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Press Releases
Martha Kearney to become presenter of Radio 4's The World At One
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91Èȱ¬ News and 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4 are delighted to announce that Martha Kearney is to be
the main presenter of The World At One.
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Martha - currently Political Editor and a presenter on 91Èȱ¬ Two's Newsnight and Newsnight
Review and Woman's Hour on Radio 4 - will take up her role in April 2007.
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Shaun Ley is to be appointed as the main presenter of The World This Weekend,
and will also present The World At One every Friday.
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Long-running presenter of The World At One, Nick Clarke, died in November 2006.
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Helen Boaden, Director of 91Èȱ¬ News, welcomed the appointment: "I am absolutely delighted that Martha will be the new presenter of The World
at One.
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"Her intelligence, warmth and long experience in political journalism
make her a perfect successor to Nick Clarke."
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Mark Damazer, Controller of Radio 4, said:
"I am thrilled that Martha Kearney will be taking over from the much missed
Nick Clarke as the main presenter of The World At One.
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"She has delighted the
Woman's Hour audience for several years.
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"On Newsnight she has demonstrated
outstanding political knowledge and insight - and a flair for communicating
those insights to the audience."
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Martha Kearney commented: "For me The World At One is the perfect forum for intelligent analysis and
interviewing - that's largely due to the legacy of Nick Clarke whom I admired
hugely.
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"Presenting the programme will be a really exciting challenge and a
genuine honour."
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Colin Hancock, Editor of The World At One and The World This Weekend, said: "Martha has an incredibly strong track record as a political journalist and
broadcaster - managing to be both authoritative and engaging.
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"I'm delighted
she's going to be joining us.
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"It's been a very difficult year with Nick's
illness and death, and particularly difficult for Shaun who's been a superb
presenter for us during this period, so I'm also very pleased indeed that we're
now able to appoint him as one of our two full-time presenters.
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"Martha and
Shaun will make a very formidable team."
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Biography
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Martha Kearney began her career in commercial broadcasting at LBC/IRN radio. Ìý
Initially
a phone operator on the Brian Hayes programme she became a reporter, presenter
and then a lobby correspondent.
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Martha worked on A Week In Politics on Channel 4, the 91Èȱ¬ political programme
On The Record and 91Èȱ¬ One's Panorama before joining Newsnight in 1994.
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A
specialist in Northern Ireland her live reports from the riots at Drumcree
earned her a Bafta nomination.
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In 2000 she became Newsnight's Political Editor.
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In 2004 her film about Jack
Straw at the United Nations made headlines around the world when his handshake
with Robert Mugabe was captured on camera.
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At the start of 2006, she became a
regular presenter of Newsnight Review.
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Radio has been an important part of Martha's career. Since 1998 she has been a
presenter on Woman's Hour.
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In 2004 Martha was named (with Jenni Murray) as the
TRIC Radio Presenter of the Year.
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She has also won a Sony Bronze award for a
special on child poverty.
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Most recently, MPs and peers voted Martha the House Magazine Political Commentator
of the Year in 2005.
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She was chair of the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction. Ìý
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