Conor McNicholas
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Conor McNicholas is the editor of IPC-run music magazine The New Musical Express, better known as the NME. He boosted sales of the magazine in the early 2000s by focusing on the 'new rock revolution' which included bands such as The Strokes and White Stripes.
His first professional post on a magazine was on a fledgling Manchester publication called Sub where he wrote a spoof horoscope under the pen name of Snufkin. After a period working on various magazines for Dennis Publishing, McNicholas went on to write for the dance press holding senior positions at both Ministry and Mixmag magazines before going on to edit Muzik.
During his editorship Conor has won several industry awards including Consumer Magazine Editor of the Year (Periodical Publishers Association Editorial and Publishing Excellence Awards, May 2005), Entertainment Magazine Editor of the Year (British Society of Magazine Editors, November 2005), Tour of the Year for the NME Awards Tour 2006 (Vodafone Live Music Awards, October 2006), Editor of the Year and Music Magazine of the Year (Record of the Day Music Journalism and PR Awards, November 2006 ) and Brand Building Initiative of the Year for Club NME (British Society of Magazine Editors, November 2006). In October 2007 Conor was listed as one of the 1000 most influential people in London by the Evening Standard. He is currently Vice Chair of the British Society of Magazine Editors.
In 2007 Conor was one of the judges for the Mercury Music Prize. The winning album was Myths Of The Near Future by Klaxons.
However, there has been some criticism over McNicholas's reign as editor, especially over claims that the quality of writing had slipped, the genres of music covered have become less broad and that the magazine now contains less content than in previous years. In 2007, Morrissey announced he was suing both McNicholas and NME for libel over an article on the singer's views on immigration [1].
