Denmark’s DR hires BBC alum as content chief

Naja Nielsen, the former digital director of BBC News in the UK, will take a key role as DR’s new content director starting on 1 October.

Nielsen will set the strategic direction for DR’s content across all genres, products and platforms as part of a broader organisational sweep first announced earlier this year.

She will be responsible for what were previously three sectors: DR News; DR Culture; and, Children and Youth. She will also oversee DR’s Publishing and User teams.

Nielsen served as head of news at DR from 2015 to 2017, before moving to BBC News as digital director in 2019.

She spent the next six years in the UK before joining Swedish public broadcaster SVT as media director in June 2025, but is now returning to Denmark.

“With her broad content portfolio, few other candidates could take on that responsibility and drive the development,” DR’s director general Bjarne Corydon said, stressing its objective to provide Danes with a public service offering that matches international competitors.

Entertainment & drama questions

The appointment comes at a pivotal time for DR and has caused some local producers to query how the broadcaster’s focus in terms of output might evolve.

According to Danish outlet MediaWatch, local independent production companies have been left with more questions than answers following Corydon’s new corporate strategy for DR, which includes appointing Nielsen to such a central content role, given her news-focused background.

Concerns surfaced at a recent conference, where Anna Porse Nielsen, director of the Danish Producers Association, praised DR’s strategy focus on cooperation with external players.

However, Porse Nielsen said she had heard very few thoughts on DR’s scripted and entertainment plans, and expressed concerns that the broadcaster is overly focused on news.

Asked by Broadcast International to confirm their concerns, the Danish Producers Association reiterated the need for a commitment from Corydon regarding DR’s future commissioning of scripted shows and entertainment programming.

“We would like to see more reflection on DR’s thinking around content - both fiction and non-fiction - in relation to the strategy’s otherwise very compelling guiding principles,” Porse Nielsen told Broadcast International.