Jim Brady

Jim Brady joined the board of BBC Media Action in October 2025.

I am honoured to join the board of BBC Media Action to help support its important work of getting trustworthy journalism and information – often produced under physical, legal or political threat -- into the hands of people in need around the globe.

I most recently served as the vice president of journalism at Knight Foundation, overseeing its portfolio of more than $250 million US in journalism grants. During my time at Knight, I played a key role in developing the strategic framework behind Press Forward, a $500 million US effort to revitalise local news across the United States.

Before my time at Knight, I served in a variety of executive roles across legacy and new media, including executive editor of washingtonpost.com, editor-in-chief of Digital First Media, head of news and sports at America Online and public editor at ESPN from 2015-18. In 2014, I started Spirited Media, which launched and operated local news sites in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Denver before selling all three businesses in 2019. I am especially proud of having been in the room when we launched washingtonpost.com in 1996. I also served as consulting editor for the Guardian US in 2009.

I’ve worked in digital journalism for 31 years – about as long as humanly possible – and have been at it for so long that I worked at AOL when it was actually cool. I’ve worked for legacy newsrooms, digital-only properties and started my own company. I’ve worked inside print, broadcast and digital operations. I’ve led editorial, product, technology and revenue teams. I’ve lived through local journalism’s business challenges, the AOL-Time Warner merger, the bursting of the dot.com bubble and dozens of corporate reorganisations. 

I am a past president of the Online News Association and currently also serve on the boards of the American Journalism Project, Media Impact Funders and the International Women’s Media Foundation.

I was born in New York City and raised in Huntington, New York, and have all the bad New York sports teams to show for it.