Ian Mayes is 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

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

. He was the first " readers' editor" – a title he invented for the newspaper ombudsman role"Democracy, media and (cyber) ombudsmen"
Organization of News Ombudsmen (ONO), 21 September 2010. — of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', from November 1997 to March 2007, and was president of the international

Organization of News Ombudsmen {{Short description, Non-profit organization The Organization of News Ombudsmen and Standards Editors (ONO) is a modern, international non-profit organization. ONO membership comprises news ombudsman, readers' representatives and standards editors ...

from May 2005 to May 2007,ONO's Members
''Organization of News Ombudsmen'' serving as a board member from May 2002 after joining in April 2001. Mayes is the author of books including ''Witness in a Time of Turmoil: Inside the Guardian's Global Revolution, Volume 1, 1986–1995'', published in May 2025.

Background

Ian Mayes' career as a journalist spans six decades and includes many years as features editor of the ''

Northampton Chronicle and Echo The ''Northampton Chronicle & Echo'' (known locally as ''"The Chron"'') is a local newspaper serving Northampton, England, and the surrounding towns and villages. It was published daily from Monday-Saturday until 26 May 2012 at a price. It the ...

'', before he joined

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

News in

Broadcasting House London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

(1979–87), then became assistant features editor of the short-lived ''

London Daily News The ''London Daily News'' was a short-lived London newspaper owned by Robert Maxwell. It was published from 24 February to 23 July 1987. it was designed to challenge the local dominance of the ''Evening Standard'' in the London market. Despite s ...

''."Annex: A statement by Ian Mayes, Readers' Editor"
Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport, www.parliament.co.uk. Mayes began writing for ''The Guardian'' as a freelance in 1962, his first piece being a story on the features page (then edited by

Brian Redhead Brian Leonard Redhead (28 December 1929 – 23 January 1994) was a British author, journalist and broadcaster. He was a co-presenter of the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 from 1975 until 1993, shortly before his death. He was a great love ...

) about the return of Laurie Lee to the village of Slad in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, where '' Cider with Rosie'' was set.Chris Elliott
I wanted to take you inside the paper' – a new history of the Guardian"
''The Guardian'' (Members area), 10 April 2017. It was towards the end of 1988 that Mayes joined the staff of the newspaper; his first ten years included launching ''The Guardian Weekend'' magazine and the daily ''G2'' section with former editor

Alan Rusbridger Alan Charles Rusbridger (born 29 December 1953) is a British journalist and editor of ''Prospect (magazine), Prospect'' magazine. He was formerly editor-in-chief of ''The Guardian'' and then principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Rusbridger ...

, and time served as deputy features editor, arts editor and obituaries editor. From November 1997 to March 2007, Mayes was ''The Guardian''s Readers' Editor – a title he invented for the newspaper ombudsman role to suggest a bridge between readers and journalists — the first such appointment of a resident independent ombudsman in the UK. Other British newspapers, including ''

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'' ...

'', ''

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 the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'', quickly followed suit in appointing readers' editors, although Mayes was the only one to do the job full-time. The ''Guardian'' system was also closely replicated on newspapers such as ''

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...

'' in Denmark and ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' in India. Through an influential weekly column called "Open Door", Mayes dealt with corrections and clarifications (14,000 in his decade in the post), as well as conducting a debate on the ethics of journalism. Selections from the columns were collected in four books: ''Corrections and Clarifications'' (2000), ''Corrections and Clarifications 2002'' (2002), ''Only Correct: The Best of Corrections and Clarifications'' (2005) and ''Journalism Right and Wrong: Ethical and Other Issues Raised by Readers in the Guardian's Open Door Column''. A translated selection of the columns was produced by

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

under the title ''Rabota nad oshibkami'' (Work on mistakes). He was president of the international

(ONO) from May 2005 to May 2007, serving as a board member from May 2002, after joining in April 2001. He has lectured and taken part in seminars on the function of ombudsmen in the media nationally and internationally (including in the US, Russia, Scandinavia, and Slovenia), inspiring newspapers in other parts of the world to create their own readers' editors; typically, ''

'' has referenced "the exemplary practice and experience of ''The Guardian'', whose pioneering RE, Ian Mayes, had set the bar high." He is credited with the discovery of the "apostrofly", "an insect which lands at random on the printed page depositing an

apostrophe The apostrophe (, ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes: * The marking of the omission of one o ...

