Brian Cathcart

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Brian Cathcart (born 26 October 1956) is an Irish-born journalist, academic and media campaigner based in the United Kingdom. He is professor of journalism at Kingston University London[1] and in 2011 was a founder of Hacked Off,[2] which campaigns for a free and accountable press. His books include Were You Still Up for Portillo? (1997), The Case of Stephen Lawrence (1999), The Fly in the Cathedral (2004) and The News From Waterloo (2015).

Background and journalism

Born in Ireland, Cathcart attended school in Dublin and Belfast before taking a degree in history at Trinity College Dublin. After graduating in 1978, he joined Reuters news agency, first as a trainee and then as a correspondent. He was on the founding staff of The Independent in 1986, and of The Independent on Sunday in 1990, rising to become deputy editor of the latter paper.[3]

From 1997, Cathcart was a freelance journalist and author, writing about the murder of Stephen Lawrence,[4] the scandal of trainee deaths at the British army’s Deepcut Barracks[5] and the false conviction of Barry George for the murder of Jill Dando.[6] In 2005–8, he was assistant editor and then media columnist at the New Statesman. From 2002, he helped launch journalism teaching at Kingston University, finally becoming professor there in 2006.[7]

Hacked Off and press standards

From 2008 to 2010, Cathcart was specialist adviser to the

The Leveson Inquiry twice, and his stance on press standards has drawn criticism and personal attacks from some in the industry.[14]

History writing

Cathcart has written on history, both as a journalist and an author. At The Independent on Sunday he wrote a weekly column on the subject called "Rear Window", and began publishing on the history of science. Test of Greatness (1994) was an account of the making of the British atomic bomb. Rain (2002) was about the science of rain. The Fly in the Cathedral (2004) was about the first successful artificial disintegration of the atomic nucleus (

the splitting of the atom) at Cambridge in the 1930s. Cathcart later wrote about the early history of journalism and communication, which is the subject of The News From Waterloo: The Race to Tell Britain of Wellington's Victory published in May 2015.[15]

Bibliography

Academic Accolades

References

  1. ^ "Academic staff in the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences". www.kingston.ac.uk.
  2. ^ Profile for Brian Cathcart, The Guardian, accessed February 5, 2015.
  3. ^ Kingston University 'find an expert' profile, Brian Cathcart, accessed February 5, 2015.
  4. ^ Brian Cathcart, The Case of Stephen Lawrence Archived 2015-02-05 at the Wayback Machine, (Penguin Books, 2000)
  5. ^ ‘What really happened at Deepcut barracks?’, The Independent, July 29, 2004.
  6. ^ Brian Cathcart, Jill Dando: Her Life and Death, (Penguin Books, 2001)
  7. ^ Kingston University ‘find an expert’ profile, Brian Cathcart, accessed February 9, 2015.
  8. ^ Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Second Report: Press standards, privacy and libel, February 9, 2010.
  9. ^ "Brian Cathcart Archives".
  10. ^ Martin Moore Archived February 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, King's College London visiting staff profile, accessed February 5, 2015.
  11. ^ Vanessa Thorpe, 'Brian Cathcart: a traitor to journalism – or voice of reason?', The Guardian, March 23, 2013. Accessed February 5, 2015.
  12. ^ Brian Cathcart, 'What is PressBoF? And would you trust it?', hackinginquiry.org, June 25, 2013. Accessed February 5, 2015.
  13. ^ Brian Cathcart, 'Why Britain Had to Act on Press Abuses', huffingtonpost.co.uk, March 11, 2013. Accessed February 5, 2015.
  14. ^ Nick Cohen, 'Leveson's liberal friends bring shame upon the left', The Guardian, March 17, 2013. Accessed February 10, 2015.
  15. ^ Jones, Lewis (29 April 2015). "The News from Waterloo: the Race to Tell Britain of Wellington's Victory by Brian Cathcart, review: 'a worthy addition'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  16. ^ "Find an expert - News - Kingston University London". www.kingston.ac.uk.
  17. ^ Prize -, The Orwell. "Brian Cathcart". The Orwell Foundation.

External links

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