Bill Hagerty (born 23 April 1939) is a British former newspaper editor, now chairman emeritus of British Journalism Review .
Born in Ilford, [1] Hagerty attended Beal Grammar School, where he developed an interest in journalism, although his headteacher was dismissive of the idea. [2] Despite this, he entered journalism with local newspapers before joining Reynolds News , soon to become the Sunday Citizen , in 1962. [3] He then moved to the Daily Sketch and then Mirror group, where he worked for many years that included spells as Assistant Editor of the Daily Mirror , Sunday Mirror and The People . [1] [4]
Hagerty left the Mirror group in 1985, joining Today , serving as managing editor and, from 1987, editor of Sunday Today . He returned to "Mirror" group to become deputy editor of the Sunday Mirror in 1988, then deputy editor and subsequently acting editor of the Daily Mirror in 1990, before becoming editor of The People the following year. [3] [1] This last move was a surprise to Hagerty, who had believed that, already in his fifties, he would not be appointed to the editorship of a major national newspaper. [1]
In 1992, following the death of proprietor Robert Maxwell, Hagerty was among many journalists in the company sacked from their editorial posts [5] and took a variety of positions, including theatre and film critic for Today , and subsequently other publications before becoming theatre critic of The Sun . He was appointed editor of British Journalism Review in 2002, and Chairman of the journal a decade later.
Hagerty was interviewed by National Life Stories (C638/13) in 2007 for the 'Oral History of the British Press' collection held by the British Library. [6]
In 2011/12 he was chairman of the Journalists’ Charity, of which he remains a trustee, and is a director of the London Press Club. He edited eight volumes of Alastair Campbell's diaries for publication. [4] [3] and wrote a centenary history of the Daily Mirror, Read All About It .
In October 2023, he was awarded the prestigious Journalist Laureate prize by the London Press Club. It was awarded for his lifetime of outstanding work both as a journalist and in his role as an active and passionate ambassador for journalism. He is married to the journalist Liz Vercoe.
The history of British newspapers begins in the 17th century with the emergence of regular publications covering news and gossip. The relaxation of government censorship in the late 17th century led to a rise in publications, which in turn led to an increase in regulation throughout the 18th century. The Times began publication in 1785 and became the leading newspaper of the early 19th century, before the lifting of taxes on newspapers and technological innovations led to a boom in newspaper publishing in the late 19th century. Mass education and increasing affluence led to new papers such as the Daily Mail emerging at the end of the 19th century, aimed at lower middle-class readers.
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply The Mirror. It had an average daily print circulation of 716,923 in December 2016, dropping to 587,803 the following year. Its Sunday sister paper is the Sunday Mirror. Unlike other major British tabloids such as The Sun and the Daily Mail, the Mirror has no separate Scottish edition; this function is performed by the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail, which incorporate certain stories from the Mirror that are of Scottish significance.
The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping markedly to 505,508 the following year. Competing closely with other papers, in July 2011, on the second weekend after the closure of the News of the World, more than 2,000,000 copies sold, the highest level since January 2000.
Robert John Edwards was a British journalist.
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Who's Who entry
Read All About It (First Stone Publishing, 2003)