Fran Unsworth
| Fran Unsworth | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Francesca Mary Unsworth 29 December 1957 Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England |
| Residence | Marylebone, London, England |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Employer | BBC |
| Salary | £183,000 (total remuneration £190,800) |
| Title | Director, World Service Group |
Francesca Mary "Fran" Unsworth (born 29 December 1957 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire) 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. In December 2017, she was appointed head of BBC News in succession to James Harding, and will take up the post at the beginning of 2018.
A native of North Staffordshire she 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.
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