BBC journalist Reeta Chakrabarti presided over the graduation ceremony of more than 1,600 students at York St John University during February 2022. Chakrabarti has been the University’s Chancellor since March 2020.

In October 2021, Chakrabarti was rushed to A&E and was in pain but her health problem was “not serious”. The presenter revealed her ordeal on Twitter and thanked a “complete stranger” called Jamie Marshall who she said bought her cold drinks after noticing she was in pain. After the episode, she wrote a detailed article in The Daily Mail about how easy it can be for medics to miss appendicitis.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Chakrabarti has been the main presenter for numerous Downing Street press briefings on the crisis. She says getting the facts and tone right were of the utmost importance at the beginning as there was a huge audience. Chakrabarti also reported on the effect the Covid-19 crisis had on the Union, and whether it means more devolution to the English regions.

Besides extensive reporting on the pandemic, she also reported on the Black Lives Matter movement, and the renewed attempt in Oxford to take down the statue of the imperialist Cecil Rhodes. Chakrabarti took an active role within the BBC over some of the issues thrown up by the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I have reported from around the UK on issues facing voters before the General Election. On election night itself, December 12, 2019, I was one of the number-crunchers in the BBC studios, bringing audiences analysis throughout the night,” Chakrabarti tells the GG2 Power List.

As a frontline broadcaster, Chakrabarti has done a lot of stories about migration and refugees, going three times over 2017-2018 to Bangladesh to report on the Rohingya crisis, including once with prime minister Boris Johnson when he was the