‘Journalism is about being a force for good and for change’ – Ted Jeory joins Bureau of Investigative Journalism from Express

Ted Jeory, the former Express Newspapers’ digital news director, has taken up the deputy editor position at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

His role includes editing copy, optimising the website and overseeing projects and investigations.

He joins Rachel Oldroyd, who became the Bureau’s managing editor in October 2014 after Christo Hird stepped down from the role. She was the Bureau’s deputy editor shortly after its launch in 2010 and has been responsible for overseeing many of its key projects – such as its investigation into the use of armed drones and its work on Wikileaks’ Iraq War logs.

At the time of her appointment, Oldroyd said: “I am absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to lead what I truly believe is an important organisation.

“With so many pressures on the media industry, there has to be room for philanthropically-funded, public interest journalism in the UK. I am convinced more than ever that independent, experimental organisations like the Bureau can play an important role in this changing industry.”

Fantastic news that @TedJeory has joined @TBIJ as our new deputy editor.

— Rachel oldroyd (@Raoldroyd) January 7, 2015

Jeory’s move comes after he took voluntary redundancy from Express Newspapers after six years. He described his 18 months as news editor for the Express website as “interesting”, saying that he had learned a lot about how to make an impact, “exactly what we’ll aim to do at the Bureau”.

He said: “Call me old-fashioned but I think journalism is about being a force for good and for change. It's a guiding principle for me, having made a career change from finance a decade or so ago.

"I had some great times at the Sunday Express and the mental health campaign we did there was all about that. We launched it on the day the Sun on Sunday launched and I remember the buzz we had in the office when Alastair Campbell wrote a blog that morning urging people to buy the Sunday Express.”

Jeory said that good journalism is about creating this buzz around a "force for good". He said the Bureau “exists for journalists and journalism. Its donors are incredibly generous people who share their staff's passion for public interest journalism.

"Some newspapers are struggling to adapt to the digital world and they simply have fewer resources available to invest in longer and deeper investigations.

"The Bureau doesn't aim to compete with newspapers or other media organisations – that would be a waste of time and money. Instead, it tries to find areas that aren't covered as in depth as they could be, particularly by making use of open source data.

“That's the route we'll go down more and more. We'll help build tools and databases for use by everyone – for free".