Craig Oliver (media executive)
Encyclopedia
Craig Stewart Oliver is a British
news editor, producer and media executive, and the current Head of Communications for British Prime Minister David Cameron
. Previously, he was Controller of English news output for BBC Global News, responsible for commissioning the news content for the Corporation's English language Global services, including the BBC World Service
, BBC World News and BBC News Online
.
, but raised in Scotland
after his family relocated there. He attended Stirling High School
, where he was a contemporary of the presenter Kirsty Young
, then went on to read English literature
at the University of St Andrews
.
After graduating with a diploma in Broadcast Journalism from the Cardiff School of Journalism
, he began his media career in 1992 as a reporter for STV
. One of his first assignments for the station was covering a fire in a block of flats in Glasgow
's Easterhouse
district. In 1993 he joined ITN as a trainee reporter, after which he became a producer on ITV's flagship News at Ten
bulletin. With the launch of Channel Five
in 1997 he moved from News at Ten to become programme editor of Five News
, but returned to ITV in 1999 as senior programme editor for ITV Evening News
. He moved to Channel Four News in 2002, but once again returned to ITV News the following year when he was appointed as Head of Output. He was later promoted to Head of Network News Programming.
Oliver joined the BBC
in 2006, where he became editor of BBC One
's Ten O'Clock News
, He was also editor of the channel's Six O'Clock News
. In May 2009 Oliver was appointed as the new deputy head of the Corporation's multimedia newsroom, replacing Mary Hockaday, who had been promoted the previous month to be the new head of the operation that oversees all BBC News output. Oliver was subsequently appointed Controller of English, BBC Global News in April 2010, with responsibility for multiplatform commissioning of all BBC Global News English output. He took up this role after editing the BBC's 2010 general election coverage. At BBC World, he was part of the team which oversaw cuts to the Corporation's World Service
.
On 2 February 2011 he was appointed Andy Coulson
's replacement as Director of Communications at 10 Downing St. He took up this position on 28 February. He committed his first political faux pas at the following weekend's Conservative Party Spring Conference after accidentally showing his notes for David Cameron
's keynote speech to photographers. In June 2011 the Mail on Sunday reported that a fake Downing Street Twitter
account had been set up in Oliver's name and used to make comedic rekarks about politicians and journalists. The site attracted 1,200 followers before it was exposed as a hoax.
. The couple have three children. The family live in Chiswick
, West London
, in a house purchased in 2004 from the sports presenter Mark Pougatch
. His father, Dr. Ian Oliver
, was Chief Constable of Central Scotland Police
, then later of Grampian Police
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
news editor, producer and media executive, and the current Head of Communications for British Prime Minister David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
. Previously, he was Controller of English news output for BBC Global News, responsible for commissioning the news content for the Corporation's English language Global services, including the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
, BBC World News and BBC News Online
BBC News Online
BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. The website is the most popular news website in the United Kingdom and forms a major part of BBC Online ....
.
Early life and career
Oliver was born in the English county of NottinghamshireNottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
, but raised in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
after his family relocated there. He attended Stirling High School
Stirling High School
Stirling High School is a state high school for 11-18 year olds run by Stirling Council in Stirling, Scotland. It is one of seven high schools in the Stirling district, and currently has approximately 972 pupils attending...
, where he was a contemporary of the presenter Kirsty Young
Kirsty Young
Kirsty Jackson Young is a Scottish television presenter and radio presenter. She is the main presenter of Crimewatch and Desert Island Discs. She is married to millionaire club owner Nick Jones.- Career :...
, then went on to read English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
at the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
.
After graduating with a diploma in Broadcast Journalism from the Cardiff School of Journalism
Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies
The Cardiff School Of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University was founded in 1970 by Sir Tom Hopkinson and as such is the longest established postgraduate centre of journalism education in Europe...
