Liliane Landor (born 1956) is a Lebanese-born British journalist and broadcasting executive who worked as the Director 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 ...

from 2021 until 2024. She worked for the

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from 1989 to mid-2016, becoming controller for languages at the Service, where she was responsible for radio and television broadcasting in 27 languages. She launched the BBC's ''100 Women'' project in 2014.Martinson, Jane (16 June 2016)
"BBC World Service languages boss and diversity champion quits"
''

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 ...

''. Retrieved 29 November 2016. In November 2016, she was included as one of the inspirational and influential women of 2016 in the BBC's ''100 Women'' — the theme was "defiance".

Biography

The daughter of a Lebanese father and a Cuban mother, Landor was born and raised in Lebanon. She was educated in France and Switzerland and she can speak five languages. On joining the BBC in 1989, she first worked for the French service, presenting a news programme. She went on to become one of the first non-British broadcasters in the news department of the BBC World Service, where she presented '' Europe Today'' and, two years later, the flagship ''

Newshour ''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). There is also an additional online programme ...

''. She was one of the main presenters of '' The World Today'', before becoming the programme's editor. In 2002, Landor was appointed senior editor of news and current affairs programmes, a department she headed from 2006, gaining responsibility for all World Service English-language news programmes. In 2007 she was one of the judges in the BBC's ''NewsMaker'' journalism competition opened to anyone who was between the age of 20 and 30. The entries had to be in English and they were judged by Rania Kurdi,

Lyse Doucet Lyse Marie Doucet (; born 24 December 1958) is a Canadian journalist who is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and senior presenter. She presents on BBC World Service radio and BBC World News television, and also reports for BBC Ra ...

and Landor. The winners from Jordan were the Lina Ejeilat and Iraqi engineer Sarah Muthanna. In late 2009, she moved to the Middle East department of the World Service, with editorial and management responsibilities for all Arabic television and radio broadcasts. In 2013, she became the controller responsible for the BBC World Service's radio and television broadcasting in 27 languages, until her departure in mid-2016. It was Landor who was instrumental in launching the BBC's ''100 Women'' in 2014, in which was included

Malala Yousafzai Malala Yousafzai (; , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997) is a Pakistani female education activist, film and television producer, and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 17. She is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history, ...

, the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the

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. Landor appreciates the importance of combining radio and television broadcasting with online services including social media. In a 2014 interview with Hanin Ghaddar of ''

NOW News ''NOW News'' (sometimes abbreviated NOW, formerly ''NOW Lebanon'') is a Beirut-based Lebanese news website focused on the Middle East founded in late 2012 and published in both English and Arabic by M Publishing SAL. The site offers reports, n ...

'', she stressed the importance of maintaining high-quality news while exploring new possibilities for more effective delivery. The BBC's "impartiality, objectivity, and universal values will not change," she explained. "There are so many ways to get through to audiences, but ultimately you have certain editorial principles that you cannot waive." On her departure in 2016, the director of

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 ...

, James Harding, described her as "a defining figure in shaping the World Service" who through the language services had "transformed the BBC’s ability to make sense of the world". The following year the BBC announced the "Liliane Landor Award for Best in Journalism" for a documentary non-fiction work. The first award was won by Karim Sayad for a film about the lives of two Algerian men. In 2018 Landor became Head of Foreign News for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, succeeding Nevine Mabro. From 2021 until 2024, Landor was the Senior Controller of BBC News International Services (under which she also assumed the role of Director for international broadcaster

). In September 2022 Landor started a restructuring programme to cut about 380 jobs at the BBC World Service and close some radio operations, prompting warnings of damage to the BBC's global reputation. Some critics argued that the cuts would mean poorer value for British and global audiences.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landon, Liliane 1956 births Living people British journalists British women journalists British broadcasters 21st-century Lebanese journalists Lebanese women journalists BBC executives BBC World Service people Women business executives English people of Lebanese descent English people of Cuban descent Lebanese people of Cuban descent BBC News people