Jessica Mary M. Brammar (born 1982) is a British journalist who has been the editor of the BBC's television news channels

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

and

BBC World News BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...

since 2021.

Career

Brammar attended

St Katherine's School St Katherine's School is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in the English county of Somerset. Commonly known to be located in Pill, the school is actually located in the neighbouring civil parish of Abbots Leigh. History ...

in Abbots Leigh near Bristol. She originally wanted to become a nurse but did not have the required exam grades and spent two years working in data entry at

Norwich Union Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva a ...

. She later studied History and Russian at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

where she worked on the student newspaper. Brammar spent five years as a researcher on '' Question Time'' before joining

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

. She later became deputy editor of ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. It is broadcast weeknights at 10:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel; it is also avail ...

'', where she won

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

awards for her journalism. In 2018, Brammar was appointed Head of News at ''

HuffPost UK ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

''. She was made executive editor in March 2019, and in February 2020 was appointed editor-in-chief. She stepped down from the post in April 2021, after

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

made editorial cutbacks to ''HuffPost UK''. In July 2021, it was reported that Brammar was front-runner to be

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 ...

executive news editor, but that the non-executive BBC director

Robbie Gibb Sir Robert Paul Gibb (born September 1964), known as Robbie Gibb, is a British public relations professional and former political advisor and broadcast journalist. He is the brother of Nick Gibb, the former Conservative Member of Parliament (M ...

had attempted to block her appointment. Gibb, a former communications director to

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

government, texted the BBC director for news and current affairs,

Fran Unsworth Francesca Mary Unsworth (born 29 December 1957) is a British journalist and media executive. From January 2018 to 2022, she was Director, News & Current Affairs for BBC News. She was appointed in succession to James Harding. Before then, she s ...

, to say that the BBC "cannot make this appointment", threatening that if it went ahead the government's "fragile trust in the BBC will be shattered". After Brammar deleted hundreds of her tweets, ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' recovered tweets in which she was reported to have been "poking fun at Mr Johnson". On 15 September 2021, she was appointed

Executive Editor Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

of the

BBC News Channel The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during ...

Personal life

Brammar has been in a relationship with journalist

Jim Waterson James Waterson (born March 1989) is an English journalist who was the media editor of ''The Guardian''. Previously he was political editor of BuzzFeed UK, and prior to that worked for City AM Early life Waterson was born in York. He attended ...

since 2017. Waterson has been the media editor of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' since 2018. They have one child.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brammar, Jess Living people 21st-century British journalists British television journalists British women television journalists ITN newsreaders and journalists BBC newsreaders and journalists HuffPost writers and columnists 1982 births