Jackie Long is a British journalist and broadcaster. She is a presenter and Social Affairs Editor at Channel 4 News.
Long grew up in Bedfordshire. She studied English at university and attended a journalism college in Darlington. [1]
Long's career in the media began in local newspapers, where she worked for approximately four or five years. [1]
Prior to working at Channel 4 News [2] (which she joined in 2011), [3] Long worked for the BBC for nearly twenty years; [4] her career in broadcasting began at BBC Radio Bedfordshire. [5] In the 1990s, she occasionally presented PM on BBC Radio 4 and the Midday News on BBC Radio 5 Live; in the early 2000s, she occasionally presented PM. As of 2005 and as of 2009, Long was a correspondent for BBC Newsnight. [6] [7] Long also presented a number of documentaries for the BBC. [8] Long's time at the BBC also included working for the World at One. [9]
Long began presenting Channel 4 News in late 2013 or early 2014 [10] in addition to being the programme's Social Affairs Editor, and before this was exclusively the Social Affairs Editor of the programme. [11] In 2015, Long was defended by the editor of Channel 4 News Ben de Pear after eight people complained to OFCOM about her asking during an interview of a Jewish journalist, who did not work for Channel 4 News and who filmed himself being harassed for being Jewish in the street, if he provoked people who harassed him by wearing a kippah. [12] In 2023, Long presented the first edition of Channel 4 News to be presented from its new Leeds studio. [13]
Long has presented a large number of documentaries for Channel 4 and has received considerable recognition for her work within the documentary format of broadcasting. In 2012, Long presented a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary about the government's Work Capability Assessment. [14] In 2016, Long and Lee Sorrell received Sue Lloyd-Roberts Media Award for a Channel 4 News report about Yarl's Wood detention centre . [15] Long's documentary Inside Yarl's Wood: Britain's most notorious detention centre won the TV News award at the 2016 Amnesty International Media Awards. [16] In 2017, a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary partly made by Long in which Bupa Care Homes were investigated undercover was shortlisted for Investigation of the Year at the British Journalism Awards. [17]
As of 2015, Long was married to the journalist and broadcaster Matthew Amroliwala. [18]
Long has five children. [19]