Helen Boaden

Helen Boaden
Born (1956-03-01) 1 March 1956
Colchester, Essex
Nationality British
Education Northgate Grammar School, Suffolk
Cedars Grammar School, Bedfordshire
Alma mater University of Sussex
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
London College of Printing
Occupation Director of BBC Radio
Employer BBC
Known for Director of BBC Radio (2013–)
Director of BBC News (2004–2013)
Controller of BBC7 (2002–2004)
Controller of BBC Radio 4 (2000–2004)
Salary £340,000 (total remuneration £352,900)[1]

Helen Boaden (born 1956) is a British broadcasting executive who spent more than 30 years working for the BBC until it was announced in late September 2016 that she is leaving the BBC in March 2017.[2]

In February 2013, Boaden assumed the role of the BBC's Director of Radio, including responsibilities for their national networks for music and speech, following negative publicity about her role in the BBC's initial non-coverage of Jimmy Savile's history of sexually abusing children.[3]

Early life

Boaden was born on 1 March 1956 in Colchester in Essex. Her father was an FE lecturer in Geography and then worked for a teaching union. She says that she came "from one of those families where there was quite a lot of shouting and plates whizzing through the air".[4]

Education

Boaden says that she found school "a great relief from home life because it was calm and ordered".[4] She was educated at Rushmere junior school and Northgate Grammar School (now Northgate High School) in the large county town of Ipswich in Suffolk, and at Cedars Grammar School (now Cedars Upper School) in the town of Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire,[4] followed by the University of Sussex, where she gained a BA Honours in English Literature and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1999, where she gained an MBA.[5]

Life and career

Boaden started her career in 1978 as a Care Assistant with disturbed adolescents in the London Borough of Hackney.[5] The following year, she became a journalist with the New York City radio station WBAI. On returning to the UK, she took a course in Radio Journalism at the London College of Printing (now the London College of Communication). After Radio Tees and Radio Aire, she joined the BBC in 1983 as a news producer with Radio Leeds. From there, she joined BBC Radio 4 as a reporter on the File on 4 series, then as its Editor from 1991. Boaden worked from the BBC in Manchester as a presenter for Woman's Hour and later presented other documentaries for Radio 4, and also for the Brass Tacks political programme on BBC Two.

In 1997, Boaden became the BBC's Head of Business Programmes, then in 1998 Head of BBC Current Affairs – the first woman to hold this position. She was Controller of BBC Radio 4 from March 2000 until 20 September 2004, superseded by Mark Damazer. She became Controller of BBC7 in 2002, when the station started.[6] In 2004, she succeeded Richard Sambrook as Director of BBC News.

Boaden attracted criticism following the July 7 terror attacks in London when she issued a memo instructing BBC staff not to refer to the perpetrators as terrorists, arguing that the term "can be a barrier rather than aid to understanding". Former BBC reporter Martin Bell was one of those who condemned the memo, accusing the BBC being "overcautious" and noting that the attackers seemed to meet the definition of terrorists. Writing in The Spectator, Michael Vestey suggested "it’s almost as if the BBC is afraid of offending suicide bombers in the Muslim world".[7][8]

In December 2012, Boaden was asked to temporarily step down from her position as the Director of BBC News while the BBC awaited the results of Operation Yewtree,[9] a wide-ranging police investigation of sexual abuse, primarily of children, by former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile (who died in 2011) and others. A second and parallel investigation, launched by the BBC into possible management failings at the Corporation, called the Pollard Report after the lead investigator, Nick Pollard (a former senior executive at Sky News), criticised the BBC and several executive members for continuing with plans to celebrate Savile's life, despite apparently having received advanced information that Savile was being investigated for multiple cases of sexual abuse. The report explicitly criticised Boaden for having handled the matter too casually.[10] Boaden returned to her position later the same month.[9]

In February 2013, Boaden was appointed director of radio[11][12] by incoming director-general Tony Hall.[3] This was widely seen as a demotion. After a period with Fran Unsworth in her former post, James Harding became Director of BBC News later in 2013.[13]

Boaden is a Fellow of The Radio Academy.[14]

Awards

Boaden has won Sony Awards for a programme on AIDS in Africa, and bullying in Feltham Young Offenders Institution when at File on 4. Radio 4 won the Gold Award for Station of the Year in 2003 and 2004. In 1990, Boaden won awards from the Industrial Society for her work on safety standards in the oil industry. She has honorary degrees from Suffolk College, the University of Sussex, and the University of York. She is on the committee of the Sony Radio Academy. In February 2013 she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.

Personal life

Boaden is married and owns a home in Scarborough.[15]

References

  1. ↑ BBC - Inside the BBC - Helen Boaden, Director, Radio
  2. ↑ "BBC leadership changes announced as Helen Boaden retires". BBC Media Centre. 30 September 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  3. 1 2 Tom Harper "BBC news head Helen Boaden moved to radio as ex-minister becomes strategy chief", London Evening Standard, 14 February 2013
  4. 1 2 3 My Best Teacher - Interview with Helen Boaden Publisher: Times Educational Supplement. Published: 20 April 2001. Updated: 11 May 2008. Retrieved: 30 January 2013.
  5. 1 2 Helen Boaden Publisher: The Media Briefing.Com Retrieved: 30 January 2013.
  6. ↑ . Boaden takes news hot seat BBC News Online; 22 July 2004
  7. ↑ BBC Backlash at 'Terrorist' Warning - Daily Mail (London) | HighBeam Research
  8. ↑ Mercenary mentality » 23 Jul 2005 » The Spectator Archive
  9. 1 2 Rayner, Gordon (20 December 2012). "BBC News boss Helen Boaden describes publication of Pollard Report as a 'grim day' as she returns to work". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Swinford, Steven (20 December 2012). "BBC chiefs survive Jimmy Savile fiasco". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  11. ↑ http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/bbc-news-head-helen-boaden-moved-to-radio-as-exminister-becomes-strategy-chief-8494831.html
  12. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9858270/Helen-Boaden-offered-BBC-radio-job.html
  13. ↑ Josh Halliday "James Harding named BBC News chief", guardian.co.uk, 16 April 2013
  14. ↑ The Radio Academy "Fellows"
  15. ↑ "A visit from Helen Boaden, Director of BBC News - News and events". The University of York. Retrieved 12 July 2014.

External links

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