Jonathan Sacerdoti

Sacerdoti is a graduate of Oxford University[4] having studied English Language and Literature at Balliol College, Oxford. He has appeared as a reporter or expert analyst on international TV channels including Sky News, BBC News, ITV news, Channel 4 News, Al Jazeera English, Fox News, NDTV and France 24. He had his first byline in a national newspaper when he was 17 years old, writing for The Daily Telegraph.[5][6]

He worked as a television producer on the Channel 4 breakfast news programme RI:SE[7] and on the Channel 5 news discussion programme The Wright Stuff.[8] He also worked as a development producer for various production companies, including Endemol, where he worked on the development of the UK version of Deal or No Deal.[9] Between 2005 and 2006, he worked at ITV, and then at Shine TV until 2007.[10] He also set up his own communications and design practice, Sacerdoti Creative Consultancy.[11]

In 2020, Sacerdoti was part of consortium of business and media figures [12][13] which acquired the London-based Jewish Chronicle newspaper. The newspaper was founded in 1841 and is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world.[14] It had announced its intention to seek a creditor’s voluntary liquidation, with 54 journalists and support staff told they would be made redundant, an outcome which was avoided through the consortium’s acquisition of the newspaper.[15]

Sacerdoti briefly worked as director of public affairs at the Zionist Federation in 2010[16] before working in 2011-2012 as a director of the now-defunct Institute for Middle Eastern Democracy.

Sacerdoti has appeared regularly as the UK correspondent for Israeli news channel i24news[17] and also the American channel Cheddar News.[18][19][20]

He was a founding trustee of the charity Campaign Against Antisemitism and its Director of Communications until August 2016.[21][22][23][24]

Sacerdoti is a trustee of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's United Kingdom branch.[25]

He is on the council of The Montefiore Endowment, a charity which administers the endowment of the 19th-century British philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore.[26] He also represented the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation on the Board of Deputies of British Jews and has been a member of its International Division.[27]

Sacerdoti has spoken both as a keynote speaker and as a panellist at international conferences organised by Harvard University, National Chengchi University in Taiwan, the American University in Dubai and Keio University in Tokyo.[28][29] He has given lectures on the nature of terrorism in Europe.[30] He has debated at the Oxford and Cambridge Unions.[31]

He has appeared regularly on BBC News programmes, including on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme[32] and The Moral Maze.[33][34] He is a regular panellist on BBC World’s Dateline London.[35][36][37][38][39]

On 14 November 2012, BBC News interviewed Sacerdoti following the commencement of Operation Pillar of Defense. After a viewer complaint, a BBC investigation found Sacerdoti's involvement on the BBC to be "in keeping with the requirements of due impartiality in such matters".[40]

In 2001 Sacerdoti was awarded the Oxford University OxTALENT prize for IT and literature.[10]

In 2010 he was awarded the World Zionist Organization's "Herzl Award".[27]