Born in Patricroft, Eccles, Harold Evans, who died today aged 92, was a true giant of journalism, with the words of former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger in 2013 summing up what everyone in the profession is thinking today...
"The story that we want to believe about journalism and what great journalism is embodies a collection of these characteristics: these people are brave, they stand up for people when they are most needed, they stand up against authority and bullies, they are not easily intimidated, they write about big things – the things that really matter" he said "They hate injustice and when they see it they right wrongs. They never give up on a cause and they have a kind of moral outrage. And that's Harry…
"He is the sort of journalist that in our hearts we would all like to be" Rusbridger added "He took on big targets that included Governments, and judges, spies, enormous corporations…they were people with deep pockets, who had a lot of legal and institutional muscle.
"He's the journalist who reminds us all why we all wanted to be journalists" he explained "At a time when some people are giving journalism a bad name he is somebody who gave journalism a good name. He represents what we could be and what we should be."
Such a tribute still resounds through the industry. As editor of the Sunday Times in 1972, his paper led the investigation into the Thalidomide scandal, in which hundreds of babies were born with deformities. There were also lots of other campaigns he aided via the incredible Sunday Times Insight team, but left the paper in 1982 after 'editorial disagreements' with Rupert Murdoch.
Shortly after, Evans moved to the United States where he edited a number of magazines and books, and became editor at large at Reuters.
Today, the Press Gazette obituary states that Harold Evans "had a giant influence over generations of journalists..."
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