Charles Thomson (journalist)

Charles Thomson (born 18 April 1988) is a British journalist. He has written for media outlets including The Sun, The Mirror, The Guardian, Mojo, Wax Poetics and the Huffington Post. From 2011 to 2019, he worked at Yellow Advertiser. In 2018, he won the first Ray Fitzwalter Award for early career journalists in the UK outside of London, for his investigation into the cover up of a historic paedophile ring.[1][2][3]

Charles Thomson
Born18 April 1988 (1988-04-18) (age 32)
United Kingdom
OccupationInvestigative/music journalist

Work

Shoebury sex ring investigation

Thomson spent years investigating the cover-up of a historic paedophile ring in Shoebury, Essex, eventually finding evidence that the leader of the ring had been a police informant.

The investigation began when he discovered a series of compensation payments authorised by Essex County Council for "alleged abuse" linked to its children's departments between the 1970s and the 1990s.[2]

His campaign for transparency over the payments led to a whistleblower coming forward with concerns about how authorities had handled an investigation into a 1980s paedophile ring in Shoebury.

When other whistleblowers came forward with corroborating stories, Thomson arranged for them to meet the then Essex Police and Crime Commissioner, Nick Alston, who in turn introduced them to the Chief Constable of Essex Police and a senior detective. These meetings resulted in police reopening the case and a man being arrested. Further work by Thomson later caused police to reopen the case a second time.[2]

Thomson discovered a link between the Shoebury ring and the sex offender Lennie Smith, a member of the "Dirty Dozen" paedophile gang, which was responsible for the deaths of Jason Swift, Barry Lewis and Mark Tildseley in the 1980s. Thomson also discovered old files that documented the cover-up of the Shoebury case in real-time. The documents included a confession by a police officer that the leader of the paedophile ring had been a "registered informant", despite decades of sexual offending against children.[4]

In 2019, Thomson appeared as a guest speaker at the Nations and Regions Media Conference in Media City to deliver a talk about the investigation.[5]

Court reporting

Thomson has covered numerous court cases, including high profile murder trials. They include the trial of Jordan Taylor, who stabbed his girlfriend Laura Davies to death in a jealous rage,[6] and the trial of Joram Bakumanya, who stabbed a man to death during a tantrum because a young woman had refused to give him her phone number.[7]

Thomson also covered the case of Internet predator Lewis Daynes, who sexually assaulted and then murdered 14-year-old schoolboy Breck Bednar. In 2019, Thomson contributed to a Channel 4 documentary about the Daynes case called "Shocking Emergency Calls".[8]

Thomson also reported on Lord Hanningfield's successful lawsuit against Essex Police, for unlawfully arresting him over allegations that he had wrongly claimed expenses from Essex County Council.[9]

Feature writing

Thomson first won praise for his feature-writing shortly after graduating from university, when he was handed a "Special Commendation" in the Feature Writer of the Year category at the Guardian Student Media Awards, 2009. The award was created in 2009 especially to acknowledge the strength of Thomson's article, "James Brown: The Lost Album", which pieced together the final recording sessions of the so-called "Godfather of Soul". One competition judge later commented, "I thought it was the best piece of student journalism I'd read in a long time, if not ever."[10][11]

Shortly after winning the award, Thomson became one of the youngest journalists ever to be given their own blog at the US Huffington Post, where he wrote features about subjects including Michael Jackson, Hunter S Thompson and the execution of Troy Davis.[12]

Thomson's Huffington Post article, "One of the Most Shameful Episodes in Journalistic History", was published on the fifth anniversary of the verdict in the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson. Comparing trial transcripts to media reporting he argued that journalists had deliberately skewed their reporting in favour of the prosecution. It is frequently mentioned in Michael Jackson biographies.[13]

In addition to investigative features, Thomson specialises in in-depth interviews. His subjects include Jermaine Jackson, the jailed peer Lord Hanningfield, the Motown star Martha Reeves, the gay rapper Cazwell, the death row lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith and the funk legend Bootsy Collins. Thomson's series of interviews with Lord Hanningfield formed part of a portfolio of work which won him a "Highly Commended" award in the Newcomer of the Year category at the EDF Energy Regional Media Awards in 2012.[14]

