Sir Harry Evans

“Things are not what they seem on the surface. Dig deeper, dig deeper, dig deeper.”

Sir Harry Evans

Pioneering British newspaperman Sir Harry Evans (1928-2020) was one of the giants of post-war journalism.

“All I tried to do – all I hoped to do – was to shed a little light.”

Sir Harry Evans

The award-winning work he spearheaded as editor of The Northern Echo, The Sunday Times and The Times set the gold standard for courageous investigative journalism – from his fight to overturn a young Welshman’s wrongful murder conviction that spurred the end of the death penalty in the UK, to his celebrated ten-year campaign to win compensation for Thalidomide children, and his exposure of the cover-up of Soviet spy Kim Philby. In 2002, he was voted the Greatest British Newspaper Editor of all time by his media peers. 

For Sir Harry, trust in journalism was essential and the debasement of fact-based reporting was a serious concern for functioning democracy. To reignite Sir Harry’s values, we are creating a summit to champion the work of today’s investigative journalists.

Celebrate the Truth Tellers

The inaugural Sir Harry Evans Global Summit in Investigative Journalism, hosted by Reuters, Durham University, and Evans’ wife, Tina Brown CBE, will take place in London in the prestigious Art Deco setting of the Royal Institute of British Architects on 10-11 May, 2023.

The summit will bring together the world’s most dogged and diverse truth-seekers, both seasoned and innovative: unsung reporters who risk their lives and reputations, intrepid war photographers, digital data sleuths, relentless documentarians, and enterprising investigators in podcasting, publishing, TV, and streaming media. What they share is a moral commitment to the truth – not the sanctioned story, the acceptable version or the cosmetic spin – but the unvarnished account of what really happened. A preliminary programme will be posted in early 2023.

The summit will include a full day of programming followed by a closing dinner. The invitation-only audience is made up of 250 editors, reporters, broadcasters, media leaders, and cultural and political influencers. They will leave the event inspired by the next generation of fearless investigators and enlightened by their new methods, tools, and storytelling innovations.

The purpose of the summit is to deepen the global networks that support fearless inquiry, celebrate the industry’s great practitioners and new trailblazers, and, above all, remind the world why serious journalism is indispensable.