José Couso was born in Ferrol in 1965 to a family of military tradition. He graduated with a degree in Communication and Media Studies from Complutense University of Madrid. He worked on assignments for several organizations, including EFE and Canal Plus, and was a cameraman for the Telecinco television network for eight years, covering major news stories such as the kidnapping of his coworker Jon Sistiaga in Macedonia, the 1998 Baghdad bombings, the Kosovo War in 1999, various reports from the "BIO Hespérides" ship in Antarctica in 2001, a report from the French caves of Lascaux, the incident on Perejil Island during the same year, and the "Prestige" oil spill.