David Yelland (journalist)

Last updated

David Yelland (born 14 May 1963) is a former journalist and editor of The Sun and founder of Kitchen Table Partners, a specialist public relations and communications company in London, which he formed in 2015 after leaving the Brunswick Group LLP. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, Yelland was adopted at birth by Michael and Patricia Yelland of York. [1] He has a younger brother, Paul. Yelland subsequently traced his birth father, now deceased. [1] [2] Yelland's natural mother was a children's writer from Harrogate, who died before he could meet her. [1] In childhood he suffered alopecia and after wearing a series of wigs he decided to go without them when he was 31 and living in New York. [1]

Yelland was educated at Brigg Grammar School in Brigg, Lincolnshire, from 1976 to 1981, [3] followed by Coventry Polytechnic (now Coventry University), where he obtained a BA in Economics. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party. [4] He later studied at the Harvard Business School in 2003, [1] sponsored by News International. [5]

Journalism

Yelland's first journalism post after university was at the Buckinghamshire Advertiser . [1] He was a trainee with Westminster Press, then part of Pearson, and worked on a series of regional papers including the Northern Echo and the North West Times in Manchester. [4] Yelland was hired as business editor on The Sun in 1992 by editor Kelvin MacKenzie, [6] [7] and became deputy editor of New York Post in 1995, [1] as well as a speech writer for Rupert Murdoch. [7]

Editorship of The Sun

He was editor of the tabloid newspaper The Sun from mid-1998 [7] to January 2003. His predecessor was Stuart Higgins and his successor was Rebekah Wade. [8]

His editorship was largely liberal and in an interview with The Guardian towards the end of his editorship he described himself as "a progressive liberal". He did the same in an interview with Tim Burt in the Financial Times in 2002 which ran on the front of the media section. Yelland says his favourite headline was "Is this the most dangerous man in Britain?" about Tony Blair, and his worst moments were publishing topless photos of Sophie Rhys-Jones (now the Countess of Wessex) [6] [9] and running a front-page editorial asking whether Britain was being run by a "Gay Mafia", a front page he has since acknowledged was a mistake and contrary to his personal views. [4] During his editorship he regularly feuded with Piers Morgan of the Daily Mirror . [4] [10] Yelland appeared on the BBC Today programme and wrote an opinion piece in The Guardian on 29 September 2013 arguing for reform of the press and for the Royal Charter on its future to be adopted. [11]

Yelland became senior vice-chairman of the PR consultancy firm Weber Shandwick in 2004. [12] He joined Brunswick in 2006. [1] At Brunswick, he advised businesses on media and crisis management. His clients have included Lord Browne, Burberry, Ocado, Norman Foster, Tony Ball, Warner Music Group, Brookfield Multiplex, [12] Tesco, [12] [13] Coca-Cola [12] and Cadbury-Schweppes. In 2015 he left Brunswick to form Kitchen Table Partners which the Financial Times reported would counsel individuals as well as businesses.

Writing

Yelland has written a children's novel about a 10-year-old who tries to hide his father's alcoholism, titled The Truth about Leo, [14] which was published by Penguin Books in April 2010. [15] [16]

Personal life

He married Tania Farrell in January 1996 at New York City Hall, but the couple divorced in 2004. Tania died from breast cancer in September 2006. Their son, Max, was born in Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, Shepherd's Bush, London, in August 1998. [1] [14]

Yelland is now married to Charlotte Elston, director of communications at BBC Worldwide. [17] On 30 September 2012 they announced the birth of their daughter in The Times .

