A FORMER head of news at BBC Scotland, Ken Cargill, has died – it is being reported.
Says the BBC website, he died aged 65. It continues: “Mr Cargill became head of TV news and current affairs in 1988 and later took on responsibility for radio, sport and news online. The journalist left BBC Scotland in 2002.”
More recently, he oversaw the move of BBC Scotland to its new HQ at Pacific Quay in Glasgow.
He was last year made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Abertay Dundee, having been a member of university’s governing body for more than eight years.
He is a former Visiting Professor in Journalism Studies at the University of Strathclyde and a former Honorary Professor of Politics at the University of Glasgow.
In a BBC Scotland statement, Ken MacQuarrie, says: “Ken Cargill was a hugely talented journalist who led the BBC Scotland news team during a period of huge change and through some major stories of international significance.
“He was a big personality who had an incisive mind and a superb understanding of what our audiences wanted from the BBC news team.
“He was also very good at spotting and developing broadcast journalists many of whom are now household names on our screen and on our airwaves.
“He dealt with serious issues in a serious way but he also had a wicked sense of humour and could be great fun to be around.
“Journalism is very much the poorer for his passing but his loss will be felt even more by his many friends and family who knew Ken the Man rather than Ken the Newsman. Our thoughts go out to them at this very sad time.”
