Katherine Mary Razzall (born 31 October 1970) is an English journalist and television newsreader.[1] She currently works for BBC News as its media editor and culture editor, having previously been a Newsnight reporter.
Razzall started her career on an ITN traineeship[3] before working for Channel 4 News as a reporter in 2000.[4][5] After 14 years at Channel 4,[3]Newsnight hired Razzall as a special correspondent in January 2014.[6] In May 2019, Newsnight promoted Razzall to UK editor.[7] She presented Newsnight while standing in for the programme's former main host Emily Maitlis in May 2020 during the scandal over Dominic Cummings.[8] She continues to occasionally act as stand-in presenter on Newsnight.[9]
On 29 July 2021, it was announced that in November of the same year, Razzall would take the place of BBC News' arts editor Will Gompertz in the new role of its culture editor.[10] In January 2023, she succeeded Amol Rajan as the BBC's media editor, whilst retaining her role as the culture editor.
Razzall has for several years presented The Media Show on BBC Radio 4; since 2024 she has co-hosted the programme with Ros Atkins, the BBC's Analysis Editor.
Controversies
In 2016, Razzall interviewed Omar Badreddin as part of BBC Newsnight's To hell and back: the story of a Syrian family given refuge in the UK[11] which documented the family's 11-month journey from Syria to Newcastle as part of the Syrian refugee resettlement program. During the production, Badreddin – then aged 18 – was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year old girl. Razzall interviewed the Badreddin family about the trial and commented that "The Syrian men in many ways appeared less sexually experienced than the girls they were supposed to have attacked." Viewers of the programme were unhappy with this editorialization and equated the comment to victim blaming. [12] In the aftermath, Omar Badreddin and his brother Mohamed, along with two others, were handed a combined 38.5-year sentence for the rape of a 13-year-old girl abused between August 2018 and April 2019. [13]