Reporting remains bedrock of newspaper journalism, says Sir Harold Evans

At 81 years old, former Sunday Times editor and revered newspaperman Sir Harold Evans is still looking at the long-term.

Commenting on the paid content debate at the launch of his memoirs, 'My Paper Chase', Evans said he could only judge charging for online content by the results.

"I understand the economics behind it. It's not something I feel passionately about. I would have to judge by the results. It's not a happy development clearly, but I’d rather a newspaper was given away free than not at all," he told a gathering of friends a former colleagues - a 'rehearsal funeral', he joked.

Newspapers need to consider the long-view, said Evans, referring to former Sunday Times owner Roy Thomson, who was proprietor during Evans' editorship between 1967 to 1981.

Thomson expanded the newspaper to 72 pages: "Who would have thought we would have needed them. These journalists laid the foundations for £1 million-a-week profits under Rupert Murdoch."

Looking ahead, Evans suggested that print will play a role for in newspapers' future alongside digital offerings.

Speaking about his own reading habits, the journalist, a picture of whose 110 words-per-minute shorthand certificate flashed on a screen behind him during his talk, said he continues to buy four or five newspapers a day and turns to news websites - in particular the Daily Beast, run by his wife Tina Brown.

During a recent trip to the Mediterranean, Evans said he used a digital printing service to receive and print selected articles from a range of newspapers. A 'millionaire's machine', he thought, but something he later discovered cost around £1,000.

"I can see a future where you can have the calibration of news values which newspapers are so good at (…) and have them transmitted digitally or printed out. The printing takes three minutes and is far superior to what we do today," he said.

But Evans, who now lives in the US, said many of the country's leading newspapers, such as the Miami Herald and Philadelphia Inquirer, have been 'reduced to a shadow of what they once were', following acquisitions by new owners with 'a ridiculous attitude to journalism'.

Answering a question from the audience, Evans conceded that he thought American newspaper journalists had more credibility compared to British journalists.

He also praised US newspapers' typography, economy of space and wider coverage of foreign news.

"But I'd also say British journalism has nothing to be ashamed of (…) British journalism at its best is better than anything in the US," added Evans, who was editor during the Sunday Times' investigation into the drug Thalidomide.

But newspaper journalists on both sides of the Atlantic failed to alert the public to the economic crisis, according to Evans.

"Where was the press? We weren't there," he said, singling out coverage from columns by Mort Zuckerman and Paul Krugman, which made some attempt to predict the meltdown.

Discussing the biggest investigative stories of his career, Evans was evidently moved as he recalled the 'exceptional' journalists he worked with, in particular during his time with the Sunday Times' Insight working on the Thalidomide and Northern Ireland investigations.

With such stories, reporting remains as important as investigative work, added Evans, who said the exposure of the treatment of detainees during the troubles in Northern Ireland was brought about by journalists reporting what they saw.

"It's still important to put things on the record," said Evans, who explained that the Thalidomide investigation was borne out of a media failure to report an original court case.

"I don't want us to get carried away and think all we have to do is investigate. We need to do both, but the bedrock of journalism remains reporting, reporting, reporting."

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).