Scourge of the cybernats now top BBC boss
New chief a fierce critic of web trolls
BBC Scotland has appointed a fierce critic of cybernat trolls as its first female boss. Donalda MacKinnon replaces Ken MacQuarrie as new director of the service.
The 55-year-old takes up the £185,000-a-year role with immediate effect, having previously been head of programmes and services for BBC Scotland.
A champion of Gaelic TV and former head of children’s programmes, Mrs MacKinnon also helped to bring comedy Mrs Brown’s Boys to BBC Scotland.
While she has no public political links, last year she spoke out against cybernats who attacked BBC journalist James Cook as ‘anti-Scottish’ following an interview with Nicola Sturgeon.
The appointment comes as the Corporation prepares to learn whether the go-ahead will be given for the controversial Scottish Six news bulletin, possibly before Christmas.
Earlier this year, the uK Government moved to kill off the programme by including a line in the new charter saying the BBC must ‘contribute to the social cohesion and well-being of the united Kingdom’. A broadcasting source said: ‘Donalda is the definition of a safe pair of hands and has been a BBC apparatchik for many years.
‘If there is resistance to the idea of a Scottish Six in London, she won’t be in the vanguard of those lobbying to change their minds.’
Tim Luckhurst, professor of journalism at Kent university and a former BBC editor, said: ‘She is a real BBC insider who will be as much London’s woman in Glasgow as she will be Glasgow’s woman in London.’
Last year Mrs MacKinnon defended reporter Mr Cook after he questioned Miss Sturgeon over claims she would prefer to see David Cameron as prime minister than Ed Miliband.
The interview unleashed the wrath of cybernats, who warned Mr Cook his ‘card is marked’. Mrs MacKinnon said at the time: ‘This is completely unacceptable.
‘Our journalists are entitled to carry out their work without the threat of unwarranted personal attacks online.’
BBC Scotland’s Glasgow headquarters were also the scene of protests ahead of the 2014 referendum, as pro-independence activists staged a rally against perceived pro-union bias to the Corporation’s news output.
A graduate of the university of Edinburgh and a former teacher, Mrs MacKinnon helped bring programmes such as Still Game, Shetland, Katie Morag and Highlands – Scotland’s Wild Heart to BBC screens. The married mother of three will set the editorial priorities and strategies for BBC Scotland, and lead commissioning and production teams.
Last night Mrs MacKinnon said she was ‘delighted’ at the opportunity to shape the future and diversity of BBC Scotland’s content, adding: ‘Working brilliantly together, I’m confident we can make compelling and enthralling programmes that entertain and inform all of our audiences.’
BBC director-general Lord Hall said: ‘I’m delighted that Donalda is going to take up this role.
‘I’m confident that BBC Scotland will continue its creative success under her leadership and will get even better at representing life in Scotland.’
‘Unwarranted personal attacks’