Channel 4 News has announced it is expanding its investigations unit by taking on the founders of news agency OpenWorld News.
Paul McNamara (right) and Guy Basnett (left) formerly worked as defence editor and deputy features editor respectively of the News of the World before it closed down in the summer of 2011.
Since founding OpenWorld News in 2012, the pair’s work has featured in various national newspapers as well as on television.
Last month, OpenWorld News and Channel 4’s Dispatches were finalists in the British Journalism Awards’ investigation of the year category for their “Exposing hospital heartache” documentary on how hospitals were incinerating unborn babies as waste.
Last year, they exposed how retailers were selling unlabelled Halal meat, the extent of children going missing from council care and how Comic Relief was investing millions of pounds of donations in arms companies and tobacco firms.
Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear said: “Paul and Guy have an outstanding track-record of digging beneath the data to uncover the truth and in doing so have delivered an impressive range of ground-breaking scoops.
“Our investment in this unit reaffirms our commitment to investigative journalism which remains crucial at Channel 4 News in holding power to account. I look forward to welcoming two veteran newspaper reporters to the world of TV news.”
Basnett said: “We couldn’t be more excited to be joining Channel 4 News. This is an incredible opportunity to contribute to an award-winning programme with a track record of brilliant investigative journalism.”
McNamara and Basnett will report to Channel 4 News's commissioning editor of investigations, Job Rabkin.
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