Emily Margesson Buchanan is a British journalist who has worked for the BBC, in both radio and television.

Early life

Born in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, West London, Buchanan is the daughter of George Buchanan, a novelist and poet from Northern Ireland, and the Hon. Janet Margesson, whose father was

David Margesson, 1st Viscount Margesson Henry David Reginald Margesson, 1st Viscount Margesson, PC (26 July 1890 – 24 December 1965) was a British Conservative politician, most popularly remembered for his tenure as Government Chief Whip in the 1930s. His reputation was of a stern ...

, a Conservative cabinet minister in the 1930s. Her mother, a manic depressive, committed suicide when Buchanan was nine.Sarah Johnso
"The uselessness of Chinese au pairs"
''Catholic Herald'', 12 August 2005 She was educated at the

St. Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is a private day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in west London, England. The school is included in The Schools Index as one of the world's 150 best private schools and among top 30 ...

, an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

. and read History, French and Spanish at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. After graduation, Buchanan studied for an MA in Radio Journalism from the

City University London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" and ...

, which she received in 1982.Thea Babington-Stit
"Alumni Interviews: Emily Buchanan"
, ''XCity magazine'', City University, 22 March 2013

Career

Buchanan began her career at the BBC in

Bush House Bush House is a Grade II listed building at the southern end of Kingsway between Aldwych and the Strand in London, England. It was conceived as a major new trade centre by American industrialist Irving T. Bush, and commissioned, designed, ...

, then the base of the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, where her first interview was with

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

, and a few years later joined

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

to produce ''Stop Press'', "a programme which went behind the scenes of the journalism trade".Emily Buchana
"A World In Your Ear"
BBC Radio 4, early 2000s After a period producing ''The Week in Westminster'', she joined BBC Television and worked for

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and d ...

's ''Assignment'' programme. During 1992, while working in Zimbabwe, Buchanan survived an accident when her plane crash-landed. Her ''Assignment'' programmes won awards. "Let Her Die", a report about infanticide in India, won the Golden Nymph at the

Monte-Carlo Television Festival The Monte-Carlo Television Festival is held every year in June in the Monaco, Principality of Monaco at the Grimaldi Forum, under the Honorary Presidency of H.S.H. Albert II, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert II of Monaco. The opening ceremony ...

,, FORA-TV Conference Event Video. This page includes an embedded recording of Buchanan giving an extended talk at the Institute of Ideas about adopting, with her husband, two abandoned baby girls from China. "The Disposables", about the killing of the poor and criminals in Colombia, was nominated for an Amnesty International UK Media Award and

One World Media One World Media is a non-profit organisation, registered in the UK as a charitable trust. It is based in London. The organisation describes its aim as supporting strong vibrant and independent media that empower citizens, promote justice and contrib ...

nominated a programme about the

Grameen Bank Grameen Bank () is a microfinance, specialized community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It provides small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requiring collateral. Grameen Bank is a statutory ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, which predominantly lends money to women. "The Baby Trade", also for ''Assignment'', was about unscrupulous practices relating to international adoption in Paraguay. In "Seeds of Hate", for Radio 4, in November 2000, Buchanan spoke to some of the Muslim women who were raped during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

. Towards the end of 1994 she was appointed the corporation's BBC's Developing World Correspondent. Subsequently, she became the Religious Affairs Correspondent for three years, from around 1998 to 2001, and is now the BBC's World Affairs Correspondent. As of late 2024, Buchanan sometimes presents the

programme ''Sunday''.

Adoption

After experiencing three

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...

s, Buchanan with her husband Gerald Slocock, explored the possibility of adopting children as their only means of having a family. As the couple wanted to adopt babies, abandoned children from other parts of the world emerged as practically their only option. In her book ''From China with Love: A Long Road to Motherhood'' (2005), she outlines the difficulties of the adoption service and discusses the issues relating to the adoption of children from an entirely different culture. She deals with what she sees as "fallacies" attached to the issue. The couple now have two Chinese-born daughters, the first adopted at the beginning of the century, and the second three years later. In her book, the extreme prejudice against baby girls, to a large degree a result of China's

One-child policy The one-child policy ( zh, c=一孩政策, p=yī hái zhèngcè) was a population planning initiative in China implemented between 1979 and 2015 to curb the country's population growth by restricting many families to a single child. The progr ...

, is also outlined. Buchanan commented at the time her book came out that:

"There is an inverted racism in the social services, a preference for children to match the race of their parents ..We're all supposed to be multi-cultural, all mixing in some great melting pot - but not in families. It doesn't feel right, it doesn't look right. It looks odd. ..Part of why I wanted to write the book is to say I'm not ashamed of it. This is the way the world works now."Richard Allen Green
"Child and prejudice"
BBC News, 24 March 2006

References

External links

* * "Family + Relationships archive", ''Woman's Hour'', BBC Radio 4, !7–19 September 2001. Item in 3 parts on Emily Buchanan's experience of adoptio
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, Emily Living people Alumni of City, University of London Alumni of the University of Sussex BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC radio producers British journalists British reporters and correspondents People educated at St Paul's Girls' School People from Hammersmith Year of birth missing (living people) British women radio producers British radio producers