Maggie Swarbrick

Life Before Ulster

Maggie Swarbrick has a background in Broadcast Journalism, having been a BBC reporter for 15 years. A native of Yorkshire, she arrived at BBC Northern Ireland just as the IRA ceasefire was ending in February 1996 and reported on stories such as Drumcree, the Omagh bomb and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. She spent a year working for the BBC World Service Trust, delivering journalism training to local reporters in conflict and post conflict areas such as Pakistan, Indonesia and Serbia. She has also worked in Russia and Uzbekistan.

Teaching

Maggie teaches broadcast skills to undergraduate and postgraduate journalism students. In a fast-changing industry, it's important for graduates to have up to date skills, but the age-old values of good journalism are unchanged; holding power to account and telling the stories which need to be told.

Civic Roles

Maggie is an active contributor to the work of the National Council for the Training of Journalists. She marks and moderates broadcast journalism exams and coursework for them.  She also gives career talks on journalism to schools in Northern Ireland. Drawing on her own experience as a reporter, she helps to train working journalists in different aspects of safety when operating in hostile environments. Maggie is a parent governor at North Coast Integrated College in Coleraine.