Mary Ann Sieghart
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Mary Ann Corinna Howard Sieghart (born 6 August 1961) is an
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 ...
author, journalist, radio presenter and former assistant editor of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'', where she wrote columns about politics, social affairs and life in general. She has also written a weekly political column in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
''. Her best-selling book, ''The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About It'', was published by Transworld/Doubleday in July 2021. On
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' ...
, she has been a presenter of ''
Start the Week ''Start the Week'' is a discussion programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 which began in April 1970. The current presenter is the former BBC political editor and the BBC's former political Sunday morning presenter Andrew Marr. The previous regular ...
'' and has also presented ''Fallout'', ''Analysis'', ''Profile'', ''One to One'' and ''Beyond Westminster'', as well as many one-off documentaries. She is a visiting professor at King's College London and chaired the
Social Market Foundation The Social Market Foundation (SMF) is an independent British political public policy think-tank based in Westminster, London. It is one of the 'Top 12 Think Tanks in Britain' and was named 'UK Think Tank of the Year' by Prospect in 2012. Its pur ...
, an independent think tank, from 2010 to 2020. She has been a non-executive director of the Ofcom Content Board, a member of the
Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...
Council, and is currently a Non-Executive Director of the Guardian Media Group, Chair of the Investment Committee of The Scott Trust (owner of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' and ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'') and non-executive director of two large FTSE investment trusts: Pantheon International and The Merchants Trust. She is Chair of Judges for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022. In 2018, she was named as one of the Female FTSE 100 Women to Watch. She was appointed a Visiting Fellow of
All Souls College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...
,
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, for the academic year 2018–19, where she researched ''The Authority Gap''. She has since been an Associate Member of Nuffield College, Oxford (2019–20) and a Senior Academic Visitor at Oriel College, Oxford (2020-21). She is now a visiting professor at King's College London.


Personal life

Sieghart was born in Hammersmith,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1961, the daughter of Paul Sieghart, a human rights lawyer, campaigner, broadcaster and author, and Felicity Ann Olga Howard (née Baer), chairman of the
National Association for Gifted Children National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
, magistrate and later managing director of the Aldeburgh Cinema. Her older brother is
William Sieghart William Matthew Timothy Stephen Sieghart (born 1960) is a British entrepreneur, publisher and philanthropist and the founder of the Forward Prizes for Poetry. He is former chairman of the Somerset House Trust. Education and career Born in 1 ...
. She attended
Cobham Hall School Cobham Hall School is an independent day and boarding school for girls in the English parish of Cobham, Kent. It is a Round Square school and a member of the Girls' Schools Association. The school is housed in Cobham Hall, a Tudor era Grade I l ...
and
Bedales School Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conven ...
. She won a scholarship to
Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...
, when she was 16, and graduated with a first-class degree in Philosophy, politics and economics in 1982.''The Independent'', 28 April 1997, Media Families: 11. The Siegharts, Mary Ann Sieghart and her daughter, Evie Prichard; William Sieghart and his wife
Molly Dineen Molly Dineen (born 7 March 1959) is a television documentary director, cinematographer and producer. One of Britain's most acclaimed documentary filmmakers, Molly is known for her intimate and probing portraits of British individuals and institut ...
Sieghart suffers from
prosopagnosia Prosopagnosia (from Greek ''prósōpon'', meaning "face", and ''agnōsía'', meaning "non-knowledge"), also called face blindness, ("illChoisser had even begun tpopularizea name for the condition: face blindness.") is a cognitive disorder of f ...
, which makes it difficult to recognize familiar faces. Her mother, husband, and one of her children suffer from the same condition.


