These are hard times for journalists. Technology and economics have altered forever a once profitable printed press. Reporters are expected to do more – blogging, tweeting, writing and broadcasting – for less money and in less time while an army of amateurs give away their work for free. At a time of information overload there is great need for professionals who can sift, sort, verify and tell good stories but recent scandals such as phone hacking have left many wondering at the value of the so-called professionals.

Journalists are good at telling other people’s stories. We’ve failed to tell our own.

A new series of events from City University London’s Journalism Department aims to remedy that. In Defence of Journalism will bring in reporters whose journalism has powerfully changed society. Whether it’s exposing injustice, abuse of power or corruption these are journalists who have used their professional skills to make the world a better place.

Professor Heather Brooke will introduce the series on November 6th. Andrew Norfolk is the inaugural speaker.

Andrew Norfolk won the 2012 Orwell Prize and the Paul Foot award for investigative and campaigning journalism for his work exposing the targeting, grooming and sexual exploitation of teenage girls. He spent two years investigating gangs of men in the north of England who preyed on vulnerable girls and the failures of state agencies to protect them and to prosecute the offenders. His articles prompted two government-ordered inquiries, a parliamentary inquiry and a new national action plan on child sexual exploitation. Police forces, the Crown Prosecution Service and local authorities were told to transform their approach to street-grooming offences, leading to extra resources, improved training for frontline staff and an explosion in the number of investigations and prosecutions. The government also ordered a sweeping review of protection for residents of children’s homes.

Norfolk is chief investigative reporter at The Times. He began journalism as an indentured trainee at the Scarborough Evening Newsin 1989. He joined the Yorkshire Post in 1995 and The Times in 2000.

The lecture will be followed by a reception, all welcome.

For more information please click here.