Mark Watts

Who is Mark Watts?

Mark Watts is editor-in-chief of the investigative news website Exaro.

He was nominated for the European Press Prize Editor of the Year for 2012. The nomination described Exaro as "an insightful, agenda setting website." It credited the site for its "serious investigative journalism" saying "this is not standard, not-for-profit journalism, but document-based, niche performance at a high level of expertise."

In an interview with The Guardian in October 2012 he said he wanted to bring investigative techniques back into the heart of news gathering operations. He told the Guardian's John Plunkett there is an "increasing feeling both in broadcasting and in newspapers that [investigative journalism] wasn't worth the resources, that it takes too much time and money and the readership was not that interested... most journalists spend their time rewriting press releases and wire copy."