Julie Marion MacDonald is a Scottish

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

presenter Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a news program * Sports commentator, an announcer who presents analysis of a sporting event * Radio personality, presenter or announcer on a radio show * Television ...

, currently working

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

with

Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; , ) is a 24-hour English-language News broadcasting, news channel operating under Al Jazeera Media Network, which is funded by the government of Qatar. Al Jazeera introduced an English-language division in 2006. It is ...

Career

MacDonald trained as a journalist at

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 ...

. Her radio credits began at

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadc ...

– as producer of The Simon Bates Breakfast Show and

Nick Ferrari Nicolo Ferrari (born 31 January 1959) is a British right-wing conservative radio host, television presenter and broadcast journalist. He lives in Lewisham in London. He is best known as the host of the weekday breakfast show on the London-based ...

in the Morning. Moving into TV – MacDonald began her TV journalist career (2000–2001) with the ITV News Channel and in 2002 became Channel 5 entertainment correspondent and fronting the channel's flagship breakfast show and news bulletins, including ''Core News'' and ''The Edit'' for ''

5 News ''5 News'' is the flagship news programme of British broadcaster 5. It is produced by ITN from its main newsroom on London's Gray's Inn Road, and has been broadcast since Channel 5's launch in March 1997. History ''5 News'' was one of the n ...

''. MacDonald moved away from network news in 2003, when she became one of the

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 ...

Liquid News reporters and weekend presenter, reporting on entertainment stories of the day for

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

and

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 ...

. She continued to work in radio as a member of

Simon Mayo Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...

’s Five Live Panel, a weekly team contributing their views on TV and media news. She occasionally also worked alongside Jono Coleman on LBC's early weekend shows. In 2004, MacDonald worked red carpet events for the

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 ...

produced '' London Tonight'' on

ITV London ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ''ITV Broadcasting Limited'' for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is ...

, also reporting on the day's news output. In 2005, MacDonald signed up to the Al Jazeera English News Channel as a News Anchor to be based at its headquarters in Doha. MacDonald was one of the original Al Jazeera News Readers when the channel launched in November 2006. After spending two years at the headquarters in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, she is now one of the News Anchors and programme presenters in the bureau in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Recent programmes include ''Artsworld'' on Al Jazeera. MacDonald is also attached to the

Sky Living Sky Living was a British pay television television channel, channel owned and operated by Sky Limited, Sky. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults. It originally launched as UK Living yet became Sky Living by 2011. H ...

project ''Conversations with a Serial Killer'' as an investigative journalist. In 2005, MacDonald trained as a Life Coach and now runs her own coaching practice. In 2010, she began newsreading and reporting for the

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 ...

produced ''

'' for Channel 5. In 2013, MacDonald presented an episode of 'Correspondent' on Al Jazeera with the Scottish independence referendum the subject matter. In this, MacDonald stated that she voted against Scottish Devolution in the 1997 referendum and that she was against Independence in the 2014 referendum. MacDonald also appeared on the 9:00 AM Eastern Time edition of ''Newshour'', when it was simulcasted on

Al Jazeera America Al Jazeera America was an American pay television news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network. The channel was launched on August 20, 2013, to compete with CNN, HLN, MSNBC, Fox News, and in certain markets RT America. It was Al Jazee ...

References

External links

The official website of Julie MacDonald, Broadcaster, Reporter and Newscaster

''TV Newsroom''"Broadcast Now Interview""'Conversations with a Serial Killer’ Living TV"Riva Media
- UK agent Al Jazeera people Alumni of City, University of London Scottish journalists Scottish women journalists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 5 News presenters and reporters British women television journalists {{UK-journalist-stub