Paul Martin (Irish journalist)

Paul Martin (born 22 June 1977) was an English editor of an Irish newspaper and is best known for his appearances in Celebrity Come Dine With Me, RTÉ boxing show Lord of the Rings and his own Channel 4 documentary on Westlife.

In 2011, aged 33, he became editor of the Irish Sunday Mirror making him one of the youngest ever editors of a national newspaper in Ireland.

He was voted showbiz journalist of the year on three occasions and is not widely regarded as the most successful and high profile journalist in Ireland of his era.

He recently hit the headlines following a sell-off of three major business partnerships which netted him £350,000.

He is now a high profile writer for the Daily Star Sunday, Grazia, Reveal and, The Sun and Heat.

He is currently a writer for Grazia, Heat, Daily Star Sunday and Reveal.

Martin has also represented major brands such as EasyJet, Apple and NIE as a high profile media advisor.

Legal battle with Andrea Corr

In March 2012 Martin won a €70,000 payout from the Irish Times after he accused Andrea Corr of libelling him in a front page interview with the paper where she launched a venomous attack of him. The Times settled at court and printed a full apology to Martin.

Corr had launched a verbal attack on Martin which, according to media magazine Phoenix, was 'Full of inaccuracies and contradictions."

Martin now runs his own Journalist agency which registered company profits of £124,000 in its first full year of trading. Martin has since sold a 30 per cent stake in the company to investors and retains the MD role.

Quitting the Irish Mirror

Martin quit the Irish Mirror operation in January 2012 as the most successful editor in terms of sales in the publication's history.

During his 13 years with the company he held the positions of showbiz editor, news editor and Editor of the Irish Sunday Mirror.

Dublin's media based publication The Phoenix described Martin's departure as an 'end of a newspaper era'.

In a recent interview with an Irish magazine Martin described the moment he decided to leave the paper: "I achieved every goal I could have dreamed of in the Mirror Group. I couldn't have one complaint about my time there - it was fantastic."

TV Fame and Newspaper exclusives

In January 2012 Martin appeared in TV3's first series of TV cookery showCelebrity Come Dine With Me. Martin's fracas with Belfast-born singer-songwriter Brian Kennedy became a talking point of the show.

Afterwards Martin explained that much of the disagreements between them were simply 'good theatre' to heighten the profile of the show that was for charity.

Days after the broadcast Martin appeared as a guest on RTÉ 1 TV chat show The Saturday Night Show with Brendan O'Connor and the following morning he won a poll on Radio 2FM as the most popular contestant.

Immediately following his chat show appearance Martin was taken to hospital to have his appendix removed after he collapsed.

Martin was interviewed on the Ray Foley radio show the following day from his hospital bed. While editor of the Irish Sunday Mirror, Martin was responsible for a 27 March 2011 front page story, headlined "The Hate Hate Show", in reference to RTÉ Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy failing to question singer Ronan Keating on his affair when Keating appeared as a guest on the show. In an editorial the following day, Martin took issue with what he viewed as Mr Tubridy's "inept handling" of the interview.^[1]

Following Martin leaving the Irish Sunday Mirror in January 2012, Martin next appeared in print when The Irish Sun published a story by Martin on 28 March 2012. The front-page story alleges that singer Niall Horan (a member of boy band One Direction) had been warned away from having sex by the band's management in an attempt to protect the band's 'clean-cut image'.

He has also featured in Heat, Closer, Grazia, Star and Reveal Magazines on a regular basis.

Martin broke the world exclusive story in October 2013 that the Rolling Stones were planning to break up after their 2014 world tour.

He also made headlines when he revealed Charles Saatchi and Trinny Woodall's secret wedding plans in December.

Martin recently traveled to LA with Cheryl Cole to begin filming a documentary which will be aired in summer 2014.

In mass media

He appeared in RTE reality television show Charity Lords of the Ring^[2] and in TV3's Celebrity Come Dine with me as a contestant in January 2012.^[3]

References