Kirsty Wark
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Kirsty Anne Wark (born 3 February 1955, in Dumfries) is a Scottish journalist and television presenter best known for fronting the BBC's current affairs programme Newsnight.
[edit] Biography
Kirsty Wark was educated at Wellington School in Ayr. After studying History at the University of Edinburgh, Wark joined the BBC in 1976 as a researcher for BBC Radio Scotland and, in 1982, moved to television, eventually becoming a presenter, including presenting Breakfast Time. In 1990, Wark demonstrated her distinctive line of questioning in an interview of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Wark was a presenter on BBC2 arts programme The Late Show and the heritage programme One Foot in the Past.
Since 1993, she has presented the Newsnight TV and radio programme. She is married to the television producer Alan Clements. Together they founded the TV production company Wark-Clements in 1990, which in May 2004 was merged with Muriel Gray's Ideal World to form IWC Media. In December 2005, it was announced that IWC Media has been bought out by RDF Media, with both Wark and Gray severing connections with the company.
[edit] Public controversies
Donald Dewar, former First Minister of Scotland, a close friend, appointed her to the Scottish Parliament Building Design Selection Panel, which chose Enric Miralles' design for the new parliament. When quizzed at the Fraser Inquiry, which was set up to investigate the rising costs of the building, she said that "there was no way that we were making a decision on economically the most advantageous tender; you would have ended up with a shed . . . it was [about] getting a building which was the most exciting, innovative building . . ." [1] In 2003, Wark-Clements produced a film on the building, with critics accusing Wark of a conflict of interest.
In January 2005, she became embroiled in a controversy that followed an invitation to the family of First Minister and Labour MSP Jack McConnell to stay at Wark's Majorcan holiday home over the New Year period. McConnell, a long-time friend of Wark and husband Clements before holding office, was cleared of any improprieties when the Scottish Parliament's Standards Committee deemed he received no financial benefits from the holidays. Wark's editor on Newsnight offered his support, stating, "Many people in the media have friends who have gone on to hold office. The important issue is your ability to ask tough questions and that is not a problem with Kirsty Wark or anybody else on the programme." [2]
