Barbara Serra Biography
Barbara Serra is an Italian-born broadcast journalist and TV newsreader working in the United Kingdom. Before becoming a journalist, Serra studied at the London School of Economics. Serra has worked for the BBC, Sky News, and Five News as a presenter.
How old is Barbara Serra? – Age
Serra was born on August 19, 1974, in Milan, Italy. She is 45 years as of 2021.
Where did Barbara Serra go to school? – Education
She went to the United Kingdom in 1993 to pursue a degree in International Relations at the London School of Economics. She subsequently went on to City University in London to get a Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism in order to further her career as a journalist.
Barbara Serra – Family
Her mother is from Sicily, while her father is from Sardinia. She was raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, from the age of nine. She is multilingual as a result of her upbringing, speaking Italian, English, Danish, and fluent French. Serra is the granddaughter of Vitale Piga, the fascist mayor of Carbonia, Sardinia, who served from September 28, 1939, until April 24, 1942.
Barbara Serra’s husband
Serra lives in London with her husband, Mark Kleinman, and their son. Her husband is a city editor for Sky News.
What is Barbara Serra Salary?
Her salary
Barbara Serra Net Worth
Her net worth ranges from $1-$5 million.
Barbara Serra Career
Serra’s journalistic career started at the BBC as a researcher. She spent three years working as a producer/presenter for BBC London News and produced on Radio 4‘s Today program. She regularly presented EuroNews on BBC Radio Five Live. Her most challenging on-air moment was having to improvise a 5-minute radio bulletin without any scripts due to a technical mishap. In 2003, she joined Sky News as a reporter, working on both domestic and international assignments. Serra covered a wide range of stories, from the death of Pope John Paul II in Rome to the Michael Jackson trial in California. Serra became part of the Five News team in 2005, following a deal between Sky News and Five to deliver Five’s news programming. She became the first news presenter in the United Kingdom to present a prime-time news program in her second language on terrestrial television, with her first language as Italian. In 2006, a newly formed news network was launched which was part of the Al Jazeera network. Serra subsequently joined Al Jazeera English in April 2006 as part of its launch team. The role and many of the other news correspondents for the network were based in London. As part of the Al Jazeera English team, she was a correspondent in a number of European countries and also the West Bank and Gaza between 2006 and 2009. Since September 2007, she has co-presented a weekly program called TV Talk, broadcast on Italian state TV RAI from the Al Jazeera studios in London. The TV program broadcasts on RAI 3, with Serra regularly speaking out about the lack of female representation on Italian television. Her work with Al Jazeera English included a breaking news report that Palestinian farmers were attacked by Israelis in the West Bank in 2009. Also in 2009, she shadowed Pope Benedict XVI on his trip around the Middle East. This included meeting the Pope during his controversial trip to the Holy Land. Her reports were logged on the Al Jazeera website, covering each day of the Pope’s trip. In 2013, Serra interviewed Anders Fogh Rasmussen where he discussed NATO‘s involvement in Afghanistan and also the success of its operations in the region. Serra presented a TEDx talk in the city of Matera, Italy in 2014. The talk discussed the understanding of meritocracy within Italy when compared to other aspects such as competition and ambition. Having started as a London-based European reporter, she now works primarily as a London anchor on the flagship program Newshour for Al Jazeera. Serra reports and anchors on location for big stories for the news and was live on air in 2013 as the conclave in Rome elected Pope Francis. She is also a stand-in presenter for The Listening Post. She has presented several programs and documentaries, including People & Power and Streetfood Palermo on the same network. She also still works as a regular commentator for RAI. In March 2017, she presented the prestigious Royal Television Society Journalism Awards, which took place in Mayfair, London. In 2020, Al Jazeera aired Serra’s documentary, “Fascism in the Family”. In the documentary, Serra looks at the story of her grandfather who was mayor of Carbonia, a city built by the Benito Mussolini regime to service the local coal mines, to see what link there is between Italy’s fascist past and its present. The documentary also looks at the rhetoric of Matteo Salvini and has testimony from Holocaust survivor Senator Liliana Segre. This entry was posted on July 8, 2010.
Inventor
As an author, Serra has published the book, “Gli Italiani Non-Sono Pigri” (Those Lazy Europeans). The book was published in Italian only. It was released in 2014. When asked by ITALY Magazine about her book, she stated that she wanted to study European stereotypes and the real reason why many of those stereotypes exist. The book covered the stereotypical view by some that Southern European countries are lazy. Serra comments in the book that certain societies in Europe are simply less efficient than others and studies the causes of this. Serra is also a regular writer and commentator for the Huffington Post.
Serra Awards
In 2019, Serra received the Knighthood of the Order of the Star of Italy. She received the knighthood for raising awareness of the conditions of minorities through her journalism work. In March 2014, Serra was recognized by winning the Comete award for her book released in the same year. Serra also won the third edition of the Caccuri Literary Prize with the book, Gli Italiani Non-Sono Pigri. She was recognized by Elle Italia as one of the 20 most high-profile Italian women internationally, along with Monica Bellucci and Miuccia Prada. In November 2015, Serra became only the second woman to receive the prestigious 12 Apostles award, after Nobel Laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini was awarded it in 1991. The award was presented for Serra’s work as a writer and journalist.
