Panorama editor Ceri Thomas is leaving the BBC after 24 years.
The BBC News and Current Affairs stalwart has been appointed director of public affairs and communication at Oxford University and will depart this summer.
Director of news and current affairs James Harding described Thomas’s decision to move as a “huge loss to the BBC”.
He said: “Ceri is one of the most impressive journalists I have ever been fortunate enough to work with. He is questioning, thoughtful and decent – qualities that have echoed through the programmes he has edited.”
Thomas joined the BBC in 1991. After working as a producer and a reporter at Today and followed by a stint as the Head of News at BBC Radio 5Live, he became the longest-serving editor of the Today programme.
Harding said none of his fellow editors could claim to have done a better job than Thomas with Today, and added: “As the editor of Panorama, he has demonstrated the BBC’s mettle in investigative journalism: the programmes on the Panama papers, the police investigation into VIP paedophiles, abuse at Medway, to pick just three, have been examples of the courage and determination at Panorama.”
Thomas was also head of news programmes, before his appointment as the editor of Panorama in 2014. A new editor of the flagship current affairs strand will be appointed in due course.
Thomas said: “Every quarter of a century or so, I like to ring the changes. I’ve been at the BBC for 24 years, had more fun than anyone has a right to expect, and been allowed to run what I think are the two most important programmes we make.
“When I leave I’ll be able to look back and say that I‘ve enjoyed every second and I wouldn’t have missed the whole experience for the world. How many people have that privilege?”
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