Last year Press Gazette contacted more than 30 of the biggest names in British investigative journalism to ask who they think are the best investigative journalists in the UK.
The clear winner was Nick Davies, commended primarily for his exposure of the phone-hacking scandal and work on Wikileaks.
Davies was described by his peers as “the man who humbled Rupert Murdoch”, “top of the investigative journalism tree” and “very brave and absolutely unstoppable”.
On page 10 of last week's Press Gazette – Journalism Weekly, in an interview with Press Gazette, Davies describes his early career, explains why he tries not to read any newspapers – except for The Guardian – and discusses his long friendship with Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger.
1 – Nick Davies (The Guardian)
“Not only for his work on phone-hacking but for, more generally, giving investigative journalism a good name. His work repudiates the popular view that investigative journalists are interested only in celebrities and gossip.”
2 – Claire Newell (The Daily Telegraph)
“Her work exposing FIFA for Insight in particular was top drawer”
3 – David Leigh (The Guardian)
“He’s been performing at a high level for a long time and he hasn’t lost any of his appetite”
4 – Jonathan Calvert (The Sunday Times)
“His scoops are endless, and he effects enormous changes in public behaviour through his exposure of scandals”
5 – Heather Brooke (Freelance)
“Worked well [in the] fight in the High Court in 2008 to force the release of the MPs’ expenses details”
6 – David Rose (Mail on Sunday)
“Brilliant and dedicated, exposing miscarriages of justice, frauds in the climate change lobby, middle east politicking etc.”
7 – Paul Lewis (The Guardian)
“One of the best proponents of data journalism… has had some great scoops, from Police undercover officers having affairs (and children) on their missions, to revealing how Ian Tomlinson really died”
8 – Mazher Mahmood (The Sunday Times)
“Brilliant scoops and stings, whatever one’s slight feelings about the occasional entrapment”
9 – Andrew Norfolk (The Times)
“For his heroic work in pursuing the story of on street sex grooming and trafficking in Northern cities”
10 – Stephen Grey (Thomson Reuters)
“One of his major coups was to secure flight data for the CIA’s network of jets that were used to transport rendition victims. That data… helped blow the entire thing out of the water and expose how widespread it was”
The above testimonies were submitted anonymously by those who voted in this poll.
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