FT editor Khalaf: Our coverage is under attack

Roula Khalaf

Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf called for action to stop the intimidation of journalists in a speech this week, reports Bron Maher of Press Gazette.

Maher writes, “According to Khalaf: ‘From autocracies to illiberal democracies and unfortunately even thriving democracies, journalists are maligned and manipulated, harassed and intimidated…

“‘Our experience at the FT starkly illustrates the enabling nature of our system to exert pressure on public interest journalism and the threat that is ominously close to home.’

“Khalaf described the FT’s experience breaking the Wirecard scandal – which saw the journalist leading the coverage, Dan McCrum, subjected to smear campaigns, doctored chat logs and private investigators.

“McCrum won the Journalist of the Year prize at the British Journalism Awards in 2020 for his work on the investigation.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.