David Randall (April 1951 – 17 July 2021) was a British

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

of ''The Universal Journalist'', a textbook on journalism. He was assistant editor of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' until 1998, when he joined ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' and worked there until retiring in 2013.

Education and career in journalism

Randall was born in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

in 1951. He studied economics at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

. While at Cambridge, he was recruited to write for the student newspaper '' Varsity'' by editor

Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English former broadcaster, journalist and author, born in Yorkshire. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate ...

and wrote a weekly column titled "The Adventures of Druisilla Nutt-Tingler".

Career

After a brief period as a professional comedian and a brand manager at a cosmetics company, Randall joined the '' Croydon Advertiser'' as a trainee reporter in 1974 and became the paper's editor in 1980.''The Universal Journalist'', David Randall's Biography
/ref> He joined ''

'' one year later as deputy sports editor. He was promoted to the post of assistant editor. Randall later joined ''

'' in 1998. He worked as its home editor, chief news writer, and commentator until his retirement in 2013.

Books

Randall was the author of ''The Universal Journalist''. In a review of the book in the ''

British Journalism Review ''British Journalism Review'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal covering the journalism genres, field of journalism. The journal's editor-in-chief is Kim Fletcher. It was established in 1989 and is currently published by SA ...

'', Ann Leslie stated "How I wish this book had been around when I was a young reporter." In the book '' Journalism, Ethics and Society'', David Berry labels Randall a "prominent critic of the debate" concerning

journalistic ethics Journalistic ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and good practice applicable to journalists. This subset of media ethics is known as journalism's professional "code of ethics" and the "canons of journalism". The basic codes and ...

and quotes Randall as arguing in ''The Universal Journalist'' that "the objectives and resolutions of ethical debates are unrealistic in the real world of practice f journalism" Randall was also the author of ''The Great Reporters'', which profiles thirteen reporters he regards as being the best journalists. Among the reporters included were Edna Buchanan,

William Howard Russell Sir William Howard Russell, (28 March 182710 February 1907) was an Irish reporter with ''The Times'', and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents. He spent 22 months covering the Crimean War, including the Sie ...

, Hugh McIlvanney, Ann Leslie, and A. J. Liebling. 2019, "Suburbia (A Far From Ordinary Place)", his personal recollections of growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in Worcester Park and a warm and humorous broader look at life in the suburbs at that time.

Personal life

Randall was married to Pam until his death. Together, they had four children: Guy, Paul, Simon, and Tom. Randall resided in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

during his later life. He died during the week of 11–17 July 2021. He was 70, and suffered a suspected heart attack prior to his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randall, David British male journalists 1951 births 2021 deaths Date of birth missing Date of death missing Writers from Ipswich