Deborah Turness

Deborah Turness became CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs in September 2022.

She was previously CEO of ITN, where she has led the organisation’s post-Covid strategy for growth in its three major business areas - newsrooms, long-form production and commercial/branded content.

Before this, Deborah became the first president of NBC News International, the global arm of American news network NBC News, in 2017, where she was responsible for overseeing its operations including editorial, production and commercial. She joined NBC News in 2013, becoming the first woman in US history to be President of a network news division, where she led a team of over 3000 journalists and technicians. She was responsible for all editorial content and commercial revenues for NBC News, including major brands TODAY, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Meet the Press and Dateline. During Deborah’s tenure the 3 news programmes regained their position as top ratings performers in the competitive US news market.

Prior to joining NBC News, Deborah was editor of ITV News where she was their first female editor and the youngest ever editor of ITV News. During her tenure, the organisation won an Emmy and three consecutive BAFTA awards, as well as several RTS Programme of the Year awards. She also completed a mini-MBA course at Ashridge Business School while in the role.

Deborah first joined ITN as a freelancer while on a post-graduate journalism course in France in her early twenties. Over the following years, she worked across the foreign, home and planning desks before joining the North of England bureau. Deborah was ITN’s Washington Bureau producer during the Clinton White House years and spent time in Bosnia during the Balkans War. In 1997, she played a key role in launching 5 News before moving to Channel 4 as editor of its breakfast programme, RI:SE.