The Guardian has announced Chris Osuh as a new community affairs correspondent based in Manchester, covering Greater Manchester’s Black communities, alongside wider reporting on Britain’s Black, Asian and ethnic-minority populations and the issues that affect them. In addition, writer, performance artist and producer Keisha Thompson has been appointed as the Manchester-based programme manager for the Legacies of Enslavement project.
Chris is currently features editor at the Manchester Evening News, spearheading the title’s long-form and brand content. An experienced leader writer, his campaigning journalism has seen him execute The Belonging Project to increase reporting of diverse communities and conduct an award-winning investigation into the Manchester Arena bomb. He managed the M.E.N’s reporting into the death of toddler Awaab Ishak, which resulted in a change in the law. He was previously the title’s life editor and a news editor, after serving as the newspaper’s court reporter. His previous experience includes work at the BBC, The Voice newspaper and Manchester Metro News.
Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media says:
“I’m delighted to welcome Chris to this important new role reporting on African- and Caribbean-descended communities in the north of England, as well as Britain’s other ethnic-minority populations and the issues that affect them. The Guardian puts readers and their communities at the heart of so much of its journalism and was founded in Manchester, so it is particularly fitting we have someone based in the city to cover the urgent stories and issues that affect us today.”
Chris Osuh says:
“I have always admired the Guardian’s dedication to covering Manchester and the north. I look forward to reporting on the lived experiences of diverse communities across the region and sharing my passion for storytelling about people and place with Guardian readers.”
Chris Osuh will join the Guardian in October.
The Guardian recently announced new correspondents in the Caribbean, South America, Africa and the UK and new hires to the race and equity team at Guardian US. The roles are part of the Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme and will strengthen its overall aims by reporting on previously underreported regions and communities.
As part of the Scott Trust’s long-term commitment to raising awareness of the UK’s role in transatlantic enslavement, Keisha Thompson will lead on community engagement and partnerships in Greater Manchester, helping to advance knowledge and understanding of the city’s connections to transatlantic slavery.
Keisha brings a wide range of experience working on arts-based social justice and anti-racism initiatives. She is co-chair of the Independent Theatre Council, a trustee of Olympias Music Foundation and recipient of the DARE Art Prize 2024. She is also the director of Contact Events Limited and was previously senior learning programme manager for The World Reimagined; a national arts education programme promoting racial justice.
Ebony Riddell Bamber, programme director of the Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme, says:
“I am really excited to welcome Keisha Thompson as our new programme manager based in Manchester. She brings a wealth of skills, experience and knowledge of the city, its residents and institutions that will enable us to accelerate our community engagement and partnership-building. The city, where the newspaper was founded in 1821, is an important focus for the project as we aim to highlight the history and continual impact of transatlantic slavery in Manchester, the north west, and the UK as a whole.”
Keisha Thompson says:
“I look forward to working closely with the project team and engaging with communities and organisations across Manchester to help progress this important work set out by the Scott Trust.”
Keisha Thompson joins the Guardian this month.
For more information on the project, please visit the programme webpage or contact legacies@theguardian.com. If you are a journalist and wish to arrange an interview, please contact media.enquiries@theguardian.com.
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Notes to editors
About the Scott Trust
The ultimate owner of the Guardian is the Scott Trust, which was originally created as a trust in 1936 to safeguard the title’s journalistic freedom. In 2008 it was replaced by a limited company with the same core purpose as the original trust: to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity, while its subsidiary aims are to champion its principles and to promote freedom of the press in the UK and elsewhere. Other than to cover expenses, the Scott Trust takes no dividend from the Group’s businesses, whose profits are instead reinvested to sustain journalism that is free from commercial or political interference.
About the legacies of enslavement project
In March 2023, the Scott Trust published a comprehensive report on the Guardian’s historical connections with transatlantic slavery, sharing an apology and its restorative justice response. The research identified links between John Edward Taylor and the associates who funded the Manchester Guardian’s creation, and slavery. It was conducted in three stages – first by Dr Sheryllynne Haggerty and Dr Cassandra Gooptar of the University of Nottingham’s Institute for the Study of Slavery, and later by Dr Gooptar and Professor Trevor Burnard of the University of Hull’s Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation. Trevor, a historian who was lauded for his work on Atlantic slavery, sadly passed away in July 2024. The Scott Trust also commissioned author and expert Professor Olivette Otele as an external advisor, who reviewed the academic findings.
The academic research and restorative justice proposals were overseen by a committee of Scott Trust members: historian, writer and broadcaster David Olusoga, barrister and former deputy mayor of London, Matthew Ryder KC, Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner, and Scott Trust chair Ole Jacob Sunde; and by a team of Guardian editorial and commercial staff, led by senior editor for diversity and development Joseph Harker and chief communications and marketing officer Brendan O’Grady. Cotton Capital, the editorial project running alongside the Legacies of Enslavement programme, is edited by Maya Wolfe-Robinson.
Since June 2023, Ebony Riddell Bamber has been in post as programme director, providing project management, advancing descendant community engagement and consultation in Jamaica and the Sea Islands region of the US, and initiating the development of a strategic plan. This work will continue throughout 2024, including progressing partnership work in Manchester and building awareness of the city’s connections to transatlantic enslavement.