Tom Costello (journalist)


Thomas Eugene "Tom" Costello is an American journalist and correspondent for NBC News, based in Washington, D.C. His reports appear across NBC News platforms, including online, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, MSNBC, and CNBC. His portfolio of coverage includes aviation and transportation, NASA, consumer and regulatory issues, business and economics.
Costello joined NBC News in 2004 as a New York-based correspondent. In 2005, he moved to Washington, DC at the request of then-Bureau Chief Tim Russert. Before joining NBC News, Costello served as the senior correspondent at CNBC Business News in New York.
Since 2005, Costello has been NBC News's lead aviation correspondent. Among the major aviation stories he’s covered: the crash of Asiana flight 214 in San Francisco; Air France 447 over the Atlantic; Colgan Air flight 3407 in Buffalo; Comair 5191 in Lexington; the missing Malaysian Airlines MH370 jet; and the Miracle on the Hudson landing in 2009 for which NBC News was honored with a prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award and a National Emmy Award for Breaking News Coverage.
In 2008, Costello led NBC's Emmy Award-winning coverage of the Financial Bailout Talks in Congress.
His major recent assignments include the Philadelphia train derailment that killed 8; the protests in Baltimore over allegations of police conduct; the deliberate crash of a GermanWings plane in France; the loss of Malaysia Airlines flights 370 and 17; the crash landing of Asiana 214 in San Francisco; the investigation into Air France 447; the massive Yosemite National Park forest fire; and earthquakes and tornadoes.

Education

Costello received a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1987 and a master's degree in Administration/International Commerce from Boston University in 1996 at its Graduate Center in Brussels.

Career

He spent six years at KUSA-TV in Denver, and two years at KVIA-TV in El Paso, TX. Before joining CNBC, Costello contributed to Financial Times TV and CNN while earning a master's degree in Brussels, Belgium.
From 1996 to 2004, Costello worked at CNBC business news. From 1996-1999, Costello reported from London for both CNBC and NBC News, covering Europe's economic union and the death of Princess Diana, among many stories. From 1999-2002, he served as CNBC's Nasdaq correspondent and was on duty in Manhattan when terrorists attacked on 9/11.
Former NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert brought Costello to the DC bureau in 2005. Previously, he was based at NBC News headquarters in New York.
NBC's coverage of the Miracle on the Hudson was honored with a prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Costello also led NBC's coverage of the 2008 Financial Bailout Talks in Congress, for which he was honored with a National Emmy Award.
His assignments have taken him around the world – from the terrorist bombings in Madrid, to the Korean DMZ, across the Persian Gulf, Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Central America, Eastern and Western Europe.
He has been recognized with national and regional Emmy awards, National Headliner Awards, awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the duPont-Columbia University Award for Excellence in Journalism and awards from the Associated Press, Gannett, the Radio Television Digital News Association, the University of Colorado and Boston University.

Career timeline

Costello is married to Astrid Boon and has two children.