Kamal Ahmed named Editorial Director at BBC News

The BBC has announced two senior appointments. Kamal Ahmed has been appointed Editorial Director and Gavin Allen as Head of News Output.

Kamal joined the BBC in 2014 as Business Editor, moving to the role of Economics Editor two years later after a career in newspapers, and has been our Economics Editor since 2016.

In his new role as Editorial Director Kamal will be responsible for shaping the BBC’s future editorial strategy, focusing on storytelling and explanatory journalism, and providing the link between audience research and BBC output.

Gavin moves from Controller of Daily News Programmes to become Head of News Output, leading the BBC newsroom’s output across TV, digital/online and radio.

Gavin will be responsible for a multi-media daily news output and programmes team, which replaces the separate Daily News Programmes, Channels and the daily Mobile and Online teams.

He has led Daily News Programmes since 2014 and has previously held senior editorial roles including Today, The Politics Show and Question Time.

“Kamal will bring verve, ambition and fresh editorial insight to the role and I’m thrilled he’s joining my top team,” said Fran Unsworth, BBC Director of News.

“I’m delighted to have Gavin’s extensive experience across many BBC programmes and strong editorial judgement leading this department.”

Both Kamal and Gavin will start their new roles in the autumn.