Dr Margaret Simons is an award-winning journalist, author, and journalism academic. She is Honorary Principal Fellow at the Centre for Advancing Journalism, part of the University of Melbourne. She was director of the centre from 2012 until 2017, and was a founding director of Australia’s Public Interest Journalism Initiative from 2018 until 2021. She is also a founding director of the hyperlocal journalism startup *PS Media. She holds a Doctorate in Creative Arts from the University of Technology Sydney.
Dr Simons is the author of over 14 books as well as substantial essays. She has published extensively on journalism, the media and politics, including biographies of Kerry Stokes, the new Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, and former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.
She is also a novelist and gardening writer.
In 2015 she won a Walkley, Australia’s premier journalism award, for her essay on sex tourism in the Philippines. Her reporting from the Philippines has also won two Quill Awards – the premier journalism awards for the state of Victoria - and a Foreign Press Association award. Over a four-decade journalistic career, she has written for The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Monthly, Crikey, and the Guardian, among others.
Ole Jacob Sunde, chair of The Scott Trust, said:
“Margaret is an outstanding thinker and writer on the media’s role in society. Her wide experience and knowledge of journalism and her international perspective will further strengthen the Scott Trust’s expertise in these areas and we are pleased to welcome her.”
Margaret Simons said:
“I am honoured to be joining The Scott Trust at such a critical time for public interest journalism. I have seen the positive impact of the Guardian’s journalism, both globally and in my home country of Australia, where it has made an increasingly important contribution in recent years. I am looking forward to supporting The Scott Trust’s goal of ensuring the Guardian’s financial and editorial independence into the future.”
Since it was formed in 1936, The Scott Trust’s core purpose has been to secure the financial and editorial independence in perpetuity of the Guardian. The Trust’s unique ownership structure ensures a long-term, commercially sustainable future for Guardian journalism.
The current Scott Trust board members are: Ole Jacob Sunde (chair), Katharine Viner, David Olusoga, Stuart Proffitt, Matthew Ryder, Vivian Schiller, Russell Scott, and Haroon Siddique.
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About The Scott Trust Ltd
The ultimate owner of the Guardian is The Scott Trust, which was originally created as a trust in 1936 to safeguard the title’s journalistic freedom. In 2008 it was replaced by a limited company with the same core purpose as the original trust: to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity, while its subsidiary aims are to champion its principles and to promote freedom of the press in the UK and elsewhere. Other than to cover expense, The Scott Trust takes no dividend from the Group’s businesses, whose profits are instead reinvested to sustain journalism that is free from commercial or political interference.
