Mary Hockaday


Anne Mary Hockaday is a British journalist. She is currently controller of BBC World Service English. She was previously head of the BBC Multimedia Newsroom.

Early life

She was born in Oxford, attending the independent girls' school Oxford High School, Oxford. She studied English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and, as a Fulbright Scholar, Journalism at New York University.

Career

She joined the BBC as a World Service Production Trainee in 1986. She worked as a correspondent in Prague in the early 1990s and as a reporter, editor, producer for World Service news output. She was also the editor of the World Today.
She was the Editor of BBC World Service News and Current Affairs managing daily and weekly news and current affairs output for 9/11, Afghanistan and the Invasion of Iraq. Her department won a special Sony Gold award for its 9/11 coverage.
In 2007, she became Deputy Head of the BBC Newsroom, leading the On-Demand, Radio and Mediawire teams. In April 2009, she became Head of the Multimedia Newsroom. In October 2014 she was appointed controller of BBC World Service English.