You’ll recognise Jon Snow as an award-winning TV journalist and the longest-serving presenter of Channel 4 News. You may not be aware that Jon’s career began at the New Horizon Youth Centre (a day centre for young people who are homeless or vulnerable), where he was hired by Lord Longford to be the charity’s first Director (Jon is now the charity’s Chairman).
Jon describes his time at the New Horizons Centre as “a very humbling thing, and a thing that reminds you that there are people who are deeply excluded from the world in which many of us live”.
Throughout his very successful career in journalism, Jon has maintained a strong focus on social equality and justice, influenced by his own personal experience of being expelled from University. As an undergraduate at the University of Liverpool, Jon was one of hundreds of students who were involved in a 1970 anti-apartheid student protest. He described the experience as “an absolute watershed” moment in his life.
“For me punishment was a lost university degree, a lost life in the law, and for no apparent crime. All we were sent down for was running a sit-in in the university’s administrative headquarters because the university was investing in a company which had very large holdings in apartheid South Africa. It completely detonated my life's progress.” -Jon Snow
Now, as an influential figure in the media and across the political landscape, Jon uses his position to make us reflect on the support we provide to people who are marginalised or excluded from society. Having seen first-hand the struggles that ex-prisoners and other vulnerable young people face, he has spoken publicly about the need to challenge public perceptions and he is conscious of the media’s role in shaping our understanding of ‘crime’ and ‘punishment’.
His experiences, both personal and professional, have taught him that there’s always more to somebody’s story than we might first assume and that we need to tackle the root causes of crime and understand how to address these root problems:
“I just want us to think outside our box where we see people in cells, and where we see crime in court, and where we see probation, and where we see all sorts of mechanisms for work in the community. I want us to widen out and think, “Hang on a minute, have we got it right?” Yes, of course, we have got to deal with anti-social behaviour, and we’ve got to deal with people who ruin the lives of [others]... Yes, we have to punish people … But we also need to attend to the bits we don’t even understand. We’ve got to try and make ourselves more aware of the world in which we live, and ask questions, endless questions...and see if the answers are true.” -Jon Snow
On Sunday the 9th September at 07:55, Khulisa’s Fundraising Appeal (narrated by Jon Snow) will be aired on BBC Radio 4. The appeal will raise funds for our work with young people who have been excluded from school, children who are labelled as ‘badly behaved’ or ‘problem children’ and children who we know are vulnerable to becoming involved in crime and living a life of unfulfilled potential.
Jon has left a short message for our supporters, you can listen to his message and be sure to tune into BBC Radio 4 on Sunday 9th September at 07:55.
Get Involved
- Make a donation to our appeal. From the 9th September, you’ll be able to find our appeal on the BBC Radio 4 website here, or you can donate to our appeal by calling 0800 404 8144.
- Share the link with friends, colleagues and family. You could forward this email, or tweet: Don’t miss @jonsnowC4 on @BBCRadio4 on Sunday 9th Sept at 07:54/21:26, explaining why you should support @KhulisaUK , an award-winning charity whose work has changed the lives of over 3,000 vulnerable young people. Or listen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bgw3d1
