Channel 4 completes News and Current Affairs team with new appointment

Channel 4 today announces the appointment of Tom Porter, currently Executive Producer for Current Affairs at Blakeway Productions, to News & Current Affairs Commissioning Editor. Porter will report to Head of News & Current Affairs Dorothy Byrne; his appointment completes her commissioning team, following the arrival of Daniel Pearl as Dispatches Commissioning Editor earlier this month.

Byrne says: "From starting out as a runner on Channel 4 programmes to earning dozens of credits as director and then executive producer across our news and current affairs output, Tom has demonstrated an unsurpassed passion for current affairs and consummate journalistic skills. He is respected industry-wide for both producing heavyweight investigations across domestic and foreign affairs and helping develop new directing talent."

Porter has overseen 16 Dispatches investigations since 2009 as Executive & Series Producer at Blakeway Productions. These films have spanned a range of subjects and issues from two Dispatches on phone-hacking (Tories, Tabloids and Telephone Hacking and Tabloid's Dirty Secrets), investigations into Peers' relationships with Russian oligarchs (Lords, Billionaires and the Russian Connection), the recent Olympics ticketing film (Olympics Tickets for Sale) to a 10-day turnaround film on the media coverage of Israel's war on Gaza - Jon Snow's Unseen Gaza. In addition, he has executive produced several films for Channel 4 News and Nobel Media.

Prior to this, Tom was a series producer and self-shooting producer/director, making films for Dispatches with October and Mentorn and Unreported World with Quicksilver Media. Porter has also made films for Sky One, NHK , ITV and BBC One.

He says: "I'm thrilled to be asked by Dorothy to join the Channel 4 News and Current Affairs department. With the appointment of a new Editor of Dispatches and a different shape to the programme, it's a very exciting time to become part the team. I look forward to working with a talented group of indies to produce exceptional films containing the sort of hard-hitting journalism for which Dispatches and Channel 4 are renowned."