The Sunday Correspondent had been saved but had lost launch
editor Peter Cole. He had pioneered the idea of a quality tabloid but
left before his new design hit the streets. Cole resigned “in the
interests of the continued shareholder support”. One journalist told
Press Gazette: “He has acted extremely honourably in the best interests
of the newspaper.
Everybody is very sad, but obviously delighted the paper has been saved.”
…and Bryant in
John Bryant was named the new editor of The Sunday Correspondent to replace Cole.
Bryant was seen as an ideal candidate to introduce the new quality
tabloid look. He had been deputy editor of the broadsheet Times and
then executive editor at the tabloid Daily Mail. Bryant was described
as “Marathon man” in the headline because he is a keen long-distance
runner. Sadly, the Correspondent did not last the distance and folded
in November 1990 just over a year after its launch in September 1989.
However, it can claim its place in newspaper history as the first
quality Sunday tabloid.
FT: Lambert in, Owen out
The Financial Times had a new editor. Richard Lambert had replaced
Sir Geoffrey Owen, who was leaving after 10 years to take up an
academic post at the London School of Economics. Lambert was previously
deputy editor of the FT.
The only reporter in the invasion
As well as having a new editor, the FT had pulled off a major scoop
by having the only reporter – Victor Mallet – in Kuwait when Iraq
invaded. Mallet secretly filed reports of life after the invasion,
before escaping to Saudi Arabia. He described his escape across the
desert as “a madcap expedition marked by moments of farce and
incompetence which would have made a boy scout blush”.
MoD had ‘learned nothing’
The
Ministry of Defence was under fire from the national press, who wanted
to send their own journalists to cover the invasion of Kuwait rather
than rely on pooled reports. The Newspaper Publishers Association had
picked three newspapers out of a hat – the Daily Mail, The Sunday
Telegraph and The Times – whose reporters were expected to file copy
that could be shared with the rest of the nationals. Daily Mirror
deputy editor Bill Hagerty had protested to the MoD, complaining that
nothing had been learned in terms of press coverage from the Falklands
war.
Exclusive dropped into photographer’s lap
Lancashire Evening Post photographer Terry Bromley was taking some
seaside shots at Morecambe Bay when an exclusive dropped into his lap.
Bromley was focusing on an old woman feeding pigeons when he was tapped
on the shoulder by an escaped convict. On-the-run prisoner Lee Delaney
asked Bromley for a souvenir picture. When Bromley said he was a press
photographer, Delaney replied: “Then I think I’ve got a good story for
you”.
Posing for pictures, the convicted burglar described how he had
escaped from Lancaster jail by clinging to the underside of a lorry.
Bromley told Press Gazette: “He appeared to be high on drugs. He just posed and then ran off.”
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