Katherine Jayne Secker (born 12 July 1972) is an English

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and newsreader for

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

. She has presented ''

Sky News Today ''Sky News Today'' is a live news programme on Sky News which usually runs between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm on weekdays. The programme was presented by two anchors, however following on from the social distancing measures due to COVID-19, and the de ...

'' on the channel since September 2014, formerly alongside Colin Brazier.

Early life

Secker was born in 1972 in

Bedlington Bedlington is a town and former civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 18,470 measured at the 2011 Census. Bedlington is an ancient market town, with a rich history of industry and innovative residents. Located roughly ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, and grew up in

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

. Her mother was the

Tyne Tees Television ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV television franchisee for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stu ...

and

BBC Radio Newcastle BBC Radio Newcastle is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Newcastle upon Tyne, the neighbouring metropolitan boroughs, Northumberland and north east County Durham. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Br ...

broadcaster Kathy Secker. Following A levels at Westfield School, she undertook a degree course in film and media at the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airth ...

. During that time she edited student newspapers and completed an internship with

. After graduating, she became an assigned

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

trainee in 1996.

Career

Secker joined

in 2002. She spent 10 years as a foreign correspondent, frequently reporting from war zones, including the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. In 2014, as part of a schedule change, ''

'' was launched, presented by Secker and Colin Brazier. She conducted the first live TV interview with the astronaut

Tim Peake Major (United Kingdom), Major Timothy Nigel Peake (born 7 April 1972) is a retired British European Space Agency astronaut, Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), Army Air Corps officer and author. He is the first British ESA astronaut, the second a ...

from the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. In April 2019, Secker drew criticism for her comments during an interview about 'no-fault evictions'. Some viewers accused her of being "patronising" and "insensitive" in her interview with the housing campaigner Kirsty Archer. The interview was halted after Archer swore during her response. Secker later apologised for what she described as the wrong tone in her interview. In January 2024, Secker garnered online attention and criticism for her remarks in response to a Sky News report about 13-year-old Willis Gibson's achievement of reaching the " kill screen" in the game NES ''Tetris''. In an apparently spontaneous comment, Secker stated, "As a mother, I would just say step away from the screen, go outside, get some fresh air. Beating ''Tetris'' is not a life goal."

Personal life

Her mother, a well-known television and radio presenter, Kathy Secker, died in 2015 aged 70. Secker also founded the charity Grace House North East, of which Jayne is a patron.

References

External links

*
Jayne Secker
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Secker, Jayne 1972 births Living people People from Bedlington Alumni of the University of Stirling Sky News newsreaders and journalists English women journalists British women journalists English television journalists British television newsreaders and news presenters