Aidan is a journalist and specialist in media policy. He is the former General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists which he led for 24 years until March 2011. Previously he was a journalist for The Guardian in London. He is an active campaigner for the rights of journalists worldwide and is the founder of global networks of media organisations and press freedom groups dealing with free expression and safety in news reporting. He is the author of many texts on journalism and rights including The Ethical Journalism Initiative (2008) and Ethical Journalism and Human Rights (2011) for the Council of Europe.

He has extensive experience of the United Nations system and its agencies and it was as a result of his initiative and advocacy that in 2006 the UN Security Council for the first time adopted a resolution (1738) on the rights of journalists in conflict zones.