Bureau appoints Meirion Jones as Investigations Editor
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has hired award-winning journalist Meirion Jones. His appointment is part of a major expansion plan for Britain’s biggest not-for-profit investigative news unit.
Jones, who is best known as the journalist behind the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal, joins the Bureau as Investigations Editor next month.
A former BBC producer who worked on Panorama and Newsnight, Jones has a long history of breaking important stories that have had a substantial impact.
Through his successful career he has received a number of journalistic honours including the Daniel Pearl award for his investigation into the dumping of Trafigura’s toxic waste in Africa and the London Press Awards Scoop of the Year for his part in the Jimmy Savile revelations.
Jones joins the Bureau at an exciting time. Having secured increased funding the Bureau is recruiting an additional four members of staff including a production editor, two journalists and a director of a new data team.
Later this year the Bureau will take on more staff as it builds a data team that will construct and analyse large datasets to produce important local and regional stories. This initiative was one of just two UK-based projects to receive more than €500,000 from the first round of Google’s Digital News Initiative Innovation Fund.
The Bureau’s Managing Editor Rachel Oldroyd said: “I am absolutely delighted that Meirion is joining the Bureau at this exciting period of growth.
“At a time when the British media industry is hit by severe cuts, I believe the Bureau has a vital part to play in producing hard-hitting, important stories in the public interest.
“Meirion Jones was behind some of the biggest stories of the past ten years. He brings significant experience to the Bureau and I could not be more pleased by his appointment.”
Jones said: “I am really looking forward to working with a great team which will be breaking even more stories, as the Bureau moves up to a new level.
“What excites me is that while many parts of the media seem to be retreating from investigations, the Bureau is going to be putting more resources into vital stories.”
Founder and board member of the Bureau Elaine Potter said: “Meirion will bring additional energy to the Bureau and lead a team of passionate journalists.
“Meirion’s appointment also comes at a time when we have expanded our support from a single donor (David and Elaine Potter) to some important and very highly regarded additional supporters. These include a major Dutch foundation Adessium, the Reva and David Logan Foundation, the Bertha Foundation, the Open Society Foundation, the Pears Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. We are proud that they have chosen to support us as we grow into a significant force.”
