Jonathan began his career as a journalist at the Observer and went on to spend seven years as director of English PEN, where he campaigned successfully for free speech and media freedom. He served as director of programmes at the Sigrid Rausing Trust, one of Europe’s largest human rights foundations, where he developed a new strategy to support investigative journalism. In 2015, Jonathan founded the independent press regulator IMPRESS (The Independent Monitor for the Press). He led IMPRESS as CEO until March 2020, when he launched the Public Interest News Foundation, the first charity in the UK with a remit to promote journalism.
He is a leadership fellow at St George’s House, Windsor and chair of the Stephen Spender Trust. His book, The Press Freedom Myth, was published by Biteback in 2019.