Rebekah Wade

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Rebekah Wade (born 27 May 1968 in Cheshire, England) is a British journalist and newspaper editor. She is currently editor of Rupert Murdoch's The Sun newspaper.

Contents

[edit] Career in Journalism

Wade decided she wanted to be a journalist from the age of fourteen. She first worked for the French magazine Architecture Aujourd'hui in Paris, before returning to Britain to work for Eddie Shah's Messenger Group. In Wade's entry in Who's Who she states that she studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, but since she was working at the age of 20 for the News of the World, it has been commented that it is unlikely that she did a full degree there [1].

She joined the News of the World in 1989 as a secretary, and rose through the ranks, first as a feature writer for its 'Sunday' magazine, before eventually becoming the paper's deputy editor. In 1998 she transferred to the News of the World's weekday counterpart, The Sun, to become its deputy editor, where she attempted to persuade David Yelland to get rid of the Page Three Girls. She then returned to the News of the World in 2000 as editor; at the time, she was the youngest editor of a national British newspaper.

While at the News of the World, she oversaw its controversial campaign of "naming and shaming" convicted child sex offenders, after the murder of Sarah Payne. The paper's decision led to angry mobs terrorising those they suspected of being child sex offenders, which included several cases of mistaken identity and one instance where a paediatrician had her house vandalised. [2] The campaign was labelled "irresponsible journalism" by the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire. [3]. The paper's sales rose under her leadership.[citation needed]

In January 2003, she moved back to The Sun, replacing her former boss David Yelland, to become its first female editor. On Wade's first day as editor the Page Three Girl was Rebekah Parmar-Teasdale and the caption to the picture was "Rebekah from Wapping" [4]. Soon after becoming editor, Wade ran the headline "Bonkers Bruno Locked Up" about the former heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno and his mental health problems. The next day the Sun ran a 600 word reply from the head of the mental charity Sane, and since then has adopted a style guide on covering mental health stories prepared by the same charity. Wade and her husband spent a day with the head of Sane and made donations to the charity (The Observer, Sunday 6 June 2004). [5]

Wade became engaged to actor Ross Kemp in 1996. The courtship may have been rapid since Wade's father had not met or spoken to Kemp at the time that he proposed [6]. Wade and Kemp married in June 2002 in Las Vegas. In March 2003, Wade appeared before the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport as part of an inquiry into privacy issues. [7]. During this appearance Wade stated that her newspaper had paid police officers for information. Alison Clark, the director of corporate affairs at News International, later stated: "It is not company practice to pay police for information."

Wade was at one time considered to be a friend of Tony and Cherie Blair, [8] as well as Sheryl Gascoigne [9].

Wade has been chairman of the organisation Women in Journalism. In November 2003, Wade was one of the judges for the "Guardian Student Media Awards" [10].

In July 2005, Wade was a judge of tenth annual Police Bravery Awards held in London [11]. The newspaper she edits, The Sun also sponsored these awards.

[edit] Wade and Kemp Incident

On 3 November 2005, it was reported that Wade had been arrested following an alleged assault on her husband. She was later released without charge and the police intend to take no further action. [12] The Sun had been running a campaign against domestic violence. It is understood that the couple had spent the previous evening drinking with the former Cabinet Minister David Blunkett, who had resigned for the second time on that day.

On 14th December 2006 an item appeared in the weekly newletter of the website Popbitch reading "No longer a gruesome twosome: Rebekah Wade and Ross Kemp?". Subsequently, on 31 January 2007 it was reported by the London-based magazine Private Eye (issue 1177) that the couple had separated, that Wade had left the marital home in favour of a home in Chelsea, and that no major newspaper was covering the story.


[edit] Trivia

  • Wade attended the Prince of Wales' 50th birthday party.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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