By Alyson Fixter
Spectator editor Boris Johnson has defended his decision to spike a
column about job losses at The Telegraph that led to the resignation of
media columnist Stephen Glover.
Glover resigned last week because he felt his position as a media
commentator was undermined if he could not write about the Telegraph,
which is owned by the same parent company as The Spectator .
Johnson
said the piece contained opinion on where the axe should fall at the
newspaper, which he felt was inappropriate for publication in a
magazine owned by the Telegraph group.
Related
Ninety journalists and
about 200 other staff are set to lose their jobs at the Telegraph in
order to help fund a £150m investment in new presses.
Johnson
said: “I didn’t see why we, in The Spectator , should carry a piece
speculating on the dismissal of people I’ve been working with for
however many years. Stephen makes a great song and dance about his
independence as a media commentator but the fact is that he is paid
largely by the Daily Mail and I don’t believe I have often seen him
writing about the Mail or about the decisions of Paul Dacre or
Associated Newspapers.”
The offending column was later published in full in The Independent .
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In the piece, Glover said: ” The Daily Telegraph employs some 450 journalists, as well as many freelances.
“Is
it not possible that in the sports and City and leader writing
departments in particular that there is an ounce or two of spare fat
which could be cut away without imperilling the newspaper?”
He has also claimed Johnson is living “in fear” of the Telegraph’s new owners, the Barclay Brothers.
‘Meanwhile,
author Lady Colin Campbell, noted for her biography of Diana, Princess
of Wales is demanding libel damages of more than £150,000 from The
Spectator over a story headed “Grubby but great” which appeared on 4
December. She is seeking compensation, as well as an injunction banning
the alleged libel being printed again.
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