Ciaran Jenkins (born 1984, in

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Ty ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

) is a Welsh journalist and reporter who works for ''

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' i ...

'', the flagship news programme of British broadcaster

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. He is the channel's Scotland correspondant.

Personal life

Jenkins was born in

, a former mining town in the valleys of

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. His father is the Welsh poet and author, Mike Jenkins. His sister is

Bethan Jenkins Bethan Sayed (née Jenkins, born 9 December 1981) is a Welsh politician. She represented the South Wales West Region for Plaid Cymru as a Member of the Senedd from 2007 to 2021. Early life and education Sayed was born in Aberdare, the daug ...

, a

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

politician who represented the South Wales West region in the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...

. He also has a younger sister named Niamh. He read Music at

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of al ...

, graduating in 2005 and was a gifted cellist, reaching the final of the ''Texaco Young Musician of Wales'' competition in 1999. In 2016, Jenkins shared his experience of studying at Cambridge as an ambassador for the

Seren Network The Seren Network is a set of eleven regional hubs in Wales to help sixth-formers in Welsh state schools to get into Russell Group universities. It was formed by the Labour Welsh government in 2015 in response to a fall in Welsh students applyin ...

Career

After leaving university, Jenkins lived in Japan where he studied Japanese and wrote articles for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' newspaper's ''Comment is Free'' website. He studied at

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

School of Journalism during which time he developed a popular political blog, ''Blamerbell Briefs''. Jenkins is a former

BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales i ...

education correspondent, appearing frequently on

BBC Wales Today ''BBC Wales Today'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Wales, broadcast on BBC One Wales from the headquarters of BBC Cymru Wales in Central Square, Cardiff. According to the BBC, it is the world's longest-running television ne ...

and the Welsh language news programme,

Newyddion ''Newyddion S4C'' (''S4C News'') is a Welsh-language news programme consisting of Welsh, UK, and international news, produced daily by BBC Cymru Wales and broadcast on S4C. Overview The main evening programme (branded ) is broadcast each wee ...

. He conducted in-depth investigations into bogus academics and fraud in 2011, which led to the effective abolition of the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

, formerly Britain's second-largest university. Jenkins joined

as a reporter in January 2012.

Awards

Jenkins was named Royal Television Society Young Journalist of the Year 2012 for his work on Channel 4 News. Jenkins also won the Current Affairs category at the Celtic Media Awards 2012 for his investigation, ''Cash for Qualifications'', which exposed potential visa and exam fraud at the

. His earlier investigation, ''University Challenged'', won Best News, Current Affairs & Sport programme at BAFTA Wales in 2011. Jenkins won Grand Prize at the inaugural CNN European News Blog Awards in 2006 for his political blog ''Blamerbell Briefs''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Ciaran 1984 births Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Welsh journalists British reporters and correspondents Living people People from Merthyr Tydfil BBC newsreaders and journalists ITN newsreaders and journalists