Dan Wootton

Daniel John William Wootton (born 2 March 1983) is a New Zealand and British journalist and broadcaster.

In 2007, he joined the News of the World. In 2013, he joined The Sun on Sunday and became editor of the "Bizarre" column the following year. In February 2016, he joined The Sun, under the editorship of Victoria Newton, as associate editor and in March 2018 progressed to executive editor. Wootton has made appearances as a show business presenter on the ITV Breakfast shows Lorraine and Daybreak. From 2015 to 2018, he was also a regular contributor and panelist on Big Brother's Bit on the Side. In 2021 Wootton left News UK to join the MailOnline as a columnist and present a show, four days a week, on GB News.

Wootton was suspended from GB News in September 2023 following an incident in which sexually disparaging comments were made on his show by guest Laurence Fox about journalist Ava Evans, which were described by the channel as "totally unacceptable". Wootton apologised and said that he should have intervened. His contract with MailOnline was subsequently terminated and Ofcom opened an investigation into the incident, which concluded that the show breached their broadcasting rules.

Wootton announced on Twitter his departure from GB News to launch an independent platform, Dan Wootton Outspoken, a day after Ofcom's report was released on 4 March 2024.

Daniel John William Wootton was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 2 March 1983 to British parents; his mother was born in Basildon, Essex and his father was born on a British army base in Malta. Wootton grew up in Lower Hutt, and attended Naenae College and Victoria University of Wellington, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in media studies and political science.

Wootton started his career as a journalist in New Zealand, writing an entertainment column for the Wellington-based broadsheet newspaper The Dominion Post and reporting for the daily television show Good Morning. He emigrated to the United Kingdom when he was 21 and, after a period working for trade magazines, joined Broadcast magazine.

Wootton joined the News of the World TV team in February 2007, becoming TV editor in November 2007, and show-business editor from November 2008 until its closure in July 2011; he then became a columnist and feature writer for the Daily Mail and editor-at-large for Now magazine. He later testified to the Leveson Inquiry in 2012 about the News International phone hacking scandal, denying illegally publishing stories collected through phone hacking while an editor at the News of the World.

In 2013, Wootton joined The Sun newspaper, launching a new column on Sundays. He became editor of the newspaper's Bizarre column in 2014, and was promoted to associate editor (showbiz and TV) in 2016. He was named 'Showbiz reporter of the year' at the 2010, 2013 and 2018 British Press Awards. Wootton also made appearances as a showbiz reporter on ITV's morning show Lorraine between 2011 and 2019, and was a guest on BBC Radio 5 Live.