Ceri Thomas is a British executive who is the director of public affairs and communication at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. A former radio news producer and media executive, he is a former editor of the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' programme and

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

's '' Panorama''.

Education

Thomas attended the St Bartholomew's School in Newbury, Berkshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Attending college starting 1981, he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

with a major in French studies from the then

Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...

(now the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

) in 1985.

Career

LBC and BBC Radio

Thomas began his career in broadcasting at London's

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadca ...

in 1989 as a producer, remaining with the station until 1991. He moved to

to work as a junior producer with the ''

'' programme in 1995, working on the programme from 1991 to 1997. He was promoted to a senior role on ''Today'' in 1995, before later moving to BBC Radio 5 Live in 1998. Initially, a producer for the breakfast programme, Thomas later became Head of News at 5 Live, leaving in 2004. He was subsequently appointed as the BBC's Editor of Newsgathering, before taking a year-long sabbatical to work as a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. On returning to the BBC in 2006, he became editor of Radio 4's ''Today'' programme. In March 2010, while discussing the domination of male presenters on the ''Today'' programme during an interview on Radio 4's '' Feedback'' (only one out of five was then female), he suggested the show was too tough an environment for women, although he did also say the mix of male and female on the programme was "not ideal". Shortly afterwards, he wrote in a '' Guardian'' article that the comments had been meant in the context of "a wider news world in which women have not been well represented in senior positions".

BBC Television

In November 2012, Thomas was appointed Acting Deputy Director of News at the BBC after the then incumbent, Stephen Mitchell stepped aside in the wake of the controversy surrounding a report on the BBC Two current affairs programme ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

''. A clandestine visit to North Korea in March 2013 for an edition of '' Panorama'' involving the journalist John Sweeney and a group of students from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

led to discontent between the BBC and the university with claims that the students lives had been put at risk without their consent. Thomas described the programme as "an important piece of public interest journalism" and defended putting the students lives at risk. Thomas formally began work as editor of ''Panorama'' in October 2014. He had been acting editor since the previous May when his predecessor, Tom Giles, had stepped down. It was announced in June 2016 that he was leaving the BBC to take up a post as the director of public affairs and communication at

. He assumed this role in the autumn of 2016. Thomas was succeeded by Rachel Jupp as the editor of ''Panorama''.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Ceri BBC executives BBC News people BBC Radio 4 Alumni of the University of Manchester British radio executives Living people Nieman Fellows Panorama (British TV programme) People educated at St. Bartholomew's School People from Newbury, Berkshire BBC Radio 5 Live Year of birth missing (living people)