Ivor Gaber

Ivor Harold Gaber is a British academic and journalist, a former professor of political journalism at University of Sussex, and emeritus professor of broadcast journalism at Goldsmiths, University of London. He serves as the UK representative on UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication.

Early life Born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, he grew up in London and read for a BA in history and politics at the University of Warwick before completing an MA in labour studies at the University of Sussex. He was awarded a PhD by City, University of London, in 2013 for his thesis Crisis in Political Communications? Reflections of a Critical Practitioner.

Career Journalism

Gaber began his broadcasting career in 1978 at Independent Television News (ITN) as a scriptwriter and item producer. He was a member of the ITN planning team that devised and launched Channel 4 News He is also emeritus professor of broadcast journalism at Goldsmiths, University of London, visiting professor of media and politics at the University of Bedfordshire and senior research fellow at City, University of London. He has published over 70 articles and chapters in the field of political communications and has authored or co-authored five books, with the most recent being: Culture Wars:The Media And The British Left (with J. Curran and J. Petley) London, Routledge 2019.

International experience At UNESCO, representing the UK, Gaber initiated the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. He has worked with political journalists in countries transitioning to democracy beginning in the former communist countries of eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Recently he has focused mainly on sub-Saharan Africa including devising and running election reporting projects in Nigeria, Malawi and Uganda.

Gaber was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to media freedom internationally.

Books In The Best Interests Of The Child : Culture, Identity, and Transracial Adoption. London: Free Association Books. 1994. ISBN 978-1853431524. Culture Wars : The Media And The British Left (2nd ed.). Milton: Routledge. (2018). ISBN 1138223034. Environmentalism And The Mass Media: The North-South Divide. Routledge. (1997). ISBN 978-0-415-15504-5.