How Stacey Dooley became one of Britain's most loved media stars

Stacey Dooley has starred in investigative programmes for over 12 years, with her biggest passion being foreign documentaries.

The journalist explores significant issues that others in the industry have shied away from, including paedophilia, right-wing extremism, international drug trades, and terrorists.

She has travelled across the world for her work to places like North-East Nigeria, the birthplace of one of the world’s most deadly terrorist organisations, Boko Haram. Despite the unpredictable nature, she investigated the country’s female suicide bombers. Credit: Rex Features

Education and Training

Stacey has never expressed interest in her education, in fact, she often didn’t attend school. Leaving at 15, she only completed three GCSE’s for which she did not collect the results.

Suffice to say, she never went on to study journalism, which she said made her reluctant to label herself as a journalist.

Beginning and Early Career

She made her first appearance on TV in the series ‘Blood, Sweat and T-shirts’, where she was one of the contestants exploring the reality of workers in India supplying Britain’s high street stores. Stacey was working at Luton airport selling perfume and makeup at the time.

The blossoming of her passion for investigative journalism is evident in the early years of her career.

Her series ‘Stacey Dooley Investigates’ first aired in 2009, and explored current affairs and the consequences they had on people around the world. For instance, in 2011, she reported on the impact of tourism in Thailand and Kenya, covering wages, environmental changes, and corruption in the industry.

Up to the present day, Stacey has continued to cover such topics, expanding to a diverse range of relevant, and important issues.

Techniques

A unique strong point for Stacey is her ability to create what feels like a personal connection with the audience.

She is not afraid to show emotion and passion for the subjects that she covers, which makes her appear genuine and trustworthy.

Her approach is always friendly, making subjects feel comfortable and willing to share honestly. Stacey asks simple questions that are straight to the point, allowing for direct answers in return. She had described her style as more “relaxed” and “informal”.

“If I had tried to adopt the tone and vibe of other serious journalists, that would have come across as insincere, forced, and false,” she said.

The impact of Stacey’s work

Stacey has been recognised for her powerful work as a broadcast journalist. In 2018 she was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for her work.

She also won a One World Media Award for coming face-to-face with an ISIS soldier, on the programme Stacey Dooley: Face To Face With ISIS. This episode came to have a huge impact, winning the title of Most Watched Documentaries on BBC iPlayer.

All of Stacey’s investigative work uncovers the truth and forces viewers to rethink their beliefs and behaviours. An example of this was the reaction that the public had to her documentary on fast fashion. Viewers of the programme described it as “eye-opening” and vowed to leave fast fashion behind.

Social impact

Stacey has provided insight on many social issues in her programmes, including her documentary series, ‘Stacey Dooley Investigates’.

An episode in the series, “Mums Selling Their Kids for Sex”, covered child abuse and exploitation. This revealed the shocking truths of mums in the Philippines that are sexually abusing their children on live webcams for money. Stacey’s work on topics like this has a huge social impact, exposing the danger that these children are in.

Other episodes explore prisons from some of the world’s most hostile territories, domestic abuse, sex trafficking in Cambodia, and Mol-ka, where spy cams are used in South Korea.

More recently, she has worked on the investigative documentary series, Panorama, covering mothers that have given birth in lockdown, and another episode on the heroes of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cultural impact

She has also explored cultural issues, like in her episode Gypsy Kids Taken from Home. In this episode, she investigates the prejudice against Romanian Gypsies in Hungary. This stretches to discrimination when trying to get jobs, being forced to do cheap labour, and to a government official being caught on tape saying that he wants the women sterilised.

Stacey talks to families who have had their children taken into care because of this corruption and are living in the poorest conditions.

My mum is Hungarian so growing up, I was always aware of the extreme preconceived ideas surrounding Romanian Gypsies in Hungary, but this episode exposed much more than I knew, and I am sure that it’s the same for the majority of viewers.

An example closer to home of the cultural impact of Stacey’s work is her show ‘Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over’, which draws light on families in the UK from all different backgrounds and communities.

Political impact

The journalist hasn’t shied away from political issues either.

When investigating prostitution in Russia, Stacey witnessed the police forcing bribes on the workers so that they could stay on the street. She even confronted the assistant of President Vladimir Putin with this corruption and with the mistreatment of prostitutes in Russia when visiting his office.

Controversies

Of course, a journalist covering such sensitive topics doesn’t come without any controversies.

In her career, Stacey has met people from all walks of life and is usually commended for her work however this has not come without any backlash.

Stacey was criticised for falsely portraying a Turkish woman as a Syrian sex worker living in Istanbul when filming her series ‘Sex in Strange Places’. The misrepresentation led to this particular episode of the documentary being removed from BBC iPlayer.

She was also accused of playing a “white saviour” in February 2019 after posting a picture on Instagram of herself holding a Ugandan child during a trip organised by Comic Relief. These claims came from the Ugandan charity campaign group No White Saviours.

In August 2019, in a Panorama documentary on IS brides, Stacey was criticised for wrongly calling a Muslim prayer gesture an ‘IS salute’.

What makes Stacey Dooley stand out?

Although Stacey has said she may not be “vanilla”, she is able to build a rapport with the subjects in her programmes.

Stacey stands out from other investigative journalists because of her personal approach. She always maintains an element of human interest which is not usually associated with investigative journalism.

Whereas Nick Davies, a fellow investigative journalist, has a more serious and traditional approach. We also see a contrast between Stacey and other journalists like Nick when it comes to education and training. Nick Davies graduated from Oxford University with a PPE degree.

Their background provides some insight as to why Dooley is a stand out character and why their choice of style may differ.

Nick was a casual commentator for the Guardian, whose audience is predominantly male, educated, and liberal. While, Stacey who is less ‘well-educated’ is able to maintain a balance of seriousness and emotion in a genuine way, without being too stringent or too melodramatic. Because of this, she is admired by a wide variety of people and appears relatable to viewers of all different ages, genders, and backgrounds.

Her work speaks to a diverse audience, exposing the truths that the wider population are not aware of, sparking conversation and causing the potential for change.