Two new appointments in News and Current Affairs at Channel 4

8 June 2021

Channel 4 has appointed Nevine Mabro as commissioning editor, News and Current Affairs and Joanna Potts as the new Dispatches Editor.

Joanna started her career in historical documentaries, producing series including Warlords for Channel Four (and co-authoring the accompanying book), and the International Emmy Award winning The Ascent of Money with Professor Niall Ferguson. A specialist in investigative and undercover journalism Joanna’s films have exposed criminals and fraudsters; abuse at care homes; violent neo-Nazis and terrorist sympathisers; domestic slavery perpetrated by the rich and powerful; and tricks that have left consumers thousands of pounds out of pocket.

As Producer/Director Joanna’s credits include the award-winning ISIS: The British Women Supporters Unveiled which made headlines for exposing clandestine meetings of ISIS sympathisers connected to notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary. Others include investigations such as Bupa Care Homes Undercover in which undercover cameras revealed institutional abuse of vulnerable residents and was nominated for a British Journalism Award and Exposure: The Sham Marriage Racket which led to successful criminal prosecutions based on evidence gathered in the making of the film. 

More recently as an executive producer at Hardcash Productions Joanna has overseen from development to transmission projects including the Association of International Broadcasters award nominated Safe at Last which saw cameras given - for the first time - long term access to womens’ refuge. The film resulted in the Rail to Refuge scheme which since 2019 has seen hundreds of women and children fleeing domestic abuse being given access to life-saving free train travel. Joanna has also exec produced on Celebs for Sale: the Great Charity Scandal for Dispatches which garnered international headlines, Is TikTok Safe? for BBC Panorama and an upcoming two-part observational series for Channel 4 on the policing of rape. 

Joanna Potts says: “I’m delighted to be joining Louisa and her team, especially at a time when current affairs programming could not be more important. I’m really excited to work at Channel Four - a broadcaster I hugely admire - and with all of the talented producers, reporters and production companies who make Dispatches the award-winning strand that it is. I can’t wait to get started.”

Mabro joins the broadcaster from Channel 4 News where she is the deputy editor & executive producer of Unreported World. Nevine produced the Oscar-nominated For Sama - the multi award-winning feature documentary for Channel 4 directed by Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts - a film that started life as a series of news reports in 2016 with over 400 million views - and was the result of a unique collaboration between Channel 4 News' production team and the Syrian filmmaker who was trapped in Aleppo. 

For Sama was a rare first-hand account of a young woman's experience in Aleppo over five years during the Syrian conflict. The Times said: "There simply hasn't been a film like it before.”

Nevine added: “I am delighted to be moving to Channel 4 as a commissioner and so looking forward to working with established filmmakers and emerging talent. This is such an exciting time for ambitious filmmakers to work in the current affairs and documentary world and I can’t wait to start commissioning. I have learnt so much over the fifteen years in my various roles and have seen the programme go from strength to strength. I would like to pay tribute to my brilliant colleagues who have all operated under such challenging circumstances during the pandemic, and yet continue to produce world-class journalism.”

As deputy editor and before that as Head of Foreign News & Film Fund at Channel 4 News, Nevine has worked closely with editor Ben de Pear in delivering the programmes bold editorial vision and distinctive original journalism - executive-producing three International Emmy winning news films from Syria - Horror of Homs in 2013, Agony of Aleppo in 2014 and Inside Aleppo in 2016.

She has been instrumental in finding and nurturing new filmmaking talent and helping them transition into the documentary world. She was the executive producer of The Battle for Mosul, a short documentary by Olivier Sarbil and winner of the outstanding documentary at Prix Bayeux Calvados 2017. The film was then commissioned by Channel 4/PBS Frontline as a feature length documentary The Fight for Mosul that won an International Emmy.

Nevine joined Channel 4 News in 2005 as a foreign producer covering news in Gaza, Libya, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mexico and the United States amongst other places. As a producer she secured the first interview with the Lockerbie bomber in Libya after his release and produced a multi award-winning film on grooming and women trafficking in Mexico that led to an investigation by the FBI.

Louisa Compton, Head of News, Current Affairs & Sport continued: “I’m delighted to have two brilliant women with such a great track-record joining our News and Current Affairs team. Jo and Nevine will help us raise the impact and ambition of our investigations both at home and abroad”

 

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For further information, please contact:

Steve Rosier