Thomson has used a first-person, "gonzo journalism" approach to recount unusual interviews, such as when his attempted interview with the former TV presenter Michael Barrymore went awry. Thomson was told Barrymore had agreed to be interviewed but the star refused to co-operate on Thomson's arrival. He instead invited Thomson to sit in on a radio recording as an observer, but then turned the tables and started grilling him on-air. Thomson recounted the story in a first-person article that formed part of a portfolio that won him a "Highly Commended" award in the Newcomer of the Year category at the EDF Energy Regional Media Awards in 2012. He also used a "gonzo" approach to describe an "unconventional" interview with the artist Ralph Steadman, and to recount "crazy" backstage antics at Britain's V Festival.[15]

James Brown

In 2008, Thomson interviewed Brown's former co-writer Fred Wesley for Wax Poetics magazine. During the interview, Wesley spoke about working on Brown's final album in 2005. The interview inspired Thomson to research the album, spending several months interviewing more than a dozen people who were directly involved in the its production. The resulting article, "James Brown: The Lost Album", won a special commendation award in the feature writing category at the Guardian Student Media Awards in November 2009.[11]

In October 2010, Tomi Rae Brown, the widow of James Brown, gave Thomson the most in-depth interview she had ever given. In the article published by Sawf News, Brown spoke about her husband's 2004 arrest for domestic assault and how she nursed him through cancer in 2005. She also claimed that Brown's legs had been sawn off after his death to obtain DNA to prove her son's paternity.[16] Thomson has also written about Brown for Mojo magazine and spoken about the singer on the Los Angeles radio station KPFA-FM.

In February 2013, Thomson published an in-depth feature, titled "The Big Payback", about Brown's humanitarian work and his family's efforts to carry it on after his death. Brown's friend and producer, the gospel singer Derrick Monk, said the piece brought years to his eyes.[17]

In an article published in the Huffington Post, Thomson was critical of the James Brown biopic Get on Up, which he said contained significant inaccuracies that were detrimental to Brown's legacy. He also interviewed a selection of Brown's former musicians for the Huffington Post, before the HBO documentary Mr. Dynamite, by Alex Gibney.[18]

Michael Jackson

Throughout 2009, he contributed regularly to The Sun newspaper in the UK as a Michael Jackson expert. His work for The Sun began in March 2009 when he received insider information on Jackson's imminent arrival in the UK to announce his "This Is It" concerts and helped the paper to obtain exclusive pictures of Jackson disembarking from his private jet.

Thomson was contacted by a British tabloid to supply information about the 1993 sexual abuse allegations against Jackson, only to have the tabloid replace his carefully researched information with common myths he had advised them to avoid.[19] He noted that when Jackson's FBI file was released, the contents were portrayed media wide as giving an impression of guilt even though the file strongly supported his innocence. He noted how Gene Simmons' 2010 allegations about Jackson molesting children received over a hundred times more coverage than the interview with Jackson's guitarist, Jennifer Batten, rebutting Simmons' claims.[19]

Thomson has interviewed several of Jackson's former collaborators including the tour guitarist Jennifer Batten, "This Is It" dancer Kriyss Grant, his former manager Dieter Wiesner and the publicist Stuart Backerman for Sawf News.[20]

On the fifth anniversary of Jackson's acquittal, Thomson's Huffington Post article "One of the Most Shameful Episodes In Journalistic History" was published, uncovering the media's inaccurate reporting during the trial by comparing trial transcripts to the news reports about the proceedings at the time. The piece was later incorporated into an anti-bullying curriculum on words and violence by the Voices Education Project. The article was praised by Jackson's former defence attorney Thomas Mesereau and has been cited in Michael Jackson biographies.[21]

In 2011, Thomson interviewed Jackson's brother Jermaine Jackson. During the interview, Jermaine said of Thomson, "He knows more than I do!" Two years later, before Jacksons' first performance in London for 40 years, Jermaine granted Thomson his only solo promotional interview.[14]

Thomson has been critical of the Michael Jackson Estate, writing in Huffington Post articles that releasing posthumous albums is a direct contradiction of Jackson's beliefs and wishes, as stated in several interviews and writings during his lifetime.[22]

Thomson's work on Jackson's 2005 trial was cited heavily in Randall Sullivan's 2012 Jackson biography Untouchable. His work was also cited in other Jackson biographies including Joseph Vogel's Man in the Music, Mike Smallcombe's Making Michael and J. Randy Taraborrelli's The Magic and the Madness.[23]

In 2016, Thomson created an audio documentary investigating the origin of false claims that Jackson was booed off the stage at the 2006 World Music Awards. He interviewed Jackson's personal manager and photographer, as well as witnesses from the event, and scrutinised audio and video evidence.[24]

