Lyse Doucet

Lyse Doucet (born 24 December, 1958) is a presenter and correspondent from Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada. She works for both BBC World Service radio and BBC World News television, and occasionally reports for BBC Radio 4 and BBC News in the UK, although she is not a regular face on the BBC's domestic services.

Doucet is often deployed to cover special events such as the funeral of Yasser Arafat, reporting of the aftermath of the Tsunami from Tamil Nadu, India in 2004, and from Amman on the war in Iraq in 2003.

She has a Master's Degree in International Relations from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree from Queen's University at Kingston. Also, she has an honorary doctorate in Civil Law from the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of New Brunswick. Doucet joined the BBC in the early 1980s in West Africa, and then became the BBC's Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem, and Afghanistan correspondent based in Kabul. She is now deployed to cover special events in the Middle East and Africa.

Away from News reporting, Doucet is a regular presenter of the BBC’s award-winning interactive programme "Have Your Say" (previously "Talking Point") broadcast on BBC World Service radio, BBC World Television and BBC Online. Doucet was also the interrupt-happy moderator of the inaugural Munk Debates in Toronto, Canada, on Monday, May 26, 2008. [cite news | first = Siri | last = Agrell | title = 'Crossfire' comes to Canada | url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080527.wmunkdebate27/BNStory/International/ | publisher = The Globe and Mail | location = Toronto | id = ISSN|0319-0714 | date = 2008-05-27 | accessdate = 2008-07-11 | quote = Lyse Doucet ... was chastened more than once for interrupting the debaters]

Awards

In 2002 she was the only journalist to accompany the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to his brother's wedding, where an assassination attempt was made. She and her team were later nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for their exclusive coverage of the attempt. In 2003 she was awarded a Silver Sony Award for News Broadcaster of the Year for her interview with Yasser Arafat in his compound in Ramallah.

In 2007 she was named International television personality of the year by the Association for International Broadcasting. She also received the News and Factual award from the organisation Women in Film and Television.

Quotations

BBC World Affairs editor John Simpson describes her in his book "News from No Man's Land: Reporting the World" as 'ebullient' and 'great fun'.

"The above biography is based on information collected from BBC Websites and an interview with Lyse Doucet on Information Morning Saint John, CBC Radio."

Notes and references

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_3240000/newsid_3240500/3240510.stm Lyse Doucet profile] at BBC NewsWatch