Nicholas Dawes


Nicholas Dawes was born in Cape Town and finished his schooling in Canada. He the Editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian newspaper until May 2013 after nine years on staff, half of them as editor. Hindustan Times appointed him as its new Chief Editorial and Content Officer. In October, 2016, Human Rights Watch announced that he had been appointed to be their Communications Director.

Life and career

Dawes studied Science and later English literature at the University of Cape Town before attending graduate school in the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship.
On his return to South Africa he wrote as a freelance for a wide range of local publications, and for television, before becoming News and Finance editor at one of the country's early web portals, World Online.
He left World Online to become Managing Director at Maverick Interface Design, a digital communications agency that helped companies to develop their internet and mobile strategies, but ultimate decided to return to journalism. After a stint as Cape Business Editor, and political columnist at the now-defunct broadsheet ThisDay, he joined the Mail & Guardian in 2004 as associate editor, focusing principally on public policy and economics. He was also heavily involved in the Mail & Guardian’s investigations, and has won several awards for that work. He replaced Ferial Haffajee as Editor in Chief of the Mail & Guardian on June 1, 2009. Dawes recently resigned and moved to India to take up a position at the Hindustan Times. In October 2016, Dawes was hired to serve as Communications Director for international human rights research and advocacy group Human Rights Watch.

Personal life

Dawes is married to Aurelia Driver, and has two young children, Hannah and Alexander. The family lived in the Johannesburg suburb of Parkview before moving to New Delhi.