BBC appoints ITN executive as head of news

The BBC has tapped the head of rival ITN to run its news division, bringing more commercial experience to the publicly owned broadcaster as it faces further cuts to its budget.

Deborah Turness is leaving ITN after less than a year in the job and is expected to take a cut to her pay package to lead BBC News and Current Affairs, among the most influential jobs in journalism.

A former president of America’s NBC News, she will assume the new, commercially orientated title of “chief executive officer” — in contrast to the outgoing “director” Fran Unsworth, a BBC lifer who is standing aside at the end of this month.

The BBC has opted for an external candidate at a particularly sensitive time for the broadcaster, which has faced periodic questions about its impartiality as well as intensifying pressure on funding.

Short-term priorities for the news division, which has 6,000 staff, include finding replacements for political editor Laura Kuenssberg and presenter Andrew Marr.

In the £400,000-a-year position Turness is also likely to need to identify further cost savings. The corporation is braced for a below-inflation increase in the licence fee that funds it.

Talks are dragging on between the corporation and the UK government over the next six-year financial settlement. The news division has already had to implement budget cuts as the BBC seeks to generate almost £1bn in overall savings by this year.

Internal candidates for the position had included Jonathan Munro, deputy director of news. Regarded at the BBC as an effective operator, he nevertheless had been criticised over the corporation’s decision to broadcast footage of Sir Cliff Richard’s property during a police search.

“Clearly the internal candidates were carrying baggage,” said Matt Walsh, a former editor at ITV News and head of Cardiff University’s journalism school. “There is no question that Deborah was the most impressive candidate.”

Turness has spent most of her career as working for the BBC’s biggest domestic competitor — ITN. She started as a freelancer in her early twenties while on a postgraduate journalism course in France and rose through the ranks, helping launch ITN’s Channel 5 News, which was known for pioneering desk-less “perching presenters”.

She became the youngest editor of ITV News in 2004 before being poached by NBC nine years later, becoming the first woman in US history to become president of a network news division.

In the role, the British executive had to mange several controversies, including the fallout from an admission from high profile host Brian Williams that he fabricated a story about being shot down during the Iraq war.

Turness went on to take charge of the network’s international arm, although a mooted partnership with Sky to launch a global channel to rival CNN did not get off the ground.

She returned to ITN last April as chief executive. As well as running ITV News, Channel 4 News and 5 News, ITN also has a production arm, producing content for clients including Discovery and CBS.

Her swift exit from ITN follows the departure of her predecessor Anna Mallett, who left to join Netflix.

Despite her private sector background, Turness had a strong pedigree in Ofcom-regulated broadcasting, noted Lis Howell, professor emeritus of journalism at City, University of London and a former managing editor of Sky News.

“She’s got more commercial experience and that might mean she looks at things in a new way,” she said. “Impartiality is the current BBC obsession, and it’s a big thing under Tim Davie [the BBC’s director-general], but of course it’s also very important to ITN, which is also a public service broadcaster.”

Turness said in a statement: “It is a great privilege to be asked to lead and grow BBC News at a time of accelerated digital growth and innovation.”

Davie said: “Deborah brings a wealth of experience, insight, first-class editorial judgment, and a strong track record of delivery.”