View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

BBC’s Kate Adie says being a reporter is an ‘absolute privilege’ as she accepts Bafta Fellowship

By Charlotte Tobitt

Former BBC broadcast journalist Kate Adie OBE said being a reporter is an “absolute privilege” as she accepted the Bafta Fellowship last night.

Adie, who spent her working life at the BBC, including 14 years as chief news correspondent for BBC News until 2003, said her job was “essential in a democracy”.

She began her career in local radio with BBC Radio Durham before moving into broadcasting.

Her big break came when the BBC interrupted its coverage of the World Snooker Championships in 1980 for her coverage of the Iranian Embassy siege in London from behind a car door.

She then went on to report from conflicts around the world, including the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, the Gulf War in Iraq, Kosovo in 1998 and Sierra Leone in 2000.

During her career Adie has been shot at on more than one occasion.

Adie said: “I’ve been very lucky. I think being a reporter is just a wonderful job, it’s fascinating, it’s surprising, it demands a lot of you, but it is so rewarding and you get the chance via television to tell people at home all about it. It’s a fabulous feeling.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

“I also think that it’s important because it’s essential in a democracy. We hold truth to power, we tell it like it is, and in these times I think that is even more important than ever.”

She added: “It’s a wonderful job to do. I’ve had marvellous colleagues, great support from the BBC, but over all of those years I’ve learnt one very special thing: it’s an absolute privilege to be a reporter.”

The award was presented by BBC News presenter Kate Silverton, who said Adie was a “genuine hero” of hers, adding: “I became a journalist because of her.”

She said: “I was able to report from Iraq and Afghanistan because she had forged the path before me and so many other young women who followed her lead.”

Silverton added: “She remains a fearless trailblazer. Most of us at some time have heard her reports from the world’s most dangerous conflict zones, her cool, crisp voice serving to bring home the tragedy of conflict, be it in the Balkans, Gulf War, Ireland or Rwanda.

“Her care, her tenacity, determination and fearlessness knows no bounds as we saw in her reports from Tiananmen Square when she remained to report despite the great risk to her personal safety.”

Silverton described Adie as an “exceptional” broadcast journalist and author and commended her hunger for the truth and clear way of telling a complex story.

“Kate is revered by her peers, especially her female colleagues. She is kind, brave, brilliant, determined and utterly deserving of this fellowship,” she added.

Picture: BBC/Bafta

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network