FT reporter DiStefano resigns

Financial Times media and technology reporter Mark Di Stefano, accused earlier this week of logging into a sensitive Zoom meeting of some of its competitors, has resigned.

On Twitter, Di Stefano wrote, “This afternoon I offered my resignation. Thank you everyone who has given support. I’m now going to take some time away and log off.”

Di Stefano had started at the Financial Times in January. The newspaper had suspended him after allegations emerged that he had listened to the audio feed of video conference calls held by the Independent and its sister title the Evening Standard about responding to the financial impact of coronavirus.

Di Stefano, a prolific tweeter with more than 100,000 followers, broke the news of the meetings on Twitter at the same time as staff were being informed.

The Financial Times issued the following statement:

Last week, the FT received a complaint from The Independent that a reporter had joined a staff conference call without authorisation. Access details had been shared with him. The journalist in question has now resigned from the company. The FT wishes to apologise to The Independent and the Evening Standard, which subsequently informed the FT that the same reporter had accessed a meeting it held.

Previously, Di Stefano was working at BuzzFeed U.K. as media and politics reporter for the past two years. He was the first news hire for BuzzFeed Australia in 2014, working for three years as political editor.

Additionally, he has also worked at ABC News in Sydney and Darwin.

Di Stefano was named Young Journalist of the Year and Journalist of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards in 2016 and 2017. His campaign diary about the 2016 Australian election “What a Time to be Alive” was published by Melbourne University Press.