The Matrix Project is an effort to document personal factors that undermine powerful journalists’ claims of objectivity and impartiality. Are factors such as an elite education, establishment connections, personal wealth and interests in rival fields compatible with journalistic integrity? 

This page looks at long-time Times columnist David Aaronovitch. For more information on the database click here.

Education

Learn about the significance of a private/Oxbridge education here

David Aaronovitch was educated at comprehensive schools and briefly attended Oxford University before completing a degree at Manchester University (source)

Revolving Door

Learn about the significance of the Revolving Door here.

Aaronovitch has no significant experience in rival fields to journalism

“Establishment” Connections

Learn about the significance of Establishment Connections here

Primary

Aaronovitch’s father, Sam Aaronovitch, was a high-profile Marxist intellectual who rose to became head of the economics team at South Bank University (source)

Aaronovitch’s brother, Ben Aaronovitch, is a sci-fi author who has written Doctor Who serials (source)

Another brother, Owen Aaronovitch, is an actor who played Jon Lindsay in Coronation Street (source)

Secondary.

A Guardian profile of Aaronovitch lists the following high-profile figures as friends:

John Lahr, biographer of Joe Orton and Tennessee Williams

Stephen Grosz, the bestselling psychoanalyst and author

Daniel Finkelstein, the Conservative life-peer and Times contributor whose own Matrix entry, with its incredible list of connections and conflicting interests, is worth a look

The profile also notes that a teenage Aaronovitch attended therapy with the psychiatric pioneer Robin Skynner (co-author of a book with John Cleese, Families and How to Survive Them)

Salary/Indications of Wealth

Learn about the significance of journalists with an unusual level of wealth here

Neither David Aaronovitch or The Times disclose his salary, however it is highly likely that he earns a salary significantly above the UK average (listed as £26,193 for 2021 by the Office for National Statistics).

Complaints / apologies / controversies

Learn about the significance of complaints/apologies here

Aaronovitch and two other Times contributors, Oliver Kamm and Francis Wheen, wrote to the reader’s editor of The Guardian, to complain about an apology made to Noam Chomsky after Guardian interviewer Emma Brockes incorrectly asserted that Chomsky had denied the Srebrenica massacre (source). An external ombudsman, John Willis, supported the Guardian’s correction and found that “the substantive complaint from Messrs. Aaronovitch, Kamn and Wheen about Professor Chomsky’s views on Srebrenica should be rejected and that therefore the original correction should stand.” (source)

Summary

David Aaronovitch is the son of a famous intellectual, briefly attended Oxford University and counts as friends a number of high-profile members of the media and cultural elite.

Impartial? Independent? Holding the powerful to account?

Learn more about the Matrix Project here.

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