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Helen Boaden

 

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Helen Boaden



 
 
Helen Boaden (born 1 March 1956) is the director of BBC News
BBC News

BBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online....
, the world’s biggest broadcast news operation. Boaden controls all BBC news along with current affairs documentaries, including programmes such as Newsnight
Newsnight

Newsnight is a BBC Television Current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians....
 and Panorama
Panorama (TV series)

Panorama is the longest-running current affairs documentary film series in the world. Launched on 11 November 1953 on BBC One, it focuses on investigative journalism....
.

Career
Boaden started as a journalist with the New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
 radio station WBAI
WBAI

WBAI, a part of the Pacifica Radio, is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station, broadcasting at 99.5 Frequency modulation in New York City....
 in 1979.






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Encyclopedia


Helen Boaden (born 1 March 1956) is the director of BBC News
BBC News

BBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online....
, the world’s biggest broadcast news operation. Boaden controls all BBC news along with current affairs documentaries, including programmes such as Newsnight
Newsnight

Newsnight is a BBC Television Current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians....
 and Panorama
Panorama (TV series)

Panorama is the longest-running current affairs documentary film series in the world. Launched on 11 November 1953 on BBC One, it focuses on investigative journalism....
.

Education


Boaden attended Colchester County High School for Girls
Colchester County High School

Colchester County High School for Girls is a selective secondary school in Colchester for girls. It is 'parallel' to Colchester Royal Grammar School....
, before gaining a BA
Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin language Artium Baccalaureus, is an Undergraduate education bachelor's degree awarded for either a course or a program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
 Hons in English Literature
English literature

The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S....
 at the University of Sussex
University of Sussex

The University of Sussex is a British campus university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, from Brighton. It was the first of the New Universities of Plate glass university....
. In 1999, she gained an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a member of the Ivy League, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was established in 1881 through a donation of Joseph Wharton and is the world?s first collegiate business school....
.

Career


Boaden started as a journalist with the New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
 radio station WBAI
WBAI

WBAI, a part of the Pacifica Radio, is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station, broadcasting at 99.5 Frequency modulation in New York City....
 in 1979. On return to the UK, she took a course in Radio Journalism
Broadcast journalism

Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are "broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters....
 at the London College of Printing (now the London College of Communication). After Radio Tees
Radio Tees

Radio Tees was the original name of TFM Radio, the Independent Local Radio station broadcasting in North East England, serving Teesside and parts of County Durham and North Yorkshire....
 and Radio Aire, she joined the BBC in 1983 as a news producer with Radio Leeds. From there, she joined BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a domestic UK radio station that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history....
 as a reporter, then editor (in 1991), of File on 4
File on 4

File on 4 is a current-affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It is produced in Manchester by the BBC's Radio Current Affairs department, and has won more than 40 awards....
. Boaden worked from the BBC in Manchester
Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. Manchester was granted City status in the United Kingdom in 1853....
 as a presenter for Woman's Hour
Woman's Hour

Woman's Hour is a magazine programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom.Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by Alan Ivimey the programme was first broadcast on 7 October 1946 on the BBC's The Light Programme ....
 and later presented other documentaries for Radio 4, and also for the Brass Tacks
Brass tacks

Brass tacks is an object used in the expression "get down to brass tacks".The expression usually means clearing out confusing details and finding out the real facts about something....
 political programme on BBC Two
BBC Two

BBC Two is the second major terrestrial television channel of the BBC, aimed at a wide range of subject matter and interests, and specialising in intelligent yet popular programme genres....
.

In 1997, she became the BBC's head of business programmes, then in 1998 head of current affairs - the first woman to hold this position. She was controller of Radio 4 from March 2000 until September 20, 2004, superseded by Mark Damazer
Mark Damazer

Mark Damazer is the controller of BBC Radio 4 and BBC 7 in the United Kingdom.He is the son of a delicatessen owner in Willesden in north London....
. She became controller of BBC7 in 2002, when the station started. She superseded Richard Sambrook
Richard Sambrook

Richard Sambrook is the Director of the BBC World Service and Global News, and former Director of BBC News and BBC Sport.Sambrook was educated at Maidstone Technical High School, at the University of Reading where he received a BA in English and at Birkbeck, University of London where he received an MSc in Politics....
 as director of BBC News in 2004.

She appeared on the 35th anniversary edition of Just A Minute
Just a Minute

Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game which has been broadcast since 22 December 1967 and is Master of Ceremonies by Nicholas Parsons....
 in 2003. The subject she set was "Why has Just a Minute lasted so long?"

Boaden sacked Moira Stewart from BBC News in 2007 for being "too old" (she was 57) to public outcry.

Awards and honours


Boaden has won Sony Awards
Sony Radio Academy Awards

The Sony Radio Academy Awards , started in 1983, are some of the most prestigious awards in the United Kingdom radio industry. They are run by ZAFER Associates in association with the Radio Academy#Awards....
 for a programme on AIDS
AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the HIV ....
 in Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, and bullying in Feltham Young Offenders Institution when at File on 4
File on 4

File on 4 is a current-affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It is produced in Manchester by the BBC's Radio Current Affairs department, and has won more than 40 awards....
. Radio 4 won the Gold Award for Station of the Year in 2003 and 2004. In 1990, Boaden won awards from the Industrial Society
Industrial society

In sociology, industrial society refers to a society with a modernity societal structure. Such a structure developed in the west in the period of time following the industrial revolution....
 for her work on safety standards in the oil industry. She has honorary degrees from Suffolk College
Suffolk College

Suffolk College or Suffolk University may refer to:* Suffolk College of Arts and Sciences, part of:** Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA...
, the University of Sussex
University of Sussex

The University of Sussex is a British campus university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, from Brighton. It was the first of the New Universities of Plate glass university....
, and the University of York
University of York

The University of York is a campus university located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, York has expanded to more than 30 departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects....
. She is on the committee of the Sony Radio Academy.

Other


Boaden is married to Stephen Burley, who works for the London Evening Standard
Evening Standard

The Evening Standard is an United Kingdom tabloid regional local newspaper published and sold in London and surrounding areas of southeast England....
.

External links