The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2019 – Media: Print & Digital

Political editor, Evening Standard
Murphy came to the paper as its Whitehall editor back in 2002, poached from the Sunday Telegraph. He has been political editor of the Evening Standard now for many years and is considered one of the most authoritative political journalists in Westminster. Prime ministers — and indeed editors — come and go, but Murphy’s wit and insight remain, routinely shared amongst his near 30k Twitter followers.

The Daily Telegraph
As head of magazines, Slater left editing the Telegraph Magazine this year to develop a membership strategy and new digital products around Telegraph Luxury. Both Stella and the Telegraph Magazine were shortlisted at this year’s National Press Awards for magazine of the year.

Co-founder, Tortoise | NEW
Harding quit as director of BBC News and Current Affairs in 2018, and in January this year launched a new slow-media venture Tortoise to cut through the “noise” of modern newsrooms. Some big hires have seen the first few months a success — but it remains to be seen if the business can make serious money.

Proprietor, Evening Standard and The Independent
The owner of the Evening Standard, The Independent and London Live is also a journalist and charity campaigner. Lebedev is a leading champion for the capital whose titles have grown to online dominance and have become essential Westminster reading.

Saturday editor of The Times | NEW
Her Saturday magazine scooped Magazine of the Year at this year’s Press Awards in April, to add to her growing collection of British Society of Magazine Editors awards and PPA awards. Once a former associate editor of the Evening Standard, overseeing ES Magazine.

Journalist, The Observer
Cadwalladr broke the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, and scooped several awards in the process. Her TED talk on how Silicon Valley had broken democracy went viral earlier this year with more than two million views. The Welsh reporter formerly worked at the Daily Telegraph and is now a feature writer for the Observer.

Editor of London Playbook | NEW
Jack Blanchard launched his morning newsletter in September 2017 after leaving the Daily Mirror as political editor. During his years in the Mirror’s politics team he covered two UK general elections, the referendums on Brexit and Scottish independence, and all the subsequent fallout. Originally from Stockport, he now lives in north London.

Founder of This Much I Know | NEW
The former Vogue deputy editor, and current Evening Standard columnist, is shaking up the news landscape with a social media venture. This Much I Know, which has 12k followers, distills a round-up of the day’s headlines on Instagram, with witty captions and quick reactions aplenty.

Editor-in-chief The Athletic UK | NEW
The US-based sports subscription site has just launched in the UK with an aggressive hiring spree that sent shockwaves through the industry, led by ex-Times sports editor Alex Kay-Jelski. Expect great things — or at least a lot of disruption.

Editor of The Spectator, columnist
He began his journalistic career as a business reporter with The Times. Now as editor of the world’s oldest weekly stable of classy writers, Scotsman Nelson expertly marshals the team and sales hit a record high last year. Who says print is dead?

European editor of MEL magazine | NEW
Kesvani runs off-beat, unafraid online men’s magazine MEL (“there’s no playbook for how to be a guy”), as it rapidly expands across Europe. It’s a lifestyle and culture magazine, covering sex, relationships, health, money, work and culture from a male point-of-view. Kesvani’s debut book Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims, was released earlier this year, and received as “deeply researched, surprising and considerate”.

Executive editor, Vice | NEW
As well as being the author of the acclaimed Forgotten Women series, Tsjeng has this year graduated from being UK editor of Broadly, Vice’s female-focused channel, to a new role as the site’s executive editor. She’s a leading light among the women forging the future of the global news industry.

Executive editor, HuffPost | NEW
Formerly of ITN, and then acting editor of Newsnight, Brammar is now executive editor of HuffPost UK where she runs the digital newsroom, building a reputation for brilliant, quality reporting in the new media landscape.

Head of digital, Channel 4 News | NEW
Deri Smith has led the transformation of Channel 4 News’ digital team from short-form video on social media to medium and longer form content and programming. He won editor of the year at this year’s Drum Online Media Awards.

Digital editor, The Sun | NEW
Poole joined The Sun as digital editor in January 2017 as the paywall was taken down and has been at the forefront of The Sun’s growing digital editorial and audience development team. He came from the Daily Mail, where he worked for 13 years first in print and then digital, spending a number of years with MailOnline in New York.

Editor, the Mail on Sunday
The MoS scooped an armful of gongs at the Press Awards this year including Health Journalist, Specialist Journalist, Critic, Popular Feature Writer and Popular Interview of the Year. It led the news in July with the UK’s Washington ambassador’s cable leaks story. Verity has worked his way up the Associated ladder for almost 30 years, landing the prize of MoS editor last year when Geordie Greig moved to the Mail.

Editor, The Times
In April Witherow collected the Press Award for Daily Newspaper of the Year, with the The Times heralded as “snatching headline stories of around-the-world news”. At 67 and as he enters his seventh year as editor, Witherow remains on top of his game. His tip for what makes a good journalist? “An eye for a lie and a tooth for the truth; a willingness to get up the noses of authority; a wish to entertain and inform.”

Editor, The Telegraph
After 11 years on the Mail and seven years at The Telegraph, Birmingham-born Evans became editor in 2014. Once a paper for the Establishment, the Telegraph under Evans has become an ardent supporter of the hardline new Tory government. Challenges remain — the once million-selling Telegraph sold 328,000 in August, just 4,000 more than The Times.

Editor, The Sunday Times
London-born Ivens took over the Sunday Times in 2013 and this year his title clinched Sunday Newspaper of the Year at the Press Awards. Following an announcement last month, he will oversee sharing resources with The Times across travel, money, property and sport sections. Circulation figures in July stood at 649,908 (including 53,455 bulks), down 11 per cent year-on-year.

Editor-in-chief, The Sun
With a career spanning the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, Gallagher took over as editor of Britain’s best-selling newspaper, The Sun, in 2015. The paywall came down, Page 3 moved online and Gallagher was charged with rebuilding its online audience. He recently said “too many doors in the media” remained shut to those who hadn’t taken a degree in journalism.

CEO of News UK
Brooks was reappointed as CEO of News UK, the renamed News International, in September 2015. As a former editor of The Sun and News of the World, she has since reshaped The Sun’s online strategy and driven audience growth. The Warrington-born journalist has also overseen the acquisitions of advertising tech company Unruly as well as Wireless, of which she is a director. Wireless owns Virgin Radio, which last year poached Chris Evans from Radio 2.

ES Magazine, editor in chief | NEW
ES Magazine editor and Evening Standard columnist, Weir had previously worked at British Vogue and The Sunday Times. Cited by The New York Times as a ‘London name to know’, she is an arbiter of taste with her finger on the London’s cultural pulse.

The Progress 1000, in partnership with the global bank Citi, is the Evening Standard’s celebration of the people changing London’s future for the better. #Progress1000