Nicholas Dawes is a journalist, editor, and communications professional, who has been the Executive Director of The City since 2021. He was previously Communications Director for ''

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

'', was Chief Editorial and Content Officer for the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

'', and Editor-in-Chief of the ''

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular cult ...

'' newspaper. He was born in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

and finished his schooling in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

Life and career

Dawes completed his high school education at the

Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific (Pearson College UWC) is one of eighteen schools and colleges around the world in the UWC ( United World Colleges) movement. It is named after the late Canadian Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pe ...

in British Columbia, Canada. He then studied Science and later English literature at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

before attending graduate school in the United States on a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

. On his return to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

he wrote as a freelance for a wide range of local publications, and for television, before becoming News and Finance editor at one of the country's early web portals,

World Online World Online (WOL) was a European Internet Service Provider (ISP) which came to prominence in the late 1990s dotcom boom. Founded by Dutch entrepreneur Nina Brink, World Online's name indicated its aspiration to rival the hugely successful Amer ...

. He left World Online to become Managing Director at Maverick Interface Design, a digital communications agency that helped companies to develop their internet and mobile strategies, but ultimate decided to return to journalism. After a stint as Cape Business Editor, and political columnist at the now-defunct broadsheet ''

ThisDay ''This Day'' is a Nigerian national newspaper. It is the flagship newspaper of Leaders & Company Ltd and was first published on 22 January 1995. It has its headquarters in Apapa, Lagos State. Founded by Nduka Obaigbena, the Chairman & Editor ...

'', he joined the ''Mail & Guardian'' in 2004 as associate editor, focusing principally on public policy and economics. He was also heavily involved in the ''Mail & Guardian''’s investigations, and has won several awards for that work. He replaced

Ferial Haffajee Ferial Haffajee (born 20 February 1967) is a South African journalist and newspaper editor. Haffajee was editor of ''City Press'' newspaper from July 2009 until July 2016 and was previously the editor of the ''Mail & Guardian'' newspaper. Haff ...

as Editor in Chief of the ''Mail & Guardian'' on June 1, 2009. Dawes recently resigned and moved to India to take up a position at the

. In October 2016, Dawes was hired to serve as Communications Director for international human rights research and advocacy group

. In January 2021, he took up the role of Executive Director at The City, a nonprofit news organization in New York City.

Personal life

Dawes is married to Aurelia Driver, and has two young children, Hannah and Alexander. The family lived in the Johannesburg suburb of Parkview before moving to

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

References

External links

Appointment as Editor in chief
at ''

''
Nicholas Dawes on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawes, Nicholas South African newspaper editors Living people South African newspaper journalists Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at a United World College