Brian Whitaker

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Brian Whitaker (sometimes credited as Brian Whittaker; born 13 June 1947) [1] is a British journalist and writer.

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He studied Arabic studies at the University of Westminster and Latin (BA Hons) at the University of Birmingham. A former joint investigations editor of The Sunday Times , he left the title at the time of the Wapping dispute. [2] For a period during 1987, he was editor of the short-lived News on Sunday tabloid. [3] The newspaper published extracts from Spycatcher by Peter Wright in August 1987 while Whitaker was editor. The title was eventually fined £50,000 in May 1989 for contempt of court in breaking an injunction upheld by the Law Lords shortly before publication. [4] [5] [6]

Whitaker worked for the British newspaper The Guardian from 1987 and was its Middle East editor from 2000 to 2007. He runs a personal, non-Guardian-related website, Al-Bab.com, about politics in the Arab world.

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References

  1. "Whitaker, Brian 1947–". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  2. "Bitter battle at Wapping: scenes at the frontline". Press Gazette. 19 January 2006. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  3. Greenslade, Roy. Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits from Propaganda. London: Pan Macmillan. pp. 494–495.
  4. "Britain to Punish Paper in Spy Case". The New York Times. Reuters. 5 August 1987. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  5. "Government to Prosecute Newspaper for Printing Spy Book Exerpts". AP News. 5 August 1987. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  6. "Papers fined £150,000 for Spycatcher contempt". The Glasgow Herald. 9 May 1989. Retrieved 19 September 2021.