Kamal Ahmed (journalist)

Last updated

Kamal Ahmed
Kamal Ahmed at the 2019 Chiswick Book Festival.jpg
Ahmed at the 2019 Chiswick Book Festival
Born
Kamal Ahmed

(1967-11-15) 15 November 1967 (age 55)
Ealing, London, England
Education Drayton Manor High School
Alma mater University of Leeds
City University Department of Journalism
Occupation(s) Journalist, editor, administrator
Employer BBC
TitleEconomics Editor of BBC News (20162018)
Business Editor of BBC News (20142016)
Editorial Director of BBC News (20182021)
Spouse
(m. 2011;sep. 2015)
Awards CFA Society UK's ethical and professional standards award 2013 [1]

Kamal Ahmed (born 15 November 1967) is a British journalist, who was Editorial Director of BBC News. [2] He was Economics Editor at the BBC until November 2018, and Business Editor from March 2014, until Simon Jack was appointed as his successor in February 2016. [3]

Contents

Ahmed was formerly the political editor of The Observer , business editor of The Sunday Telegraph and Director of Communications at the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Early life and education

Ahmed is the son of an English mother from Rotherham and a Sudanese father who was a research scientist in ophthalmology. [4] He grew up in Ealing. From 1980 to 1986, Ahmed was educated at Drayton Manor High School, [5] a state comprehensive school in Hanwell in the London Borough of Ealing in West London, followed by the University of Leeds, from which he graduated in 1990 with a degree in political studies. [6] He then trained in journalism at the City University Department of Journalism.

Career

Ahmed worked on local newspapers in Scotland before joining Scotland on Sunday in 1993. [7] He later moved to The Guardian and became executive news editor and political editor at The Observer newspaper. [3] Ahmed was later criticised by fellow journalist Nick Davies for maintaining an inappropriately close relationship with Downing Street while serving as political editor, and for publishing numerous articles that "contained significant falsehood or distortion". [8] Ahmed described Davies' claims as untrue and "hearsay". [9] After leaving the newspaper, he then became group Director of Communications at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, [3] recruited by its then chairman Trevor Phillips. [10]

In 2009, Ahmed was appointed business editor for The Sunday Telegraph , [10] [11] undertaking a course at the London Business School before replacing Mark Kleinman, who left for Sky News. [12] In 2013 he became executive business editor, with a role across the Sunday and Daily Telegraph print editions. [3] [13]

On 20 December 2013, it was announced that Ahmed would replace Robert Peston as the business editor of BBC News, [3] [14] and on 24 March 2014 he assumed the post.

On 3 December 2015, after Peston's departure to ITV, it was announced that Ahmed would replace him as the BBC economics editor, with his successor as business editor of BBC News would be announced early in 2016. [15]

On 30 July 2018, Ahmed was announced as BBC News's Editorial Director, [16] with Faisal Islam replacing him in his previous role. [17] In November 2020 at a virtual ceremony, Ahmed was announced as one of the United Kingdom's most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage by being included in the 2021 edition of the annual Powerlist . [18]

In February 2021, the BBC announced that Ahmed, along with seven others, had been made redundant. "I would like to thank them for their outstanding contribution to BBC News to date and we are exploring future options for them," said Fran Unsworth, Director of News, in an email to BBC staff. "Change is never easy but it is important to have this new structure in place." This now means they have no BAME representation on the News board. [2]

In May 2021, it was reported that Ahmed joined former Dow Jones CEO William Lewis (journalist) in founding the News Movement, [19] a digital news company aiming to counter misinformation. Ahmed will serve as its Editor-in-Chief.

Personal life

Ahmed has two children from his first marriage to Gemma Curtin. [20] He later married the journalist and novelist Elizabeth Day in December 2011. [21] The couple separated in February 2015 and are now divorced. [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Murdoch</span> British media executive

James Rupert Jacob Murdoch is a British-American businessman. He is the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the former chief executive officer (CEO) of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Neil</span> Scottish journalist and broadcaster (born 1949)

Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster who is chairman of The Spectator and presenter of The Andrew Neil Show on Channel 4. He was editor of The Sunday Times from 1983 to 1994. He has presented BBC political programmes and was chairman of GB News.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Evans</span> British journalist and writer (1928–2020)

Sir Harold Matthew Evans was a British-American journalist and writer. In his career in his native Britain, he was editor of The Sunday Times from 1967 to 1981, and its sister title The Times for a year from 1981, before being forced out of the latter post by Rupert Murdoch. While at The Sunday Times, he led the newspaper's campaign to seek compensation for mothers who had taken the morning sickness drug thalidomide, which led to their children having severely deformed limbs.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) took its present form on 1 January 1927 when John Reith became its first Director-General. Reith stated that impartiality and objectivity were the essence of professionalism in broadcasting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Peston</span> British journalist

Robert James Kenneth Peston is an English journalist, presenter, and author. He is the political editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston. From 2006 until 2014, he was the business editor of BBC News and its economics editor from 2014 to 2015. He became known to the wider public with his reporting on the late 2000s financial crisis, especially with his exclusive information on the Northern Rock crisis. He is the founder of the education charity Speakers for Schools.

Liam James Halligan is a British economist, journalist, author and broadcaster. He is currently economics and business editor at GB News.

Drayton Manor High School, formerly Drayton Manor Grammar School, is an academy school located in Hanwell, west London, England. The school was granted academy status in August 2011. Its emblem is a phoenix rising from a crown with the legend 'Nec Aspera Terrent', which means 'hardships do not deter us'.

