Roger Alton (born 20 December 1947) is an English journalist. He was formerly editor of The Independent and The Observer, and executive editor of The Times.

Career

He joined the Liverpool Post on graduation, moving to The Guardian five years later as a sub-editor.

The Observer

He was the editor of the British national Sunday newspaper The Observer from 1998 to 2007. Under his editorship, The Observers editorial view supported the invasion of Iraq, a stance that Alton, speaking to Stephen Sackur on the BBC's HARDtalk (22 August 2008) has since admitted may have been incorrect.

He resigned on 24 October 2007 after "a bitter falling-out with senior figures at the title's sister paper, The Guardian", and left The Observer at the end of 2007. Previously he was arts editor and G2 editor of The Guardian. He oversaw a rise in circulation during his editorship and introduced the award-winning Observer Sports, Food, and Music Monthlies.

The Independent

In April 2008, Alton was confirmed as the new editor of The Independent, beginning work on 1 July 2008. Joining at the start of the recession, The Independents circulation and advertising revenues fell sharply. He also wrote a fortnightly sport column in the Spectator. Alton resigned from The Independent in April 2010 when the paper reverted to its former editor, Simon Kelner.

Personal life

Alton was briefly married to Helen Lederer, with whom he has a daughter.

Views

In July 2011, Roger Alton gave an interview with Channel 4 News in which he lambasted members of the website Mumsnet for campaigning against the News of the World. Some members of the website had campaigned against the newspaper after it was revealed that the News of the World employees had hacked mobile phone voicemail messages, including those of murdered teenager Milly Dowler and, allegedly, victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Alton turned his anger on members of the public who campaigned against these practices, labelling the Mumsnet members "fair trade tea"-drinking, "organic shortbread"-eating "yummy mummies." The interview received a lot of views on YouTube.

References

  • Journalisted – Articles by Roger Alton
  • Roger Alton | Media | The Guardian
  • Roger Alton on The Spectator
  • Roger Alton on The Guardian