Residence Marylebone, London Employer BBC | Name Fran Unsworth | |
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Born 1957 ( 1957 ) Salary £183,000 (total remuneration £190,800) Title Deputy Director of News and Current Affairs | ||
Alma mater University of Manchester | ||
BBC's Fran Unsworth on gender and pay - BBC Newsnight
Francesca Unsworth (born 1957) is a British journalist and media executive. She is currently director of the BBC World Service Group. Previously she was Acting Director of News at the BBC from November 2012 until August 2013 and a member of the BBC's executive board. In 2013 she was appointed Deputy Director of News and Current Affairs.
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Career
A native of North Staffordshire and attended St Dominic's High School for Girls, a direct grant grammar school in Stoke-on-Trent.
A graduate in Drama from the University of Manchester, she began her broadcasting career in local radio, working at BBC Radio Leicester and BBC Radio Bristol, before going on to become Producer of Radio 1's Newsbeat. In 1990 she moved to Radio 4 and was based in Washington as a radio producer for the network during the Gulf crisis of 1990–1991. She worked as a producer on The World at One and PM while at Radio 4.
She moved to the BBC's Newsgathering Department in 1993, where she had responsibility for UK domestic news, and was a producer and editor for the BBC One O'Clock News and the BBC Six O'Clock News. Unsworth was appointed Head of Newsgathering in January 2005.
In December 2005, Unsworth appeared on the BBC's NewsWatch programme, facing accusations of double standards in BBC News reporting of racial crimes when white people were the victims. Complainants suggested the BBC buried stories such as the racist murder of Kriss Donald, with comparable murders involving black victims given twelve times more coverage and the opening of an arts centre in Gateshead reported in preference to Donald's murder. Unsworh admitted the case had not been covered sufficiently and that there had been space to do so. Her department again failed to cover the case adequately the following year. In 2011 BBC News was criticised for referring to looters in the 2011 London riots as "protesters", even two days into the violence. In response to 62 complaints about the matter, Unsworth conceded that the BBC had been wrong to do so.
In November 2012, Unsworth was appointed Acting Director of News after the Helen Boaden stepped aside while Nick Pollard prepared his report into the BBC's non-coverage of the burgeoning Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal. She ceased this role in August 2013 and was appointed Deputy Director of News and Current Affairs. In November 2013 Unsworth was replaced as Head of Newsgathering by Jonathan Munro.
Unsworth was president of the Society of Editors between 2011–12, and is a board member of the organisation. She is also a board member of the European Union's Erasmus Mundus programme.