Deborah Turness, ITN’s CEO, is now the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs. Turness was previously President of NBC News. Fran Unsworth has been replaced by Turness.
Turness, who will be paid £400,000 ($540,000) per year, will be responsible for a team of 6,000 journalists that is shifting to digital, moving out of London and losing hundreds of staff as part of a multimillion-pound savings drive. Her salary will be an increase on Unsworth’s by £60,000 ($80,000).
BBC Director General Tim Davie said she “brings a wealth of experience, insight, first-class editorial judgement, and a strong track record of delivery.”
“She is a passionate advocate for the power of impartial journalism and a great believer in the BBC and the role we play, in the UK and globally,”He added.
Turness stated: “In the UK and around the world there has never been a greater need for the BBC’s powerful brand of impartial, trusted journalism. It is a great privilege to be asked to lead and grow BBC News at a time of accelerated digital growth and innovation, when its content is reaching more global consumers on more platforms than ever before.”
She comes from ITN, where she was the ITV, Channel 4 & Channel 5 News leader for seven months after Anna Mallett’s departure to Netflix.
Turness, who is highly regarded worked Stateside for NBC News and then NBC News International before joining ITN. She was also a former Editor at ITV News. In both cases, she was the first woman in the role.
She will take over for the retired Unsworth, who was in the same position for three-years, and she will also be sitting on the BBC Board. Her job title differs from Director of News and Current Affairs Unsworth’s, which the BBC said is a reflection of its “ambition to continue to build the BBC’s global news brand and grow its news services.”
This is the most important role in UK news. It also comes at a politically sensitive time for BBC. The BBC has been under pressure from all political sides over impartiality. Davie has prioritised this issue since taking over one year ago.
Unsworth also stated recently that BBC journalists are more targeted by online trolls than ever before. Unsworth leaves following a scandal in which she was allegedly told to block the appointment of former Huff Post UK Editor Jess Brammar due to Brammar’s past anti-government tweets.
The BBC News division is going through a major shift, moving dozens of jobs outside of London as part of Davie’s Across the UK plan and taking a “genre-led”Approach to storytelling rather than focusing only on specific programs. Many have been eliminated.