Interviews with Thomson have been included in a series of documentaries about Jackson, including Square One: Michael Jackson,[25] Neverland Firsthand: Investigating the Michael Jackson Documentary,[26] Leaving Neverland: The Aftermath[27] and Lies of Leaving Neverland.[28]

In 2019, Thomson was invited to speak at UCLA's "Truth Be Told" event – a seminar about honesty in documentary filmmaking – regarding the TV show Leaving Neverland. Other speakers included the Oscar nominee Taylor Hackford, the court reporter Linda Deutsch and the executor of Jackson’s estate, John Branca.[29]

Awards

In 2009, Thomson won the Special Commendation Award in the feature writing category at the Guardian Student Media Awards, for his article "James Brown: The Lost Album". The award was presented by The Guardian writer Hannah Pool and the radio presenter Colin Murray at the ceremony at Proud Galleries in Camden Town, London.[30]

The Special Commendation Award was created in 2009 especially to acknowledge the strength of Thomson's article, and one competition judge later commented, "I thought it was the best piece of student journalism I'd read in a long time, if not ever."The panel of judges added, "The feature was an extraordinary, sustained piece on James Brown, a poignant portrait of a man in his last days."[11]

In 2015, he was named Weekly Print Journalist of the Year at the East of England Media Awards, organized by HoldTheFrontPage.[31]

In 2016, Thomson won the "Highly Commended" award in the Local Heroes category at the British Journalism Awards, described as "the UK's equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize". In 2018, Thomson was shortlisted in the category for the second time.[32]

In 2017, he was named Highly Commended Weekly Reporter of the Year at the Society of Editors Regional Press Awards. In 2018, he won the commendation for the second consecutive year.[33]

In 2018, Thomson won the inaugural Ray Fitzwalter Award for Investigative Journalism. The award, created in honour of the World in Action journalist Ray Fitzwalter, was sponsored by ITV and Channel 4. Thomson won for his Shoebury sex ring investigation. It was presented by the Channel 4 commissioner Dorothy Byrne and the ITV journalist Lucy Meacock. The other shortlisted investigations were both BBC projects, one of which was the Panama Papers investigation. The judges praised Thomson's "resourcefulness and determination". His work was described as "brilliant" and as demonstrating "that resourcefulness, determination and the nose for a story are far more important than big budgets". His campaign led the police to reopen their investigation into this case.[2]

In 2019, Thomson won two awards at the Society of Editors Regional Press Awards. He was named Weekly Reporter of the Year for work including his Shoebury sex ring investigation. The investigation also won a public vote for the Making A Difference People's Choice Award. The Society of Editors praised Thomson's "tenacity, intelligence, and courage".[34]

A month later, he was awarded a commendation in the MHP 30 to Watch awards, which identifies Britain's "most talented and influential journalists" aged 30 and under.[35]

He was shortlisted for the Paul Foot Award 2020 for his Yellow Advertiser investigation into a paedophile police informant.[36]

On 19 June 2020, Thomson was announced, for the third year in 4 years, as "highly commended" in the weekly reporter section when the winners of Regional Press Awards for 2019 were announced.[37] One judge said, "[He is] already an award winner who refuses to give up even when his paper folds. Tireless in his pursuit of justice, never thwarted by officialdom a credit to his trade."[38]