The Department of Journalism at City, University of London, is a journalism school in London. It is regarded as one of the best universities in the United Kingdom for the study of journalism. as well as the nation's largest centre for journalism education. It was described by Michael Hann of The Guardian, along with Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, as the "Oxbridge of journalism".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Lewis (journalist)</span> British newspaper publishing executive

Sir William John Lewis is a British media executive and was formerly chief executive of Dow Jones and Company and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Earlier in his career he was known as a journalist and then editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Browne (politician)</span> British journalist, businessman and politician (born 1967)

Anthony Howe Browne is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire since the 2019 general election. He is a member of the Conservative Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Kuenssberg</span> British journalist (born 1976)

Laura Juliet Kuenssberg is a British journalist who presents the BBC's flagship Sunday morning politics show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Harding (journalist)</span> British journalist

James Paul Harding is a British journalist, and a former Director of BBC News who was in the post from August 2013 until 1 January 2018. He is the co-founder of Tortoise Media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allegra Stratton</span> British journalist (born 1980)

Allegra Elizabeth Jane Stratton is a British former political aide, journalist, and writer who served as Downing Street Press Secretary under Boris Johnson from November 2020 to April 2021.

<i>The Daily Telegraph</i> British daily broadsheet newspaper

The Daily Telegraph, known online and elsewhere as The Telegraph, is a conservative national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as The Daily Telegraph & Courier. Considered a newspaper of record, The Telegraph has been described as being "one of the world's great titles". The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", was included in its emblem which was used for over a century starting in 1858.

Amol Rajan is an Indian-born British journalist, broadcaster and writer. Rajan is a former adviser to Evgeny Lebedev, Lord Lebedev of Siberia, and was appointed the editor of his newspaper The Independent in 2013. When The Independent announced it was dropping the print edition in February 2016, and continuing as only an online operation, he was retained for a period as "editor-at-large". He was the media editor of BBC News from December 2016 to January 2023, and has been a presenter on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 since 2021. He replaced Jeremy Paxman as the host of University Challenge on 17 July 2023.

Elizabeth Day is an English novelist, journalist and broadcaster. She was a feature writer for The Observer from 2007 to 2016, and wrote for You magazine. Day has written six books, and is also the host of the podcast How to Fail with Elizabeth Day.

Anushka Asthana is a British Indian journalist and television presenter, who is currently deputy political editor of ITV News.

The Powerlist is a list of the 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom. The list is updated annually and has been published in book format by Powerful Media since 2007. The Powerlist is not limited to British-born citizens and includes immigrants to the UK.

The 14th annual Powerlist, which names the 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom, was judged by an independent panel and published in November 2020, sponsored by JP Morgan & Co, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Linklaters, Refinitiv, Herman Miller, Facebook and The Executive Leadership Council. The 2021 Powerlist came in a year in which public debate on racial injustice had increased, with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and global protests against police brutality. Therefore, chief executive Michael Eboda decided that the 14th Powerlist would honour those who have used their voice to advocate against racial injustice. Furthermore, the rankings highlighted the work of healthcare professionals during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which also resulted in the awards being held virtually on 17 November 2020, hosted by Kwame Kwei-Armah.

References

  1. "Annual report" (PDF). CFA UK. 30 June 2013.
  2. 1 2 "BBC makes editorial director Kamal Ahmed redundant in restructure". The Guardian. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "BBC appoints Telegraph's Kamal Ahmed as business editor". BBC News. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  4. Ahmed, Kamal (9 November 2008). "After Obama, I can be proud of what I really am: black and white". The Observer.
  5. "Alumni News - Kamal Ahmed". Drayton Manor High School, Hanwell. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  6. "Who's been here? | Politics and International Studies (POLIS)". University of Leeds. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  7. "BBC Radio 5 live - On the Money". BBC. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  8. Davies, Nick, Flat Earth News, 340-385.
  9. Savage, Michael (11 February 2008). "Kamal Ahmed: 'Nick is a coward'. Ahmed bites back". The Independent . Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  10. 1 2 Pidd, Helen (26 July 2009). "Trevor Phillips 'shocked' as ally quits watchdog". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  11. Luft, Oliver (27 July 2009). "Former Observer exec Kamal Ahmed joins Sunday Telegraph". Press Gazette . Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  12. Bates, Victoria (21 August 2009). "New Sunday Telegraph Business Editor on Steep Learning Curve". City AM. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  13. "Column - Kamal Ahmed". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 16 October 2009. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  14. Plunkett, John (20 December 2013). "BBC appoints Sunday Telegraph's Kamal Ahmed as business editor". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  15. "BBC - Kamal Ahmed appointed new BBC Economics Editor - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
  16. "BBC - BBC announces Kamal Ahmed as Editorial Director and Gavin Allen as Head of News Output - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
  17. "Sky News Political Editor defects to BBC". Prolific North. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  18. Lavender, Jane (17 November 2020). "Lewis Hamilton ends incredible year top of influential Black Powerlist 2021". mirror. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  19. "Ex-Dow Jones CEO Launches Startup to Tackle Misinformation". Bloomberg. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  20. "Kamal Ahmed's book about his childhood shines a light on racism in the UK". www.standard.co.uk. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  21. "MGC News" Archived 12 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine , Malvern St James, OGA News, Spring 2013, p.17
  22. "Cambridge graduate, a successful career as an award-winning author and journalist, invitations to A-list parties... why life is good for Elizabeth Day". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 22 November 2019.
Media offices
Preceded by Business Editor: BBC News
2014–2016
Succeeded by
Economics Editor: BBC News
2016–2018
Succeeded by
Position established Editorial Director: BBC News
2018–2021
Position abolished