Reeta Chakrabarti
Encyclopedia
Reeta Chakrabarti is currently education correspondent
for BBC News
.
to an India
n Bengali
family and was raised in Birmingham
, also having spent time in India
as a teenager as a student at the Calcutta International School
in Kolkata
. She has a degree in English
and French
from Exeter College
, Oxford
, where she graduated in 1987, and she also spent a year in France
while a student.
. She later became a general news correspondent working on television as well as radio.
In 1997, she became the BBC Community Affairs correspondent, covering the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and also working on Home Affairs.
In 1999 Chakrabarti secured her role as political correspondent for the BBC, working across a range of programmes in television and radio, reporting on politics for BBC1, BBC2, the BBC News Channel, Radio 4 and Five Live. Currently, as of January 2011 she is the education correspondant for BBC News
.
.
, and has three children.
Her interests include patronage of the Naz Project, an HIV/AIDS charity focusing on minority groups affected by the disease, and of the National Mentoring Consortium, linking ethnic minority undergraduates with employers in the public and private sectors.
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
for BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
.
Early life
Chakrabarti was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
family and was raised in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, also having spent time in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
as a teenager as a student at the Calcutta International School
Calcutta International School
Calcutta International School is an international school, established 1953, in Kolkata, India.-History:Calcutta International School started as a small institution exclusively for the children of the then-numerous expatriate British community. In 1970, the Calcutta International School Society was...
in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
. She has a degree in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
from Exeter College
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, where she graduated in 1987, and she also spent a year in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
while a student.
Journalism career
In 1994, Chakrabarti became a reporter for the Breakfast Programme on the newly launched BBC Radio Five LiveBBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
. She later became a general news correspondent working on television as well as radio.
In 1997, she became the BBC Community Affairs correspondent, covering the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and also working on Home Affairs.
In 1999 Chakrabarti secured her role as political correspondent for the BBC, working across a range of programmes in television and radio, reporting on politics for BBC1, BBC2, the BBC News Channel, Radio 4 and Five Live. Currently, as of January 2011 she is the education correspondant for BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
.
Other work
Reeta has also chaired and hosted a number of corporate events, including the 2003 and 2004 Educational Television Awards Dinners for the Royal Television SocietyRoyal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
.
Personal life
Chakrabarti is married, lives in North LondonNorth London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
, and has three children.
Her interests include patronage of the Naz Project, an HIV/AIDS charity focusing on minority groups affected by the disease, and of the National Mentoring Consortium, linking ethnic minority undergraduates with employers in the public and private sectors.