Antony Barnett
Antony Barnett is a British investigative journalist. Since 2007 he has worked as a reporter and presenter for Channel 4’s flagship current affairs series "Dispatches". He joined Channel 4 after working for more than a decade at "The Observer" where he held a number of posts including as the newspaper’s Investigations Editor. Barnett's investigative work has won and been shortlisted for a number of journalism awards. Education. Barnett studied Accounting and Finance at Birmingham University. Career. Early career. Barnett began his journalistic career working for specialist business magazines before freelancing for the BBC, "The Guardian  and The Times". He became the Industrial Correspondent for "The Observer" in 1996 and its Public Affairs Editor in 2000. In 2005 he was named its Investigations Editor. Channel 4. In 2007 Barnett joined Channel 4 as a reporter for its current affairs series "Dispatches" He has since led and presented over 50 investigative documentaries for the channel. Barnett’s undercover investigation "The Battle for the Labour Party," which aired in September 2016 and revealed how hard left extremists were infiltrating the Labour Party through Momentum, won the British Journalism Award in 2017 for political journalism. Barnett's political investigations  also include two exposes of how former cabinet ministers offered favors to companies in return for large fees. Both "Politicians For Hire" documentaries were shortlisted for the RTS Television Awards Current Affairs category, in 2011 and 2016. Barnett’s documentary for "Dispatches" "Starbucks & Nespresso: The Truth About Your Coffee" investigated child labor in Guatemalan coffee farms. won the 2020 Association for International Broadcasting’s Politics and Business award and was shortlisted for the 2020 British Journalism Awards. The documentary was the subject of international press coverage after Oscar-winning actor George Clooney (who had been Nespresso’s brand ambassador since  2006) commented on the findings. Barnett has led and fronted three one-hour documentaries investigating the British Government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. His June 2020 documentary for "Dispatches", "Coronavirus Catastrophe: Did the Government Get It Wrong?," was shortlisted for the 2020 Investigation of the year at the British Journalism Awards. The Observer. In 1998 Barnett originated and led "The Observer"'s investigation into New Labour political lobbyists that became know as the Lobbygate scandal. This expose won the Industrial Society’s Scoop of the Year. Barnett’s investigation for "The Observer" of the Hinduja brothers won What the  Papers 2001 Scoop of the Year award and was shortlisted for 2002 UK Press Gazette Scoop of the Year. It also led to investigations in cash payments for passports, resulting in the second ministerial resignation of Labour minister Peter Mandelson. In 2004, Barnett uncovered Sir Mark Thatcher’s involvement in the failed Equatorial Guinea coup to depose the west African state’s President Teodoro Obiang. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jul/18/conservatives.politics His investigation into the British state’s knowledge of the failed coup led to a formal apology from foreign secretary Jack Straw.