Deborah Turness
 Deborah Turness    | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 4 March 1967 |
| Alma mater | University of Bordeaux, University of Surrey |
| Spouse | John Toker |
In January 2022, the BBC announced that ITN CEO Deborah Turness, a former NBC News President, has been appointed CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, replacing Fran Unsworth.[1]
Deborah Turness, who will be paid £400,000 per year, will be responsible for a team of 6,000 journalists that is shifting to digital, moving out of London and losing hundreds of staff as part of a multimillion-pound savings drive. Her job title differs from Director of News and Current Affairs Unsworth’s, which the BBC said is a reflection of its “ambition to continue to build the BBC’s global news brand and grow its news services.”[2]
Rhetorical tweet
On 6 January 2022, HijackedEUrophile tweeted:
Is the new head of BBC News the same Deborah Turness who is married to a senior Cabinet Office civil servant & Director of Communications for Security and Intelligence, John Toker?
No prizes for guessing his politics!
I’m sure the Tory DG had no ulterior motive for selecting her.[3]
Petition for her sacking
On 2 January 2025, a Change.org petition was created which states:
They say “a fish rots from the head”. At the BBC that head is Deborah Turness.
She is the CEO of BBC News, and this is happening on her watch. Your licence fee pays her £400K + salary.
Deborah Turness must go, and the BBC must commit to rooting out all its zionists, from Robbie Gibb, who sits on the BBC’s Editorial Standards Committee and who has links to the discredited Jewish Chronicle, to Raffi Berg whose dangerous bias is now being exposed by a number of sources.
The BBC has ceased to be a broadcaster you can trust. You deserve better than to be manipulated by its news output.[4]
Event Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEF/Annual Meeting/2019 | 22 January 2019 | 25 January 2019 | Switzerland World Economic Forum | "The reality is that we are in a Cold War [against China] that threatens to turn into a hot one." |
