Carrie Gracie (born 1962)
[Ben Dowel]
"Carrie Gracie profile: Award-winning journalist with years at World Service"
theguardian.com, 12 May 2009 is a Scottish journalist and newsreader best known as having been
China Editor for
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
.
[
She resigned from this post at the beginning of January 2018, citing what she said was subject to sex based pay discrimination for the BBC's international editors. She returned to her former post in the BBC newsroom until August 2020, when she announced unexpectedly that she would be leaving the corporation to pursue other interests.
]
Early life
Gracie's father was a Scottish oil executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
; Gracie was born in Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
while he was on assignment there. She was educated in Aberdeenshire and Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. She studied at the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, before leaving to run her own restaurant for a year. She then graduated from Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...
with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.[BBC News , Correspondent Biographies , Carrie Gracie]
14 June 1998
Career
In 1985 she went to China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
to teach English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and Economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
at Yantai
Yantai, Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of ...
and Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
Universities. On her return to Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
a year later she managed a small film company.[ She completed a BA in ]Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
in 1996 at the University of Westminster
, mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength
, type = Public
, established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster
, endowment = £5.1 million ...
, followed by an MA in Design for Interactive Media from Middlesex University
Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...
.[
]
BBC career
Gracie joined the BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
in 1987 as a trainee producer, soon becoming a correspondent as well as on assignment, including Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n, Chinese and Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...
regions. She became a correspondent for BBC World Service and then for domestic radio and television in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
in 1991. Gracie moved back to the UK in 1999 as a presenter on BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
and on World Service. For six years from January 2008, she was the main morning presenter for the BBC News Channel
BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...
on Tuesdays – Fridays alongside Simon McCoy
Simon McCoy (born 7 October 1961) is a British journalist and former newsreader on BBC News and Sky News and presenter at GB News.
Early life
McCoy was born on 7 October 1961 in Hammersmith. He was educated at the independent Sherborne School ...
. She is also a presenter for the BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
programme ''The Interview''.
Highlights of her career include covering the death of Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...
and the handover of Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
in 1997.[ Gracie took part in the BBC's coverage of the ]2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, as a co-commentator during the opening
Opening may refer to:
* Al-Fatiha, "The Opening", the first chapter of the Qur'an
* The Opening (album), live album by Mal Waldron
* Backgammon opening
* Chess opening
* A title sequence or opening credits
* , a term from contract bridge
* , ...
and closing ceremonies. In October 2008, she was presented with the inaugural Nick Clarke Award
The Nick Clarke Award is a journalism prize created by the BBC in honour of Nick Clarke, former presenter of BBC Radio 4's ''The World At One'', who died in November 2006. Its aim is to "celebrate and recognise the best broadcast interview of the y ...
for her interview with BBC journalist Alan Johnston
Alan Graham Johnston (born 17 May 1962) is a British journalist working for the BBC. He has been the BBC's correspondent in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip and Italy. He is based in London.
Johnston was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip on 1 ...
, who was kidnapped
Kidnapped may refer to:
* subject to the crime of kidnapping
Literature
* ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson
* ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...
by the Palestinian Army of Islam
Army of Islam ( ar, جَيش الإسلام ''Jaysh al-Islām''), officially The Army of Islam Group in Jerusalem (''Jama'at Jaysh al-Islam fi Bayt al-Maqdis''), is a Salafi Jihadist militant organization in the Gaza Strip. It was founded by t ...
in 2007.
Gracie also appeared in the '' This World'' programme. She presented a programme entitled "The Fastest Changing Place on Earth". This followed three villages in China over six years as they became subject to an urbanisation
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the ...
scheme by the Chinese government. The programme was broadcast on 5 March 2012.
In an earlier series of features for BBC World News (TV) and BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
(radio), she had tracked the process of power changes, migration, changing work/educational options and land redevelopment in a single southeastern Chinese village: this series of reports from ''White Horse village'' (the place name appearing in the titles of the various parts of the project) aired between ca 2006 and 2008. A follow-up came in 2015.
In December 2013, she was appointed BBC News' first editor for China based in Beijing. She resigned from this post at the end of December 2017/beginning of January 2018, citing pay discrimination over gender for the BBC's international editors. Her pay was £92,000 in 2009[Ben Dowel]
"I'm paid £92,000 a year, BBC News presenter tells peer in live interview"
theguardian.com, 8 January 2018 and it was £135,000 in 2017, but she said the dispute was about parity and not about the amount. Jeremy Bowen
Jeremy Francis John Bowen (born 6 February 1960) is a Welsh journalist and television presenter.
He was the BBC's Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem between 1995 and 2000 and the BBC Middle East editor from 2005 to 2022, before being ...
, the BBC Middle East editor, earned somewhere between £150,000 and £199,000, while North American editor Jon Sopel
Jonathan B. Sopel (born 22 May 1959) is a British journalist, television presenter and a former correspondent for BBC News. He was formerly the BBC's North America editor; chief political correspondent for the domestic news channel BBC News; a ...
earned somewhere between £200,000 and £249,000. The BBC had offered a 33% pay rise but, according to Gracie, had failed to offer equal pay. The dispute occurred against a background of complaints about excessive pay for some employees of the publicly funded BBC. The BBC stated it had "inadvertently" underpaid her by £100,000 because the senior journalist was “in development.”
Gracie returned to her former post in the BBC newsroom on a salary of £145,000. In December 2017 and January 2018, Gracie acted as a guest presenter of the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
''Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...
'' programme.
Since returning to London she had often been the main afternoon presenter on weekends either on the BBC News Channel or BBC World News
BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...
. In June 2018 the BBC agreed to give her years of back pay and to pay her equally with male presenters. Gracie donated the full amount of £361,000 to the Equal Pay Advice Service and the Fawcett Society. In 2018 Gracie took months of unpaid leave in order to take on writing and speaking engagements about both China and gender equality. She returned to work at the BBC News Channel and BBC World News afterwards.
On 25 August 2020, Gracie announced via her Twitter profile that she had presented for the last time and would be leaving the BBC to pursue other interests.
Personal life
Gracie speaks fluent Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
. She has two children with her former husband, Chinese rock
Chinese rock (; also , lit. "Chinese rock and roll music") is a wide variety of rock and roll music made by rock bands and solo artists from Mainland China (other regions such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau are considered separate scenes). Typica ...
musician Cheng Jin. The children both spent a term in a Chinese school. In 2012, she received treatment for cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
.
References
External links
*
Carrie Gracie Profile
TV Newsroom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gracie, Carrie
1966 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford
Alumni of the University of Westminster
BBC newsreaders and journalists
BBC World Service presenters
BBC World News
British expatriates in China
Scottish journalists
Scottish women journalists