References
  1. "Ray Fitzwalter Award".
    - "Michael Jackson's nephew is crowdfunding a documentary to defend him". NME. 25 January 2019.
    - "Charles Thomson - Freelance Writer/Reporter".
  2. "Campaign to reopen sex abuse case wins investigative journalism prize". University of Salford. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  3. Sharman, David (23 April 2018). "Yellow Advertiser reporter wins Ray Fitzwalter Award". HoldtheFrontPage. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  4. "Salford University grant helps journalist with breakthrough in horrific case". Salford Now. 7 December 2018.
  5. "Speakers". Salford Media Festival.
  6. "Life for 'sick' stable murderer". BBC News. 15 January 2016.
  7. "Shopping trip murderer jailed for life". BBC News. 19 April 2017.
    - http://www.charles-thomson.net/Portfolio-Court-Jordan-Taylor.html / http://www.charles-thomson.net/Portfolio-Court-Joram-Bakumanya.html
  8. "Shocking Emergency Calls". Channel 4.
    - "Charles Thomson - Freelance Writer/Reporter".
  9. "Charles Thomson - Freelance Writer/Reporter".
    - "Peer jailed over expenses wins £3,500 damages from police". The Guardian. 15 February 2013.
  10. In pictures: Guardian Student Media Awards 2009 winners, The Guardian, 26 November 2009
  11. Young journalist praised for 'extraordinary piece of work', Basildon Recorder, 19 December 2009
  12. Charles Thomson, Huffington Post
    - "Strange Fruit Still Falling in the Southern States", Huffington Post, 27 September 2011]
    - "Animals, Whores & Dialogue: The Resurrection of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson", Huffington Post, 26 July 2010]
  13. Thomson, Charles (16 June 2010). "One of the Most Shameful Episodes In Journalistic History". HuffPost. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  14. Charles Thomson (nd). "Jermaine Jackson Interview". Orchard Times. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  15. Charles Thomson (8 March 2012). "Barrymore: 'Journalists are not my kind of people...' ...but we sent one anyway!". Yellow Advertiser. Archived from the original on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
    - Charles Thomson (11 October 2012). "YA reporter Charles Thomson got the chance to speak to gonzo artist Ralph Steadman". Yellow Advertiser. Archived from the original on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  16. "James Brown's Widow Tomi Rae Bares Her Soul in Exclusive Interview". Sawf News. 25 December 2010. Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  17. Charles Thomson (18 March 2015). "James Brown: The Big Payback". Orchard Times.
  18. Charles Thomson (6 August 2014). "James Brown Biopic: Should Life Stories Really Include Fabricated Incidents?". Huffington Post.
    - Charles Thomson (27 October 2014). "James Brown: The Highs and Lows". Huffington Post.
  19. Thomson, Charles (2 March 2010). "Michael Jackson: It's Time for Outlets to Take Responsibility in Covering the Rock Star". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  20. "Charles Thomson, "Michael Jackson's 'This is It' principal dancer recalls Michael's last days"". Sawf News. 13 March 2010. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
    - "Michael Jackson: His lead guitarist Jennifer Batten gives a rare insight". Sawf News. 5 March 2010. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
    - Charles Thomson (30 November 2010). "Michael Jackson's 'One More Chance' - A Dream that Turned into a Nightmare - Part 1/4". Sawf. Archived from the original on 24 June 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  21. Charles Thomson. "One of the Most Shameful Episodes in Journalistic History". Voices. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
    - Thomson, Charles (14 June 2010). "One of the Most Shameful Episodes in Journalistic History". Huffington Post.
  22. Charles Thomson (12 May 2014). "Xscape: Would Michael Jackson Approve?". Huffington Post.
    - Charles Thomson (18 March 2015). "Michael Jackson's Xscape Origins: The First Review". Huffington Post.
  23. Sullivan, Randall (13 November 2012). Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson. ISBN 9781611859935.
    - "Charles Thomson - Freelance Writer/Reporter".
  24. "Episode 044 – World Music Awards 2006 10th Anniversary Special the MJCast - A Michael Jackson podcast".
  25. "Square One".
  26. "Neverland Firsthand: Investigating the Michael Jackson Documentary".
  27. "Leaving Neverland: The Aftermath".
  28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXOfz1YkWeA
  29. "Charles Thomson speaks during "Truth be Told: Documentary Films".
    - "Truth be Told Ucla Pictures and Photos - Getty Images".
    - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6KWrdm1uIY
  30. "Student media awards". The Guardian. London. 26 November 2009.
  31. "EDF Energy East of England Media Award Winners Announced". EDF Media Centre.
  32. "BBC's Laura Kuenssberg named Journalist of the Year". New Statesman.
    - "2018 Awards – British Journalism Awards".
    - James Walker (26 June 2019). "Tindle Newspapers closes Essex-based Yellow Advertiser series". UK Press Gazette. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  33. Paul Linford (18 May 2018). "Regional Press Awards judges hail MEN's 'exceptional year'". HoldtheFrontPage. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  34. "Lyra McKee honoured at Regional Press Awards".
    - "Regional Press Awards Winners". Society of Editors.
  35. "Yellow Advertiser chief reporter recognised by MHP 30 to Watch". HoldtheFrontPage.
  36. "The Paul Foot Award 2020". Private Eye (1523): 14. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  37. Mariella Brown, "Winners of Regional Press Awards for 2019 announced", Society of Editors press release, 19 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  38. "Weekly/Sunday Reporter of the Year", Society of Editors website. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
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