Yelland said in 2009 that he checked into rehab for alcoholism in 2005 and has not drunk alcohol since. [14] He said his novel was written both for children and adults, and a further theme is that of a young boy who has lost his mother. The book is dedicated to the memory of Tania, and to Max.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. [4] He is a board member of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and in 2007 was appointed a Life Patron of the charity. [16] He supports Manchester City Football Club. He was a board member of the National Campaign for the Arts from 2010 to 2012. [4] He became a Trustee of Action on Addiction in 2012. He has been a Patron of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics since 2010. [18]

Related Research Articles

Rupert Murdoch Australian-born American media mogul

Keith Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-born American billionaire businessman, media tycoon, and investor. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including in the UK, in Australia, in the US, book publisher HarperCollins, and the television broadcasting channels Sky News Australia and Fox News. He was also the owner of Sky, 21st Century Fox, and the now-defunct News of the World.

<i>The Times</i> British daily national newspaper in London

The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register, adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, in turn wholly owned by News Corp. The Times and The Sunday Times, which do not share editorial staff, were founded independently, and have only had common ownership since 1966.

The Independent is a British online newspaper that was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition.

Page 3, or Page Three, was a British tradition of publishing a large image of a topless female glamour model on the third page of mainstream tabloid newspapers. Originating in The Sun in 1970, it was imitated in a range of other red-top titles, continuing for almost half a century before changing social attitudes and pressure from campaigners led to its removal. The Sun discontinued Page 3 in January 2015 and the feature was phased out of all mainstream British tabloids by April 2019.

<i>News of the World</i> British tabloid newspaper

The News of the World was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one of the highest English-language circulations. It was originally established as a broadsheet by John Browne Bell, who identified crime, sensation and vice as the themes that would sell most copies. The Bells sold to Henry Lascelles Carr in 1891; in 1969 it was bought from the Carrs by Rupert Murdoch's media firm News Limited. Reorganised into News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation, the newspaper was transformed into a tabloid in 1984 and became the Sunday sister paper of The Sun.

James Murdoch British media executive

James Rupert Jacob Murdoch is a British-American businessman, the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and was the chief executive officer (CEO) of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019.

Piers Morgan English journalist and television host

Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan is an English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and television personality.

Rebekah Mary Brooks is a British media executive and former journalist and newspaper editor serving as chief executive officer of News UK since 2015, and previously as CEO of News International from 2009 to 2011. She previously served as the youngest editor of a British national newspaper at News of the World, from 2000 to 2003, and the first female editor of The Sun, from 2003 to 2009. Brooks married actor Ross Kemp in 2002. They divorced in 2009 and she married former racehorse trainer and author Charlie Brooks.

George Carron Greig, known as Geordie Greig, is an English journalist and editor of the Daily Mail. He was editor in 2020 when it eclipsed The Sun to become the best-selling newspaper in the UK.

Bernard Shrimsley was a British journalist and newspaper editor.

Wendy Henry is a former British journalist and newspaper editor.

<i>The Sun</i> (United Kingdom) British tabloid newspaper

The Sun is a British tabloid newspaper. As a broadsheet, it was founded in 1964 as a successor to the Daily Herald, and became a tabloid in 1969 after it was purchased by its current owner. It is published by the News Group Newspapers division of News UK, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Since The Sun on Sunday was launched in February 2012, the paper has been a seven-day operation. The Sun previously had the largest circulation of any daily newspaper in the United Kingdom but it was overtaken by rival Metro in March 2018.

News International phone hacking scandal Media scandal

The News International phone-hacking scandal was a controversy involving the now-defunct News of the World and other British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of stories. Whilst investigations conducted from 2005 to 2007 appeared to show that the paper's phone hacking activities were limited to celebrities, politicians, and members of the British royal family, in July 2011 it was revealed that the phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, relatives of deceased British soldiers, and victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings had also been hacked. The resulting public outcry against News Corporation and its owner Rupert Murdoch led to several high-profile resignations, including that of Murdoch as News Corporation director, Murdoch's son James as executive chairman, Dow Jones chief executive Les Hinton, News International legal manager Tom Crone, and chief executive Rebekah Brooks. The commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), Sir Paul Stephenson, also resigned. Advertiser boycotts led to the closure of the News of the World on 10 July 2011, after 168 years of publication. Public pressure forced News Corporation to cancel its proposed takeover of the British satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

<i>The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade</i>

The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade is a book written in diary form by Piers Morgan documenting his time as editor of the News of the World and Daily Mirror. It was serialised by the Daily Mail.

