Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has announced journalist and lecturer Fiona O’Brien will be the next director of its London bureau.
O’Brien joins the non-profit from Kingston University, where she has run the journalism MA course since 2016.
RSF said O’Brien will be tasked with “expanding RSF’s impact in the UK and Ireland and developing the bureau, which was opened in 2016. She will also lead advocacy campaigns on UK and international press freedom issues.”
The London bureau’s outgoing leader, Rebecca Vincent, is moving to Paris to be RSF’s international director of operations and campaigns.
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O’Brien said: “I’m honoured to be joining RSF at this critical time for press freedom. Polarisation and rapid changes to the way information – and disinformation – is spread make RSF’s mission more important than ever. Journalists, in the UK and beyond, must be able to continue holding power to account and exposing wrongdoing freely and without fear of reprisal.”
RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said: “We are confident that RSF’s London office is set to enter the next phase of its development and that Fiona O’Brien has the appropriate skills and experience to oversee that growth. We are very grateful for Rebecca Vincent’s achievements and thankful also for the impressive support provided by our UK advisory board. All of its members have been part of this effort that has an impact overseas.”
The UK ranked 24th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index.
[Read more: Number of journalists jailed in 2022 rose 13% to record 533, RSF says]
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