talk Show & Best Comedy Show.
Away from football, he hosted the 2011 Rugby World Cup and presented 26 episodes of an interview-based show, Golfing Greats: In Their Own Words for Golf Channel in Singapore and Malaysia and conducted in-house trainings for Astro anchors, reporters and writers. As a weekly sports columnist, Jason wrote for several regional newspapers including The Star and 'South China Morning Post" plus the Stadium Astro website. For two years he was chief columnist and consulting editor of the Malaysia/Singapore edition of FourFourTwo magazine and hosted a popular weekly football podcast, Football Fever. In 2009 and 2012, he emceed the Asian Football Confederation Annual Awards in Kuala Lumpur. In December 2012, Jason received a nomination for Best Sports Presenter/Commentator at the Asian_Television_Award.
Return to ESPN
In 2014, Jason re-joined ESPN in a management role with a focus on creating digital content and commercial opportunities for ESPN FC, having initially worked as a consultant, while winding down his ASTRO commitments. His last hosting for ASTRO was the 2014 FIFA World Cup from Brazil, including the July 13th final. After helping set up the daily ESPN FC Indonesia TV show on Jakarta-based NET. Media, premiering in June, Jason oversaw the November 2014 launch of the Southeast Asia edition of ESPN FC. Later that month, he co-hosted the 2014 AFC Annual Awards in Manila, marking the confederation's 60th anniversary. In January 2015, he reported from Australia from the 2015 AFC Asian Cup for both web and ESPN FC TV show. In December 2015, Jason was nominated for a second time in the Best Sports Presenter/Commentator category at the Asian TV Awards. In April 2016, he interviewed top Asian coaches at the draw for 2018_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_AFC_Third_Round in Kuala Lumpur. In January 2017, Jason hosted the 2017 Australian Open tennis for Sony_ESPN, marking a return to the Indian TV market after an 11-year absence. Jason writes weekly ESPN FC columns for more than 10 regional newspapers, including Sydney Morning Herald and The Jakarta Post.
TV Roles
- Newsday, BBC World (Sports presenter, 1995–1997)
- World Sport, CNN (Co-host, 1999–2001)
- Sportsline, ESPN STAR Sports (Host, 2001–2003)
- SportsCenter Asia, ESPN STAR Sports (Original host, 2002–2006)
- SportsCenter India, ESPN STAR Sports (Original host, English edition, 2003–2005)
- SportsCenter Pacific Rim, ESPN International (Original co-host/reporter, 2007–2009)
- SportsCenter Atlantic, ESPN International (Original co-host/reporter, 2007–2009)
- Family Foreman, Episode 6, TV Land (As ESPN Reporter, 20 August 2008)
- FourFourTwo TV Show, ASTRO SuperSport (Original host, 2009-2013)
- Golfing Greats: In Their Own Words, Golf Channel (Original host, 2009-2014)
- 2010 FIFA World Cup. ASTRO (Host, June–July 2010)
- Barclays Premier League. ASTRO (Host, August 2010-May 2014)
- Bola@Mamak, ASTRO (Executive Producer, August 2010-May 2013)
- Football Overload, ASTRO (Executive Producer, February 2011-May 2014)
- Stadium Unplugged, ASTRO (Executive Producer, November 2011-May 2014 )
- 2011 Rugby World Cup, ASTRO (Host, October 2011)
- UEFA Euro 2012, ASTRO (Host/Executive Producer, June–July 2012)
- BPL Turning Points, ASTRO (Host/Executive Producer, August 2013-May 2014 )
- 2014 FIFA World Cup, ASTRO (Host, June–July 2014)
- 2015 AFC Asian Cup, ESPN FC TV show (Reporter, January 2015)
- 2017 Australian Open, Sony_ESPN (Host, January 2017)