Carol Malia: “If you’re in the public eye…you’ve got to have a certain amount of resilience.”

By Jo Dunbar

Carol Malia presents BBC Look North and is one of the most recognised faces in the region.

A journalist for the BBC for over 20 years, Carol Malia began her career as a reporter on the Hartlepool Mail before stints at BBC Radio Cumbria and Tyne Tees Television. She began presenting BBC Look North in 1996 and has covered plenty of notable events for the region including the mass shootings of Derek Bird in Cumbria in 2010; the opening of the Millennium Bridge, the Baltic and the Sage Gateshead; the events surrounding fugitive gunman Raoul Moat in 2010, as well as hosting special debate programmes on the Scottish Independence and Brexit referenda. In 2015 the Duchess of Northumberland made Carol a deputy lieutenant of Northumberland. Carol grew up in Cullercoats, is married with two children and lives in Northumberland.

You have been presenting BBC Look North for almost 23 years, Carol. Do you still get a fizz of nervous energy before live TV?

I have my little tics that I do before we go on air and I wonder if that is related to nerves. I have these things where I straighten my blouse, I straighten my jacket and I check my microphone and the other day I caught myself doing it. But I have been presenting the news for so long that unless something is said in my ear as we go on air, I am ready to go. It rarely happens but when something does happen while we are broadcasting, it is quite exciting and that’s where you earn your money.

The media landscape has changed hugely during your time presenting Look North. Has social media impacted on what you do?

I think there needs to be more regulation of social media. It’s a huge job. I have received some comments online. If you are in the public eye, you could be Mother Teresa, but you will still get negative comments. People have always been able to get in contact: in the years before social media you’d get the odd letter or the odd email with comments from viewers, so it has always existed. We’ve always been reachable. You’ve got to have a certain amount of resilience and I think that’s what we need to work on. It’s a huge factor with children, too. We are exposing young people to so much more with the internet and now, in 2020, we need to find a solution.

Have you ever had the opportunity to leave the region and work elsewhere?

I was asked to go down for an interview for the new channel when the BBC first set up News 24 but it wasn’t the right time: my then boyfriend had moved up here from London and we were in the first flush and I also had all my family here, my house, the beaches at Tynemouth. I have a cracking job and I think you can always stay ambitious within a role that you are already in. Jobs can get stale if you’re not challenging yourself. In this role I have other opportunities, to help charities and to speak – it’s a great platform and it’s a job that allows me to have more than one role.