Career

Sieghart's abilities were admired by
Bill Deedes William Francis Deedes, Baron Deedes, (1 June 1913 – 17 August 2007) was a British Conservative politician, army officer and journalist. He was the first person in Britain to have been both a member of the Cabinet and the editor of a major da ...
. Deedes hired her to work at ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' during the 1980 university summer vacation, where she spent time sub-editing, working on the "Peterborough" column and on features. She returned for subsequent vacations and again took on various roles, including writing some leaders. Deedes notes that "Let loose on the leader page, Mary Ann wove a sometimes startling liberal thread through the ''Daily Telegraph's'' blue tapestry." He offered her a job on graduation but simultaneously advised her to apply elsewhere because the ''Daily Telegraph'' was in financial trouble. After Oxford, Sieghart joined the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'', where she became Eurobond Correspondent and then a
Lex column The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
ist. She spent a summer in 1984 working for ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', as the Laurence Stern Fellow. From the ''FT'', she was recruited to be City Editor of ''
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 ...
'' newspaper at its launch in 1986. When it was taken over by
Tiny Rowland Roland Walter "Tiny" Rowland (; 27 November 1917 – 25 July 1998) was a British businessman, corporate raider and the chief executive of the Lonrho conglomerate from 1962 to 1993. He gained fame from a number of high-profile takeover bids, in ...
, she moved to ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'' to be Political Correspondent. She also presented '' The World This Week'' on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
. In 1988, she joined ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'', as editor of the comment pages. During her time there, she was also Arts Editor, Chief Political leader-writer and acting editor of the paper on Mondays. In 1995, she chaired the revival of ''
The Brains Trust ''The Brains Trust'' was an informational BBC radio and later television programme popular in the United Kingdom during the 1940s and 1950s, on which a panel of experts tried to answer questions sent in by the audience. History The series was ...
'' on BBC2. In 2003, Bill Hagerty, editor of the '' British Journalism Review'', described Sieghart as "very talented" but criticised her assumption that
broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...
journalism in newspapers such as ''The Times'' was intrinsically better or more effective than
tabloid journalism Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known a ...
.Bill Hagert
"Uphill fight for rolling news"
''Press Gazette'' website, 11 April 2003. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
In 2007, she left ''The Times'' to pursue a portfolio career. From 2010 to 2012, she wrote the main opinion column in ''The Independent'' on Mondays. Sieghart is a regular broadcaster. She was an occasional presenter of ''
Start the Week ''Start the Week'' is a discussion programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 which began in April 1970. The current presenter is the former BBC political editor and the BBC's former political Sunday morning presenter Andrew Marr. The previous regular ...
'' on Radio 4 and presented ''
Newshour ''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). Each edition lasts one hour. It consists of ...
'' on 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 ...
from 2008 to 2010: she has also presented ''Analysis'', ''Fallout'', ''Profile'', ''One to One'' and ''Beyond Westminster'' on Radio 4. She has often appeared on programmes such as ''
Question Time A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be ca ...
'', ''
Any Questions ''Any Questions?'' is a British topical discussion programme "in which a panel of personalities from the worlds of politics, media, and elsewhere are posed questions by the audience". It is typically broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Fridays at 8 ...
'', ''
Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
The World Tonight ''The World Tonight'' is a British current affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4, every weekday evening, which started out as an extension of the 10 pm news. It is produced by BBC News and features news, analysis and comment on domes ...
'' and ''
Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by ...
''. She was a regular co-presenter of ''Start the Week'' during the time Melvyn Bragg was the programme's main presenter and has been a guest presenter of ''The Week in Westminster'' and ''Dispatch Box''.


Other activities

Sieghart is visiting professor at King's College London, Non-Executive Director of the Guardian Media Group, chair of the investment committee of the
Scott Trust Scott Trust Limited is the British company that owns Guardian Media Group and thus ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'' as well as various other media businesses in the UK. In 2008, it replaced the Scott Trust, which had owned ''The Guardian'' s ...
, and a non-executive director of Pantheon International and The Merchants Trust. She is Chair of Judges of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022. Until recently, she was chair of the
Social Market Foundation The Social Market Foundation (SMF) is an independent British political public policy think-tank based in Westminster, London. It is one of the 'Top 12 Think Tanks in Britain' and was named 'UK Think Tank of the Year' by Prospect in 2012. Its pur ...
, and also sat on the boards of the Henderson Smaller Companies Investment Trust, DLN Digital Ltd, the Council of
Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...
and the Content Board of Ofcom. She is senior trustee of the Kennedy Memorial Trust and has previously served as a trustee of the Radcliffe Trust,
Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
, steering committee member of the
No Campaign The 'no' campaign was a Eurosceptic campaign in the United Kingdom beginning in 2000 which was opposed to the UK's adoption of the euro. The campaign was funded by Business for Sterling and New Europe groups and was mothballed in spring 2004 a ...
and New Europe, member of the Advisory Board of the Social Studies Faculty at Oxford University and other voluntary posts.


References


External links


Official website
* (in conversation with Tracey Matisak, broadcast journalist formerly of
WTXF-TV WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Mark ...
) * (hosted by
Cara Santa Maria Cara Louise Santa Maria (born October 19, 1983) is an American science communicator. She hosts the podcast ''Talk Nerdy'' and co-hosts '' The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe'' podcast, and was a co-host of TechKnow on Al Jazeera America. Santa M ...
) * (in conversation with Councillor Alison Jenner, civil parish of
Cumnor Cumnor is a village and civil parish 3½ miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of Oxford, England. The village is about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Botley and its centre is west of the A420 road to Swindon. The parish includes Cumn ...
in
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sieghart, Mary Ann 1961 births Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford English columnists English journalists English radio presenters Living people People educated at Bedales School People educated at Cobham Hall School People from West Kensington The Daily Telegraph people The Times people
Mary Ann Sieghart Mary Ann Corinna Howard Sieghart (born 6 August 1961) is an England, English author, journalist, radio presenter and former assistant editor of ''The Times'', where she wrote columns about politics, social affairs and life in general. She has al ...