Tributes to journalist who championed an independent press
09 April, 2021
CNJ, Islington Tribune and Westminster Extra editor, Eric Gordon, who died on Monday at the age of 89
ERIC Gordon – the founding editor of
Camden New Journal,
Westminster Extra – passed away on Monday after a short illness.
The 89-year old, who had been our newspapers’ only editor since the company was first formed in 1982, may have made him the United Kingdom’s oldest editor still regularly at work.
And still he rarely booked a holiday.
As editor of one of the last independent titles in the country, he was proud of the newspapers’ freedom from large groups and championed a co-operative-style structure, warning that papers would struggle to survive if they had to answer to faraway group executives or distant shareholders seeking dividends each year.
08 April, 2021
• AT times working for Eric felt like working for a capricious despot,
Even when he wasn’t in the newsroom, his presence stalked every waking thought.
I lived in fear of seeing my evening plans evaporate on being summoned for what was known as an “Eric job”, which usually meant accompanying him to some interminable society drinks party to awkwardly take photos and attempt to make contacts.
I still break out in cold sweats remembering the ritual of presenting him with the page proofs of the
West End Extra in the early hours of deadline day with one foot already out of the door to be met with the dreaded phrase: “Have you got anything else?”