Professor Jane Martinson appointed to the Scott Trust board • City St George's, University of London

Leading professor of financial journalism will help oversee the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian newspaper.

By Eve Lacroix (Senior Communications Officer), Published Thursday, 21^st August 2025

Professor Jane Martinson was appointed to the board of The Scott Trust, which oversees the editorial and financial independence of The Guardian newspaper.

The Scott Trust is the sole shareholder of The Guardian Media Group and is tasked with ensuring the paper’s independence in perpetuity. Its secondary purpose is to champion freedom of the press in the UK and elsewhere.

A journalist and author, Professor Martinson work focused on the media more broadly, business, finance and women’s issues before joining City St George’s, University of London, as the Marjorie Deane Professor of Financial Journalism.

She first began working with The Guardian as a business correspondent based in New York, covering the early dot com boom and Wall Street.

Her career developed across multiple newsrooms, and she held roles as city news editor, women’s editor and media editor, and as the writer of a weekly interview slot.

She became a key member of the paper’s senior editorial leadership team, working as head of media between 2014 and 2017, in which she was responsible for the paper’s online and print department. She continues to write columns for the paper.

On her appointment, Professor Martinson said:

The Guardian has been part of my professional life for over two decades and I am delighted to join the Scott Trust board.
The Guardian’s commitment to progressive, liberal, fact-based journalism is more important than ever in an era of great political, environmental and technological change.
Having watched it grow into a truly global news organisation with a pioneering approach to digital transformation, I look forward to helping safeguard its journalistic freedom into the future.

Ole Jacob Sunde, chair of the Scott Trust’s board, said:

Jane’s extensive journalism background, combined with her experience in media and deep knowledge of the Guardian, will be invaluable assets as she joins the Scott Trust.
We are delighted to welcome her.

Professor Jane Martinson’s dedication to media freedom is well-evidenced in her writing.

She is the author of You May Never See Us Again - the Barclay Dynasty: A Story of Survival, Secrecy and Succession, telling the story of David and Frederick Barclay, who were proprietors of The Telegraph and The Spectator.

Professor Jane Martinson with copies of her book "You May Never See Us Again- The Barclay Dynasty: A Story of Survival, Secrecy and Succession" at a panel event on investigative financial journalism

Professor Martinson has frequently commented on Rupert Murdoch, the businessman and media mogul whose company News Corp owns papers worldwide including The Sun, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post. She has also presented programmes on the BBC and worked for other outlets including the BBC, the FT and Tortoise Media.

She is an alumna of City St George’s Journalism Department, a former chair and current executive board member of the Women in Journalism organisation, a trustee of the Wincott Foundation and judge several journalism awards including the Press Awards and Royal Television Society and Wincott awards.

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