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About James Cusick

James Cusick is editor of openMedia at OpenDemocracy and a former political correspondent at The Independent and The Independent on Sunday. As an experienced member of the lobby, he has previously worked at The Sunday Times and the BBC.

Articles by James Cusick

This week’s front page editor

Rosemary Bechler is a mainsite editor of openDemocracy

European integration

Six countries. Six different paths to EU integration.

No to TTIP

The secretive EU-US trade deal explained

George Osborne’s Evening Standard delays controversial Uber, Google deal

James Cusick 5 June 2018

In the wake of ‘cash for column inches’ scandal and calls for Osborne to resign, newspaper denies that £3 million 'paid-for news' deal has been ditched

Osborne’s Evening Standard ‘cash for column inches’ denials ‘do not stack up’ – says Caroline Lucas

James Cusick 2 June 2018

Green Party leader calls on London paper to ‘come clean’ about its hidden commercial agendas – citing another lucrative sponsorship deal with GM giant Syngenta

George Osborne’s London Evening Standard sells its editorial independence to Uber, Google and others – for £3 million

James Cusick 30 May 2018

Exclusive: Newspaper promised six commercial giants “money-can’t-buy” news coverage in a lucrative deal, leaving millions of Londoners unaware of who’s paying for their news.

All-out war or economic war: why Chilcot’s playbook needs to be given a chance

James Cusick 13 April 2018

The Iraq Inquiry warned that we must exhaust all peaceful options before dropping bombs – and that hasn’t happened.

Putin’s pal, the British Lords - and the ‘clean up’ of a Russian energy giant

James Cusick 15 March 2018

With relations between Britain and Russia in severe crisis, the timing of a Russian company’s efforts to raise billions on the London Stock Exchange couldn’t be worse.

MPs should reject the government’s attempt to cover up for the DUP’s Brexit dark money donation

James Cusick 6 March 2018

Theresa May is trying to cover-up for her scandal-prone Northern Irish allies. MPs must call her bluff.

DUP dark money cover-up: officials dismiss minister’s reassurances on Northern Ireland transparency

James Cusick 5 March 2018

“No one should read a great deal into what the minister was saying.”

The secrets of 'Black Ops' advertising. Who is paying for our news?

James Cusick and Crina Boros 8 February 2018

"I think the public would resent knowing they are being tricked. So best not to always tell them."

How a GM giant ‘bought control’ of what millions of Londoners read

James Cusick and Crina Boros 8 February 2018

The Evening Standard’s lucrative deal with Swiss chemical giant Syngenta shows how commercial giants pay for news – with readers left in the dark.

Six of Theresa May’s cabinet are paid up “members” of secret group demanding a total break from the European Union

James Cusick 22 December 2017

The head of the secretive European Research Group won’t reveal which senior ministers are members of the hardline anti-EU group. Why not? Because the answer and the reach of the ERG leaves the Prime Minister looking like a Brexit hostage.

Northern Ireland Electoral Commission in new bid to honour transparency laws from 2014

James Cusick 20 December 2017

The government has been accused of trying to cover up for the DUP as it reverses a law which promised transparency in Northern Irish political donations from 2014.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: the new commercial masters of the ‘branded’ newsroom

James Cusick 29 November 2017

openMedia pan-European survey throws up an early warning for the next generation of journalists.

Government confirms its “full transparency” changes to Northern Ireland electoral laws will not be backdated

James Cusick 24 November 2017

Details of the DUP’s “dark money” will remain secret.

Bought and paid for – how Romania’s media is pressured by corporate and political masters

Crina Boros and James Cusick 22 November 2017

Journalists in Romania failing to conform to pressure from private companies and advertisers face intimidation and risk losing their jobs.

Hiding the DUP dark money: The fraud of so-called transparency

James Cusick 13 November 2017

Theresa May's government is cowering behind walls of secrecy.

UK government set to ignore Northern Ireland parties’ transparency calls

James Cusick 18 October 2017

Brokenshire loses his excuse for hiding DUP’s lavish Brexit donors, but still refuses to reveal their identity

‘Substantial’ fine linked to DUP’s secret Brexit donors

James Cusick 17 October 2017

Former minister demands answers on £6,000 fine, questioning legality of DUP’s mystery source of Brexit cash

MPs demand full investigation of hard-Brexit backing Tory "party within a party"

James Cusick 8 September 2017

Labour MPs are demanding that the pro-Brexit European Research Group is investigated by parliament's expenses watchdog on the back of openDemocracy's revelations.

Revealed: The Tory MPs using taxpayers’ cash to fund a secretive hard-Brexit group

James Cusick, Adam Ramsay, and Crina Boros 7 September 2017

Senior MPs including Liam Fox, Andrea Leadsom and Jacob Rees-Mogg have used their expenses to fund a 'party within a party' inside Westminster – effectively holding the government hostage over its negotiations with the EU.

Trust is in recession: and there is little sign of recovery

James Cusick 27 June 2017

Where does trust end and continuous fear become the norm?

Did Jeremy Corbyn perform better than expected? Yes. Does that mean he should stay Labour leader? No.

James Cusick 8 June 2017

Labour’s future cannot be left to depend on a relic, who, for a brief few weeks, performed beyond expectations.

Selling Theresa May: Why the Conservatives will never gamble on her again

James Cusick 7 June 2017

The Tory campaign scared off potential customers. How much that let in competitors we will soon know.

North Sea, air safety and Brexit

James Cusick 5 June 2017

Does the political fight about who controls safety in the North Sea reveal just how difficult Brexit is going to be?

Theresa May regards television debates an intrusion into Britain’s real democratic process

James Cusick 4 May 2017

The Prime Minister has refused to take part in a TV debate. What else will she throw out? Could Prime Minister's Questions be the next accountability casualty?

We’re having an election. George Osborne must put his Evening Standard job on hold until it’s over

James Cusick 21 April 2017

Can the former UK Chancellor, who masterminded the Tory victory in 2015, really deliver ‘straight facts and opinion’ as editor of London’s flagship paper during this election campaign?

The Independent. In the end, it wasn't. What next?

James Cusick 10 April 2016

James Cusick, former political correspondent for The Independent, spent five months investigating why other newspapers had shut down a story about Culture Minister John Whittingdale, only to see his investigation down too. This is his personal view of the Whittingdale scandal and cover up by the press.

The real Whittingdale scandal: a cover up by the UK press

James Cusick 10 April 2016

I spent five months with another senior journalist at the Independent newspaper investigating why other papers had shut down a story about the culture minister, only to see my editor shut the investigation down too. Here is the anatomy of a press cover-up.