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Profile: Jay Hunt

Jay Hunt

19/05/2012

BBC Radio 4 - Profile, Jay Hunt

With mixed news in its Annual Report, Channel 4's controller Jay Hunt is in the spotlight.

With mixed news about audiences in its Annual Report, Channel 4's controller Jay Hunt is in the spotlight. Andy Denwood profiles one of the most powerful women in broadcasting.

With mixed news about audiences and losses in its Annual Report, the creative controller of Channel 4, Jay Hunt, is in the spotlight. Andy Denwood profiles one of the most powerful women in broadcasting.

Since arriving at the publicly owned broadcaster last year, Hunt has promised to take creative risks and bring a sense of mischief. There have been new commissions - The Undateables and Make Bradford British - but changes to the flagship Channel 4 News programme with additional presenters and new reporters has ruffled feathers in the newsroom. The younger audience is falling and Ofcom have asked for its strategy of how to re-engage viewers. 

Jay Hunt - who began life in Australia as Jacquiline - had a meteoric rise from a young researcher at the BBC. Despite ructions over her changes to the Six O'Clock News and accusations of dumming down, by the age of 40 she was controller of BBC1 steering the Corporation's premier channel through controversies: the Jonathan Ross affair, the sacking of Carol Thatcher and the charge of ageism against former Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly. 

Now at Channel 4 her ability to attract a strong team and build a successful network is being put to the test.

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