Deborah Mary Turness (born 4 March 1967) is an English

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, former CEO of ITN, and current CEO of

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 ...

. Prior to this she held two positions in NBC News International where she was president of

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

(2013–2017) and later President of NBC News International. Before NBC, Turness was editor of ITV News (2004–2013), which made her the UK's first female editor of the network news.

Early life

Born in Meriden,

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Turness was educated at St Francis' College and The Knights Templar School in

Baldock Baldock ( ) is a historic market town and unparished area in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the county of Hertfordshire, England, where the River Ivel rises. It lies north of London, southeast of Bedford, and north n ...

, Hertfordshire. Turness studied at the University of Surrey, where she took a degree in French and English; she then took a postgraduate course in journalism at the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a Lists of universities in France, public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in Southern France, southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bor ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Career

Turness joined ITN in 1988 as a freelance producer in the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Bureau straight from university, before becoming ITN's North of England producer in 1991. In 1993, she joined the ITN Bureau in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

as a producer. In 1991, she competed in the Paris to Peking Offroad 4x4 Car Rally. In 2000, Turness was Deputy Editor of

Five News ''5 News at 5'', also known as ''Channel 5 News'', is the news programme of British broadcaster Channel 5, produced by ITN from its main newsroom on Gray's Inn Road, London. History ''5 News'' was one of the new station's flagship programme ...

before being promoted to Editor in 2002. At Five News she famously did away with desks in the studio, thereby introducing the concept of 'perching presenters'. During 2002, she worked on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's '' RI:SE'' as Producer before quitting after six months to rejoin ITV News as Deputy Editor. In 2004, she became the Editor of ITV News, being the first woman to become the head of network news. In 2008, Turness won 'The News and Factual Award' presented by Women in Television and Film. Also in 2008, she was the co-winner of an

Amnesty International UK Media Awards The Amnesty International Media Awards are a unique set of awards which pay tribute to the best human rights journalism in the UK. Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK's director, said that the awards recognise the "pivotal role of the UK medi ...

for the television news report 'Too Young to Die - Children of the Frontline'. In 2010, she chaired the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. As Editor of ITN, Turness presided over a series of scoops and world exclusives including the arrest of the London bomber and the leaked investigation report on the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. In May 2011, she was the only journalist invited to the Buckingham Palace State Banquet for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. She was described as one of London's 1000 most influential people in 2011. In 2013, she was appointed president of

and served in the role until February 2017. Under her leadership the news division had gains in ratings for ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...

'' and the ''Nightly News'' shows, but she appointed Jamie Horowitz to run ''

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 ...

'', who only lasted ten weeks in the role. In response to the Brian Williams controversy over his misleading statements, Turness was criticized heavily. '' Vanity Fair'' reported that several NBC News executives were displeased at her work and felt she was not qualified to do the job. In February 2017, Noah Oppenheim took over as president of NBC News and Turness was appointed president of a new division called NBC News International that was NBC's side in a partnership with Euronews, in which each network would contribute reporting to the other. She moved back to the UK. In April 2021, Turness left her role at NBC and returned to ITN as Chief Executive Officer. In January 2022, Turness was appointed CEO of BBC News.

Personal life

Turness lived in Shepherd's Bush in London with her first husband, the TV journalist Damien Steward. On 26 August 2011, she married John Toker, the former Director of Communications for Security and Intelligence at the Cabinet Office and an ITN producer. The couple have two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turness, Deborah 1967 births Living people People educated at St. Francis' College, Letchworth People educated at The Knights Templar School, Baldock English television journalists English women journalists ITN newsreaders and journalists Alumni of the University of Surrey NBC executives Women television executives Presidents of NBC News People from Hertfordshire British women television journalists BBC News people BBC executives