Sean Hoare British journalist

Sean Hoare was a British entertainment journalist. He contributed to articles on show business, from actors to reality television stars. He played a central role in contributing to exposing the News International phone hacking scandal.

Greg Miskiw is a British journalist and former news editor of the defunct tabloid newspaper the News of the World.

The news media phone hacking scandal is a controversy over illegal acquisition of confidential information by news media organizations that reportedly occurred in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia between 1995 and 2011. This article includes reference lists for various topics relating to that scandal.

Fergus Shanahan is a British journalist. Since 2007 he has been Executive Editor of The Sun newspaper.

The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa) is a charity in the United Kingdom providing information and support for everyone affected by their parent's drinking through a free, confidential telephone and email helpline. Nacoa is a registered charity in England and Wales – charity number 1009143.

No More Page 3 was a campaign to convince the owners and editors of The Sun to voluntarily cease its Page 3 feature, which it had published since 1970. Started by Lucy-Anne Holmes in August 2012, the campaign claimed that publishing images of topless glamour models in nationally circulated newspapers was an outdated, sexist, and inappropriate tradition that editors should discontinue. The campaign collected over 240,000 signatures on an online petition and gained support from over 140 MPs, a number of trade unions, over 30 universities, and many charities and other groups.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "A life in the day: David Yelland". The Sunday Times. 8 April 2007. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  2. ↑ Sheridan, Dorothy (30 August 2006). "Obituary – John Sheridan". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  3. ↑ "Briggensian David Yelland appointed Editor of the SUN". Briggensians. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Murden, Terry (25 September 2005). "Interview: David Yelland: A new place in the sun". Scotland on Sunday. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.(subscription required)
  5. ↑ Jury, Louise (14 January 2003). "The quiet man of tabloid journalism returns to the US". The Independent. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  6. 1 2 Morris, Sophie (16 May 2005). "My Mentor: David Yelland on Rupert Murdoch". The Independent. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 "Media top 100 2001: 14. David Yelland". The Guardian. 16 July 2001. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  8. ↑ Billings, Claire (13 January 2003). "David Yelland replaced by Wade as Sun editor". Brand Republic. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  9. ↑ "Interview: David Yelland, Former Editor, The Sun & David Hill, Former Labour Director of Communications". Breakfast With Frost. BBC. 19 January 2003. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  10. ↑ O'Carroll, Lisa (22 April 2002). "Yelland rubbishes new-look Mirror". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  11. ↑ Yelland, David (29 November 2013). "Leveson: Britain's press needs to learn humility – I should know – David Yelland". The Guardian.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Snoddy, Raymond (4 July 2005). "Colin Byrne & David Yelland: "Yes, we do have the same interests"". The Independent. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  13. ↑ Day, Julia (9 June 2005). "Tesco bags Yelland for PR role". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  14. 1 2 3 Pidd, Helen (11 November 2009). "Former Sun editor David Yelland says alcohol nearly killed him". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  15. ↑ Jury, Louise (10 November 2009). "David Yelland: Drink almost killed me". Evening Standard. London. Archived from the original on 14 November 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  16. 1 2 "The Truth About Leo". Puffin Fiction. Penguin Books. Retrieved 23 January 2010.[ dead link ] Review The Daily Telegraph 3 April 2010
  17. ↑ Mandrake (1 June 2010). "Some sunny day". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  18. ↑ Digital, Modular. "Nacoa – The National Association for Children of Alcoholics – David Yelland". www.nacoa.org.uk.
Media offices
Preceded by
Stuart Higgins 		Editor of The Sun
1998–2003		Succeeded by
Rebekah Wade
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.