Jo is the Director of English PEN, the worldwide fellowship of writers promoting free expression and the literature across frontiers. Jo worked as a BBC current affairs editor for eight years and she is the former editor of award winning Index on Censorship
Ian is professor of digital economy at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. He worked for the Financial Times for 11 years before joining the BBC as managing editor, and then director, of News and Current Affairs. He rejoined the FT as deputy editor before leaving to edit The Independent in 1994 and the New Statesman in 1996. He conducted the Hargreaves Review of intellectual property and growth, the report, Digital Opportunity, being published in May 2011, and wrote Journalism: A Very Short Introduction (2005).
Brian won the Orwell Prize for Books in 2000 for The Case of Stephen Lawrence. Now the professor in journalism at Kingston University, he was previously deputy editor and foreign editor of the Independent on Sunday and has written for outlets including The Independent, Financial Times, New Statesman,The Big Issue, The Guardian and Index on Censorship. He was specialist adviser to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s inquiry into press standards, privacy and libel (2008-10) and is one of the founders of theHacked Off campaign.
William Skidelsky is Books Editor for The Observer. His writing focus is split between literature and food. In 2008 he wrote a pocket-size guide book Gourmet London. Previously Skidelsky worked as Deputy Editor of Prospect magazine and Literary Editor for the New Statesman where he also had a food column.
Martin Bright began his journalistic career writing in very simple English for a magazine aimed at French school children. This experience has informed his style ever since. He worked for the BBC World Service, and The Guardianbefore joining The Observer as Education Correspondent. He went on to become Home Affairs Editor before becoming the New Statesman’s political editor in 2005 and his work was shortlisted for the 2007 Orwell Prize for Journalism. He left theNew Statesman in January 2009, and started blogging on Spectator.co.uk. He was appointed political editor of the Jewish Chronicle in August 2009. Martin is the founder of New Deal of the Mind.
Peter Kellner is an award-winning journalist, political commentator and President of YouGov opinion polling. Although holding MA in Economics and Statistics from Cambridge University, Peter proclaims his parents taught him that “Politics isn’t just about data collection and tables and regression analysis, it’s about justice, about truth and about liberty.” Before joining YouGov, Peter worked as political editor for the New Statesman, opinion poll analyst for The Sunday Times and political analyst for the BBC’s Newsnight. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire in 1997. Peter is the author ofThorns and Roses: Speeches of Neil Kinnock, 1983-91, Democracy: 1,000 Years in Pursuit of British Liberty and with Christopher Hitchens Callaghan: The Road to Number 10.
Roger Graef OBE is a film-maker, criminologist and writer. He began his film career directing plays at Harvard University going on to found the award-winningFilms of Record television production company in 1979. He is an avid campaigner for reform of the justice system and is a visiting professor at numerous universities including the London School of Economics. Graef has written three books on crime and justice; Living Dangerously: Young Offenders in Their Own Words, Talking Blues: Police in their own words and Why Restorative Justice?: Repairing the Harm Caused by Crime. He is chair of theMedia Standards Trust.