Our Reporters

Arthur Gacy Jr. is an investigative reporter from Bideford whose work centres on accountability, technology, privacy, synthetic media and the difficult process of establishing what can actually be proved when competing versions of a story begin to emerge.

He studied journalism at the University of New England and graduated with exceptional academic results. His route from studying the profession to actually practising it, however, was shaped as much by an unexpected friendship as by anything that happened in a classroom.

Arthur first met Michael Frisch in a pub. Whisky provided the opening conversation. The two discovered a shared appreciation for it, kept talking, and an unlikely friendship developed into one of the most important relationships of Arthur's early career. Frisch became both a close friend and a mentor, eventually helping Arthur secure his first reporting job and introducing him to the practical realities of journalism.

Their friendship has never been confined to work. Over the years the pair have travelled extensively together across Europe, shared long evenings of whisky, arguments, stories and singing, and developed the kind of relationship in which professional advice and personal loyalty frequently overlap.

Arthur remains based in Bideford, although his reporting takes him away frequently, particularly to London. He is naturally quiet, highly intelligent, dryly funny and distinctly cynical. That cynicism is less a rejection of people than a reluctance to accept simple explanations when the evidence suggests something more complicated.

His reporting style is built around documents, timelines, corroboration and patience. He is particularly interested in the point at which public claims begin to conflict with records, technical evidence or the experiences of the people affected.

Maria Wojciechowska was born in Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, and moved to the United Kingdom at the age of eleven, settling in Bradford. Growing up across two countries gave her an early awareness of how differently ordinary life can look depending on place, language, community and circumstance.

She completed secondary education in Britain but did not follow the university route. Journalism had fascinated her for years, although for a long time it remained an interest rather than a career she seriously expected to enter.

That changed through Arthur Gacy Jr. The two first met in an underground nightclub and immediately got on. By the following morning, somewhere in the aftermath of a long night and an increasingly honest conversation, Maria had accidentally made clear just how much journalism actually mattered to her.

What initially drew the rest of the newsroom to Maria was not a conventional professional résumé. She was simply excellent company: loud, chaotic, funny, curious, warm and almost incapable of being indifferent when something genuinely interested her. Those same qualities eventually became part of what made reporting feel natural.

Her work focuses strongly on people. Housing statistics matter because somebody has to decide whether they can afford to leave home. Changes in technology matter because they alter relationships, habits and expectations. Cultural trends matter because real communities form around them long before institutions decide they are worth analysing.

Maria speaks Polish and English fluently and is currently studying Chinese. Outside reporting she has strong interests in music, fashion and travel, with nightlife remaining one of the subjects and environments she understands particularly naturally.

She now lives in London with her boyfriend. Her reporting style remains energetic and contemporary without trying to manufacture a youth voice or treat younger readers as a demographic exercise.

Edward Lee is a British-born international correspondent covering the intersections between technology, economics, infrastructure, history and public policy.

Both Edward and his parents were born in Britain, while his family's roots in the country extend back through one of the older generations of Chinese immigration to the United Kingdom, reaching into the nineteenth century. That history has given him a lasting interest in migration, identity, cultural continuity and the ways communities change while remaining connected to what came before them.

He does not speak Chinese particularly well, something he readily acknowledges, but has been working to learn more of the language and reconnect with that part of his family history.

Edward has always loved writing. He is also fascinated by mysteries, unresolved questions and stories in which the first explanation does not quite account for everything that happened. That instinct often shapes his journalism. He is drawn to missing context, contradictory accounts, unusual historical connections and systems that appear straightforward until somebody starts asking how they actually work.

His international reporting frequently moves between large technical systems and the political or human consequences behind them. Data centres become questions about electricity and infrastructure. Housing becomes a comparison between planning systems, economics and demographics. Technology policy becomes a story about who makes decisions and who eventually lives with them.

Edward was previously in a long-term relationship with Maria Wojciechowska. Although they are no longer together, the two remain friends, maintain a professional relationship and genuinely enjoy working together. Their shared history has not prevented them from collaborating comfortably within the newsroom.

His writing style is structured and explanatory. Edward is at his best when taking a subject that initially appears complicated and reducing it to the sequence of decisions, incentives and consequences that actually make it understandable.

Michael Frisch is the founder of Crazy News, a senior reporter and analyst whose life before journalism was considerably less conventional than most newsroom biographies.

Born in Britain, Michael is openly gay and proudly Jewish. Both identities have remained important parts of his public life, as has a strong belief that neither sexuality nor personal conviction should be hidden merely to make other people more comfortable.

During the 1990s, Michael worked in the diamond business in Uganda. The period made him extraordinarily successful financially and left him with substantial personal wealth. After returning from Africa, he spent a number of years travelling, socialising and enjoying the freedom that success had given him before journalism gradually became a more serious part of his life.

The idea that eventually became Crazy News began to take shape around 2003. Initially it was Michael's project and, at first, more of an idea than the structured publication it would later become. His interest in journalism grew from the same characteristics that had followed him through business and activism: curiosity, independence, argument and an almost complete lack of fear around controversial subjects.

Michael has also been active in gay-rights advocacy, particularly around the principle that people should not be pressured into hiding their sexuality. His political activism has extended to Palestinian rights, including financial support for advocacy movements that have publicly challenged Israeli state policy and the treatment of Palestinians.

He is an outspoken critic of the Israeli government despite, and in part because of, the importance of his Jewish identity to him. Since the war in Gaza, Michael has publicly described actions against Palestinians as war crimes and has used exceptionally severe language in his criticism of the Israel Defense Forces. He has said that conduct he considers inhumane brings shame rather than honour to Jewish identity. These views are Michael's own and form part of his long-standing public activism.

His politics begin from a broader principle that appears repeatedly in both his activism and his reporting: human life has value regardless of nationality, sexuality, religion or background. He is comfortable disagreeing loudly when he believes that principle is being abandoned.

Michael is also the person who helped bring Arthur Gacy Jr. into professional journalism. Their friendship began over whisky in a pub and developed into a close personal bond, a mentoring relationship and years of travelling together across Europe. Michael helped Arthur secure his first reporting job and remains one of the strongest influences on his approach to the profession.

Today Michael divides much of his time between New Zealand and his London residence, while also spending substantial periods in New York. He remains wealthy, active, outspoken and deeply involved in the publication he first imagined more than two decades ago.

Inside the newsroom he is loud, charming and difficult to intimidate. He loves singing, whisky, argument and people. Controversy rarely frightens him, and attempting to persuade him to soften a view merely because it may be unpopular is unlikely to produce the desired result.