Anyone who’s done a bit of freelancing is aware that news editors are surprisingly un-Googleable.

Email addresses along with other relevant contact info appear sparsely, if at all.  In Googling ourselves we uncover the old standbys (high school graduation dates, college salsa club photos, regrettably hostile comments left at GoodHousekeeping.com), yet prominent editors manage to evade this sort of accessibility.  Which is interesting, as they’re employed to see that the public is able to access all sorts of guarded, concealed information.     

Noting the peculiarity of this arrangement in Britain, the folks at nonprofit Media Standards Trust set out to scrape away the enigma by publishing profiles of each of the national newspaper editors. “British national newspaper editors have the power to choose what should be read by over 10 million people in Britain everyday (in print, many more eyeballs online), have the ability to influence public policy, and are regularly invited to meetings at Downing Street and Chequers,” says Martin Moore, director of MST. “Yet we know very little about them.”

Profiles containing basic biographical information, educational background, employment history, awards received, general achievments and professional contact details are being posted at the MST-run journalisted.com, a site designed to help the public find more about journalists and the stories they publish.

To view the selection of profiles, see journalisted.com.