Bethan Staton

Reporter, Writer, Editor
London
International journalist Covering migration, social movements and the Middle East Sky News, BBC World, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Guardian, New Statesman, etc

About

Bethan Staton

I'm an international journalist, equally at home breaking news in multiplatform newsrooms as reporting independent investigations about under-reported issues. With expertise in global migration, work and social movements, and the politics of Jordan, Israel and Palestine, I've worked with outlets including the Guardian, New Statesman, LA Times, Middle East Eye, IRIN News, Al Jazeera and BBC World, and have spent nearly two years as a reporter and producer at Sky News.

My work focuses on the lived reality of migrants, the consequences of displacement and the effect of hostile bordering policies in the UK and abroad. I've broken exclusive stories for Sky News on the impact of Home Office immigration enforcement, including children being placed into care by the immigration enforcement, hunger strikes in immigration detention, and Home Office charges excluding British-born young people from citizenship. My work on the deportation of foreign national offenders was one of several pieces to have drawn attention to a February 2019 mass removal that prompted broader criticism and was raised as an urgent question in Parliament.

During several years reporting from the Middle East I've exposed inhumane conditions in UNHCR Syrian refugee camps, the mass deportation of Sudanese refugees from Jordan, and human rights abuses by the Palestinian authority against student activists. My reporting and analysis on the impact of the Jordan Compact and work initiatives for Syrian refugees continues to be cited in academic research, and was contextualised by extensive reporting on the marginalisation, poverty and racism faced by generations of displaced people in the region.

As well as reporting I've worked as an editor and writer at a range of new media organisations, including The Day, an educational news source for teenagers, policy social network Apolitical and MyKali, the Middle East's first LGBTQ+ magazine. I've worked in communications and fundraising roles for a range of charities including the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling in Ramallah and Paul Hamlyn Foundation. I'm an active member of London Renters Union where I support campaigns and communications activities.