Reeta Chakrabarti - Speaker

Reeta Chakrabarti is a BBC News presenter and correspondent with over 30 years of experience. She presents the One, Six, and Ten O'Clock News on BBC One, as well as weekend news, and reports both domestically and internationally. Previously, she served as the Education and Social Affairs correspondent and reported on politics from Westminster.
Reeta began her career at the BBC in the early 1990s as a producer on Radio 4, working on programmes such as Today, the World at One, and PM. She transitioned to reporting on 5 Live Breakfast, covering significant events like the French presidential elections and the Dunblane killings. She later became a general news correspondent, working in both television and radio. In 1997, she was appointed the BBC Community Affairs Correspondent, covering the Stephen Lawrence inquest and the Damilola Taylor murder trial.
From 1999, Reeta worked as a Political Correspondent, reporting for various BBC programmes. She covered three general elections, changes in party leadership, and notable stories such as the cash for honours affair and the MPs expenses scandal. In 2011, she became the Education Correspondent, reporting on university tuition fees, free schools, and exam changes.
In 2014, Reeta was appointed as a news presenter on BBC One and the BBC News Channel. She has anchored significant events, including the 70th anniversary of the partition of India and Pakistan, and participated in coverage of the 2019 general election and the 2020 US presidential election.
In 2020, Reeta became Chancellor of York St John University. She is an avid reader and chaired the 2021 Costa Book Awards judges. Reeta has received several honours, including being made an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and an Honorary Doctor of Letters by York St John University.