[12][13] He left the Glasgow Herald in 1958,[6] and was told of a vacancy at the weekly news and current affairs magazine The Economist, joining as a sub-editor, leader writer, and subsequently, associate editor under the editorship of Donald Tyerman.

[2][3][9] In 1963, Burnet and his colleagues at The Economist were invited to present a programme on the BBC composed of journalists representing the major weekly magazines.

[2][3][5] While reporting, Burnet became a relief newscaster and worked on ITN's current affairs programmes including Roving Report,[14] Dateline,[15] Dateline Westminster,[16] What the Papers Say,[17] Fleet Street,[18] Face of Success,[19] and the adult education series on money A Plain Man's Guide to Money.

[20] He was also the main anchor for the ITV network's coverage of the 1964, 1966 and 1970 United Kingdom general elections and the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.

[8][25] He returned part-time to ITN in 1967 to launch the half-hour News at Ten bulletin that provided in depth reporting on the day's events, having campaigned for such a programme.

[35] He then was appointed editor of the Daily Express by Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook and Jocelyn Stevens to try and reduce the newspaper's decline in circulation,[26] ending his television career for that period of time.

[8] Burnet began working in the role in late October 1974,[33] but resigned at his own request 18 months later in March 1976 to rejoin ITN full-time,[36][37] with the result being that the only major UK poll in which he was not involved in the UK TV coverage as lead presenter was the 1975 European Community (Common Market) Membership Referendum.

Outside of ITN, he was also a presenter and interviewer for Thames Television's flagship current affairs programme TV Eye (for a time, a substitute for This Week) between January 1983 and 1986.

[8][48][27] In February 1990, Burnet resigned from the ITN board amid a dispute over the future ownership of the company following the Broadcasting Act 1990 becoming law, during which his own proposals to restructure the organisation to ensure the organisation was independent from the 15 regional independent franchises whom he feared with removed ITN's assets was rejected.

[27] Burnet took early retirement from ITN as newscaster and associate editor 18 months later, presenting his final edition of News at Ten on 29 August 1991.

His condition meant that he felt comfortable only with close friends; these included his wife, and also former ITN News director Diana Edwards-Jones.

Burnet died peacefully in the early hours of 20 July 2012, at the Beatrice Place care home in Kensington, where he had been living following a series of strokes.

[58] The satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image portrayed Burnet as a fawning royalist, who behaved in an ingratiating manner towards the nearest available member of the royal family;[8][27] one episode ended with the Burnet puppet singing a song about his love for Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (before being pushed aside in favour of Sandy Gall).