, he began his media career in 1992 as a reporter for STV
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
. One of his first assignments for the station was covering a fire in a block of flats in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
's Easterhouse
Easterhouse
Easterhouse is a suburb about east of Glasgow city centre, Scotland. It was partially built on land gained from the county of Lanarkshire as part of a boundary expansion of Glasgow before the Second World War. Building began in the mid-1950s by the then local authority, Glasgow Corporation...
district. In 1993 he joined ITN as a trainee reporter, after which he became a producer on ITV's flagship News at Ten
News at Ten
The ITV News at Ten is the flagship news programme on British television network ITV, produced by ITN and founded by news editor Geoffrey Cox in 1967. It was originally planned as a thirteen week project in July 1967 because senior figures at ITV refused to believe that a permanent 30-minute late...
bulletin. With the launch of Channel Five
Channel Five
Channel 5 is a television network that broadcasts in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1997, it was the fifth and final national terrestrial analogue network to launch. The station was branded as Five between 2002 and 2010...
in 1997 he moved from News at Ten to become programme editor of Five News
Five News
5 News is the news programme of British broadcaster Channel 5, produced by Sky News. From 1 January 2005, Sky News was awarded the contract to provide the news for Channel 5, replacing ITN, which had provided the channel's news service from the channel's launch in 1997...
, but returned to ITV in 1999 as senior programme editor for ITV Evening News
ITV Evening News
The ITV News at 6:30 is the evening news bulletin on the British television network ITV. It is produced by ITN.The 30-minute programme, presented by Mary Nightingale and Alastair Stewart covers British national and international news stories and broadcasts at 6:30pm from Monday to Friday...
. He moved to Channel Four News in 2002, but once again returned to ITV News the following year when he was appointed as Head of Output. He was later promoted to Head of Network News Programming.
Oliver joined the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in 2006, where he became editor of BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
's Ten O'Clock News
BBC Ten O'Clock News
The BBC News at Ten is the flagship evening news programme for British television channel BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented by Huw Edwards, and deputised by Fiona Bruce. It is the final comprehensive news programme of the day on BBC One...
, He was also editor of the channel's Six O'Clock News
BBC Six O'Clock News
The BBC News at Six is the evening news programme broadcast each night on British television channel BBC One and the BBC News channel at 18:00. For a long period the News at Six was the most watched news programme in the UK but since 2006 it has been over taken by the BBC News at Ten...
. In May 2009 Oliver was appointed as the new deputy head of the Corporation's multimedia newsroom, replacing Mary Hockaday, who had been promoted the previous month to be the new head of the operation that oversees all BBC News output. Oliver was subsequently appointed Controller of English, BBC Global News in April 2010, with responsibility for multiplatform commissioning of all BBC Global News English output. He took up this role after editing the BBC's 2010 general election coverage. At BBC World, he was part of the team which oversaw cuts to the Corporation's World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
.
On 2 February 2011 he was appointed Andy Coulson
Andy Coulson
Andrew Edward Coulson is an English journalist and political strategist.Coulson was the editor of the News of the World from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking.He subsequently joined David Cameron's...
's replacement as Director of Communications at 10 Downing St. He took up this position on 28 February. He committed his first political faux pas at the following weekend's Conservative Party Spring Conference after accidentally showing his notes for David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
's keynote speech to photographers. In June 2011 the Mail on Sunday reported that a fake Downing Street Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account had been set up in Oliver's name and used to make comedic rekarks about politicians and journalists. The site attracted 1,200 followers before it was exposed as a hoax.
Personal life
Craig Oliver is married to the BBC News presenter Joanna GoslingJoanna Gosling
Joanna Marie Mussett Gosling is a television news presenter, broadcast journalist and author. She presents on the United Kingdom rolling news channel BBC News, as well as occasionally on the Saturday evening and late editions of the BBC Weekend News on BBC One...
. The couple have three children. The family live in Chiswick
Chiswick
Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...
, West London
London
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...
, in a house purchased in 2004 from the sports presenter Mark Pougatch
Mark Pougatch
Mark Pougatch is a freelance radio and television broadcaster, a journalist and author who works mainly as a sports presenter for the BBC.-Early life:...
. His father, Dr. Ian Oliver
Ian Oliver
Ian Oliver, QPM, is a former police officer, author, speaker and international consultant for the United Nations. He served as Chief Constable of Scotland's Central and Grampian Police. Since leaving the police force, he has worked as a consultant and speaker on the issues of drugs, terrorism and...
, was Chief Constable of Central Scotland Police
Central Scotland Police
Central Scotland Police is the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire . The headquarters of the force are at Randolphfield House in Stirling....
, then later of Grampian Police
Grampian Police
Grampian Police is the territorial police force of the northeast region of Scotland, covering the council areas of Aberdeenshire, the City of Aberdeen, and Moray . The Force area also covers some of the North Sea, giving Grampian Police the responsibility of policing the oil and gas platforms of...
.