Carrie Gracie

Carrie Gracie
Annette Mackenzie and Carrie Gracie at the BBC World Service (2010)
Born	1962 (age 53–54)
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh University of Oxford University of Westminster Middlesex University
Occupation	News editor, Presenter, Television producer, Newsreader
Employer	BBC
Notable credit(s)	BBC World Service BBC News 24 "Reporters (BBC News programme),
Salary	£92,000 (2009)[1]
Spouse(s)	Jin (separated)[2]
Children	2

Carrie Gracie (born 1962)^[3] is a Scottish journalist, who is employed by the BBC as the China editor for BBC News.^[4]

Early life

Gracie's father was a Scottish oil executive; Gracie was born while he was on assignment in Bahrain. She was educated in Aberdeenshire and Glasgow. She studied at University of Edinburgh, before leaving to run her own restaurant for a year. She then graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.^[5]

Career

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.^[5] She completed a BA in Chinese in 1996 followed by an MA in Design for Interactive Media from Middlesex University.^[5]

BBC career

Gracie joined the BBC World Service in 1987 as a trainee producer,^[3] 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.^[6] 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.^[5] More recently, 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.^[7]

Carrie Gracie and the crew of White Horse Village at the 67th Annual Peabody Awards

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.^[8] 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.^[9]

In December 2013, she was appointed BBC News's first editor for China, to be based in Beijing.^[4] She presented her last BBC News Channel bulletin on Friday 3 January 2014.

Personal life

Gracie speaks fluent Mandarin. She has two children with Chinese rock musician Jin. The children both spent a term in a Chinese school.^[10] In 2012, she had treatment for cancer.^[11] Gracie took extended leave in the spring of 2016 after 25 years service and to supervise her children’s A-level exams, while thinking up fresh series.

References

External links

• Carrie Gracie at the Internet Movie Database