Kirsty Wark
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Kirsty Wark (born 1955 in Dumfries) is a Scottish journalist and television presenter best known for fronting the BBC's current affairs programme Newsnight. She is married to the television producer Alan Clements. Together they founded the TV production company Wark-Clements in 1990, which in 2004 was merged with the Muriel Gray's Ideal World to form IWC Media.
Wark joined the BBC in 1976 as a researcher for BBC Radio Scotland, and in 1982 moved to television, eventually becoming a presenter, including presenting Breakfast Time. Since 1993 she has presented Newsnight.
Wark was part of the Scottish Parliament Design Selection Panel, which chose the design for the new parliament. When quizzed at the Fraser Inquiry, set up to investigate the rising costs of the building, she said that "there was no way that we were making a decision on economically the most advantageous tender; you would have ended up with a shed...it was [about] getting a building which was the most exciting, innovative building..." [1] (http://www.holyroodinquiry.org/transcripts_documents/26-11-2003-am/transcript26-11-2003-am.htm)
In January 2005, she became embroiled in a controversy that followed an invitation to the family of Jack McConnell to stay at Wark's Majorcan holiday home over the New Year period. This raised questions regarding her journalistic integrity, and has lead to her being axed as the anchor of BBC Scotland's election-night spots. She will, instead, trail Michael Howard on election night.
External links
Wark's Profile at IWC Media (http://www.iwcmedia.co.uk/company/profile_kirsty.html)