Harriet Jones

Harriet Jones is Managing Editor for Connecticut Public Radio, overseeing the coverage of daily stories from our busy newsroom.

As a reporter she's covered such diverse issues as the opioid crisis, immigration policy, homelessness, workforce development and income inequality.

In 2011, she created the station's Small Business Project as a way to tell stories about the companies that make up 90 percent of our economy, but often get overlooked in the media.

She is the winner of an Edward R. Murrow award for her reporting on Connecticut's 2010 floods.

Harriet joined WNPR in October 2000 as Morning Edition producer and reporter. Born in Scotland, she worked for the BBC for much of her early career.

She has also taught broadcasting for the BBC at some of their international schools in Eastern Europe, delivering courses to journalists in Romania, Albania and Bosnia.

She was news director at Scotland's largest commercial radio station, ScotFM, and was lucky enough to cover that country's two biggest political events in 300 years - the referendum which delivered a new parliament, and the subsequent elections.

Harriet lives in Stonington with her husband, Bob Statchen, and their three children.

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Special Note to Readers and Listeners: 

June 30, 2020

Our newsroom works hard each day to be thoughtful about the news and how we cover it. Here, and throughout public media, we take pride in being non-partisan, accurate, impartial, and independent. In pursuit of those aims, we also hold ourselves accountable. 

Harriet Jones has been a trusted voice at Connecticut Public Radio for years. She is currently managing editor -- which means she runs our daily news operation. On June 25, 2020, her husband, Bob Statchen, began active campaigning as the Democratic candidate for the 18th state senatorial district in the 2020 election.

In an effort to avoid real and perceived conflicts of interest, and after earlier consultation with NPR, we are taking the following steps:

• Jones will not report on, or edit reports on, Connecticut’s 2020 statehouse races.
• She will not participate in her husband’s campaign.
• She will not cover or edit political issues of concern in her husband’s race.

I'll be responsible for the newsroom duties from which Harriet is recusing herself. 

This follows our practice from 2018, when we developed similar plans after careful consideration internally and with guidance and advice of NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices and the NPR ombudsman.

Transparency is an essential part of our work. That’s why we’re sharing this with you now. We’ll obviously revisit this issue as the campaign season progresses, and we welcome your feedback.

Jeff Cohen
News Director
Connecticut Public Radio
jcohen@ctpublic.org