Liz MacKean, who was best known for her work in exposing Jimmy Savile, died on Friday following a stroke.
She worked for the BBC for more than 20 years but left the corporation in 2013 after her Newsnight investigation into the disgraced DJ was shelved.
The 52-year-old went on to work on Channel 4’s Dispatches programme and was recently one of two press officers who worked with the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.
The inquiry came to its conclusion last month when the long-awaited report into child abuse in the Island was released.
BBC director of news James Harding described the mother-of-two as a ‘remarkably tenacious and resourceful reporter’.
He said: ‘In Northern Ireland, she won the trust of all sides and produced some of the most insightful and hard-hitting reporting of the conflict.
‘It was as an investigative reporter that she really shone, shining a light on issues from the dumping of toxic waste off the African coast to Jimmy Savile, the story for which she is probably best known.’
Despite Ms MacKean’s story about Savile being dropped by Newsnight in 2011, the investigation went on to be named ‘scoop of the year’ by the London Press Club.
In 2015 she was named journalist of the decade by gay rights charity Stonewall.
She is survived by her wife and two children.
