British journalist
Carrie Gracie
(born 1962)
[2]
is a Scottish journalist and newsreader best known as having been
China
Editor for
BBC News
.
[3]
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
[
edit
]
Gracie's father was a Scottish oil
executive
; Gracie was born in
Bahrain
while he was on assignment there. She was educated in
Aberdeenshire
and
Glasgow
. She studied at the
University of Edinburgh
, before leaving to run her own restaurant for a year. She then graduated from
Hertford College, Oxford
with a degree in
Philosophy, Politics and Economics
.
[4]
Career
[
edit
]
In 1985 she went to
China
to teach
English
and
Economics
at
Yantai
and
Chongqing
Universities. On her return to
Britain
a year later she managed a small film company.
[4]
She completed a
BA
in
Chinese
in 1996 at the
University of Westminster
, followed by an
MA
in Design for Interactive Media from
Middlesex University
.
[4]
BBC career
[
edit
]
Gracie joined the
BBC World Service
in 1987 as a trainee producer,
[2]
soon becoming a correspondent as well as on assignment, including
African
, Chinese and
Asia-Pacific
regions. She became a correspondent for BBC World Service and then for domestic radio and television in
Beijing
in 1991. Gracie moved back to the UK in 1999 as a presenter on
BBC News
and on World Service.
[5]
For six years from January 2008, she was the main morning presenter for the
BBC News Channel
on Tuesdays ? Fridays alongside
Simon McCoy
. She is also a presenter for the
BBC World Service
programme
The Interview
.
Highlights of her career include covering the death of
Deng Xiaoping
and the handover of
Hong Kong
in 1997.
[4]
Gracie took part in the BBC's coverage of the
2008 Summer Olympics
in
Beijing
, as a
co-commentator
during the
opening
and closing ceremonies. In October 2008, she was presented with the inaugural
Nick Clarke Award
for her interview with BBC journalist
Alan Johnston
, who was
kidnapped
by the
Palestinian Army of Islam
in 2007.
[6]
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
scheme by the Chinese government. The programme was broadcast on 5 March 2012.
[7]
Gracie and the crew of White Horse Village at the 67th Annual
Peabody Awards
in 2008
In an earlier series of features for BBC World News (TV) and
BBC World Service
(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.
[8]
In December 2013, she was appointed BBC News' first editor for China based in Beijing.
[3]
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
[9]
and it was £135,000 in 2017, but she said the dispute was about parity and not about the amount.
Jeremy Bowen
, the BBC Middle East editor, earned somewhere between £150,000 and £199,000, while North American editor
Jon Sopel
earned somewhere between £200,000 and £249,000.
[10]
The BBC had offered a 33% pay rise but, according to Gracie, had failed to offer equal pay.
[11]
The dispute occurred against a background of complaints about excessive pay for some employees of the publicly funded BBC.
[12]
[13]
The BBC stated it had "inadvertently" underpaid her by £100,000 because the senior journalist was “in development.”
[14]
Gracie returned to her former post in the BBC newsroom
[15]
[16]
on a salary of £145,000.
[13]
In December 2017 and January 2018, Gracie acted as a guest presenter of the
BBC Radio 4
Today
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
. In June 2018
[17]
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.
[18]
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.
[19]
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.
[20]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Gracie speaks fluent
Mandarin
. She has two children with her former husband,
Chinese rock
musician Cheng Jin
[21]
. The children both spent a term in a Chinese school.
[22]
In 2012, she received treatment for
cancer
.
[23]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Andrew Moody
"A sense of history"
,
China Daily
, 1 February 2013
- ^
a
b
Ben Dowell
"Carrie Gracie profile: Award-winning journalist with years at World Service"
, theguardian.com, 12 May 2009
- ^
a
b
"BBC appoints Telegraph's Kamal Ahmed as business editor"
.
BBC News
. 20 December 2013
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
BBC News | Correspondent Biographies | Carrie Gracie
, 14 June 1998
- ^
"Carrie Gracie"
. 14 July 2006 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
- ^
Dowell, Ben (13 October 2008). "
Carrie Gracie wins first Nick Clarke Award
". guardian.co.uk (Guardian News and Media). Retrieved on 12 May 2009.
- ^
"The Fastest Changing Place on Earth, This World - BBC Two"
.
BBC
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
"BBC World Service - Documentaries - Return to White Horse Village"
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
Ben Dowell
"I'm paid £92,000 a year, BBC News presenter tells peer in live interview"
, theguardian.com, 8 January 2018
- ^
"The 42 BBC journalists paid more than £150,000 a year ? Press Gazette"
.
www.pressgazette.co.uk
. 19 July 2017
. Retrieved
10 January
2018
.
- ^
Weaver, Matthew (8 January 2018).
"Carrie Gracie: 'I could not collude in unlawful pay discrimination'
"
.
The Guardian
.
ISSN
0261-3077
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
"Jeremy Corbyn pledges to slash salaries of BBC stars if Labour wins power"
.
The Independent
. 19 July 2017
. Retrieved
12 January
2018
.
- ^
a
b
editor, Graham Ruddick Media (9 January 2018).
"New culture secretary attacks pay of BBC foreign editors"
.
The Guardian
.
ISSN
0261-3077
. Retrieved
12 January
2018
.
- ^
"Carrie Gracie: Insulting BBC said it underpaid me 'inadvertently' because I was 'in development'
"
.
inews.co.uk
. 31 January 2018
. Retrieved
31 January
2018
.
- ^
"BBC China editor Carrie Gracie quits in gender pay row"
.
BBC News
. 7 January 2018
. Retrieved
7 January
2018
.
- ^
Di Stefano, Mark (7 January 2018).
"A Top BBC Journalist Has Quit As China Editor And Accused The Corporation Of Having A "Secretive And Illegal" Pay Culture"
.
BuzzFeed
. Retrieved
7 January
2018
.
- ^
"BBC - Statement from the BBC and Carrie Gracie - Media Centre"
.
www.bbc.co.uk
. Retrieved
6 September
2019
.
- ^
Clark, Alex (2 September 2019).
"Carrie Gracie: 'I learned about equal pay the hard way'
"
.
The Observer
.
ISSN
0029-7712
. Retrieved
6 September
2019
.
- ^
"BBC apologises to Carrie Gracie over pay"
. 10 May 2018
. Retrieved
10 July
2018
.
- ^
PA Media (26 August 2020).
"Carrie Gracie leaves BBC after 33 years"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
26 August
2020
.
- ^
Goldkorn, Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy; Kuo, Kaiser (6 October 2022).
"Sinica live in London, with legendary BBC presenter and China editor Carrie Gracie"
.
The China Project
. Retrieved
5 November
2023
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Back to school... in China
,
From Our Own Correspondent
,
BBC, 29 July 2006
- ^
Bowater, Donna (17 May 2012).
"BBC newsreader Carrie Gracie returns after cancer treatment"
.
The Daily Telegraph
.
ISSN
0307-1235
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
External links
[
edit
]
Media offices
|
New title
|
China Editor:
BBC News
2014?2018
|
Position abolished
|