wherever it alights". His last column as Readers' Editor appeared on 2 April 2007, since when he has been an associate editor of ''The Guardian''. He has been honoured by the creation of "The Ian Mayes Award for Writing Wrongs" in 2008. Mayes subsequently began researching and writing the third modern volume of the official history of ''The Guardian'' (following earlier books by David Ayerst and Geoffrey Taylor), beginning in 1986, his aim being to "humanise the decisions that have shaped the ''Guardian'' and its editorial line". Drawing on more than 100 interviews, ''Witness in a Time of Turmoil: Inside the Guardian's Global Revolution, Volume 1, 1986–1995'' was published in ay 2025.

Hazlitt Society

Mayes was instrumental in the project to restore

William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...

's grave, after visiting the original neglected gravestone in St Anne's Churchyard early in 2001. The restored grave was unveiled by

Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. Foot beg ...

on the 225th anniversary of Hazlitt's birth, 10 April 2003. Mayes was closely involved with the subsequent formation of the Hazlitt Society, of which he was inaugural Chairman.Uttara Natarajan, "Editor's Note", ''The Hazlitt Review'', Vol. 10, 2017.

Works

Bibliography

''Samuel De Wilde, c.1751-1832: Theatre in Georgian and Regency London : George James De Wilde, 1804-1871, The life and times of Victorian Northampton: An exhibition at Northampton Central Art Gallery, 4 September to 2 October, 1971''
( Northampton Museums and Art Gallery, 1971). *''Corrections and Clarifications'' ( Fourth Estate, 2000), , and ( Guardian Books, 2000), *''Corrections and Clarifications 2002'' (

Atlantic Books Atlantic Books is an independent British publishing house, with its headquarters in Ormond House in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. It is perhaps best known for publishing Aravind Adiga's debut novel '' The White Tiger'', which re ...

, 2002), *''Only Correct: The Best of Corrections and Clarifications'' (Guardian Books, 2005), *''Journalism Right and Wrong: Ethical and Other Issues Raised by Readers in the Guardian's Open Door Column'' (Guardian Books, February 2007), *''Witness in a Time of Turmoil: Inside the Guardian's Global Revolution, Volume 1, 1986–1995'' (Guardian Books, 2025),

Selected articles

"John Bell, ''The British Theatre'' and Samuel De Wilde"
''

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

'', 113 (1981), pp. 99–103.
"Inside the cocoon"
(review of ''Marcel Proust: Selected Letters, vol 2, 1904-1909'', edited by Philip Kolb), ''The Guardian'', 18 January 1990.
"On an unsound footing: The readers' editor on... the role of syntax in dancing"
''The Guardian'', 8 January 1999.
"Black and white cases"
''The Guardian'', 6 March 1999.
"Abuse of trust"
''The Guardian'', 10 June 2000.
"Funny ha ha"
''The Guardian'', 30 December 2000.
"Snap decision"
''The Guardian'', 20 January 2001.
"Snap judgment"
''The Guardian'', 12 January 2002.
"Words' worth"
''The Guardian'', 16 February 2002.
"Matters of approximate fact"
''The Guardian'', 21 October 2002.
"Unspeakable but readable"
''The Guardian'', 28 August 2004.
Why should newspapers not be accountable?
Open Door, ''The Guardian'', 22 October 2017.

References

External links

Ian Mayes page
at ''

''
''Readers' Editor''
of ''The Guardian'' includes his ''Open Door'' column archives
"Corrections and Clarifications"
column in ''The Guardian'' *Ian Mayes

''The British Journalism Review'', Vol. 14, No. 2, 2004, pp. 65–70.
Organisation of News Ombudsmen
official site *Ian Mayes

(a brief history of the apostrofly), ''The Guardian'', 4 December 2004 *Ian Mayes

in ''The Guardian'', 6 August 2005
"Writing wrongs: Guardian readers' editor Ian Mayes"
''

Press Gazette ''Press Gazette'', formerly known as ''UK Press Gazette'' (UKPG), is a British trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. First published in 1965, it had a circulation of about 2,500 before becoming online-only in 2013. Published wit ...

'', 12 January 2007.
"Guardian readers' editor Ian Mayes talks to PG"
''Press Gazette'', 5 January 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayes, Ian Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British essayists British newspaper editors Ombudsmen in the United Kingdom The Guardian journalists British male journalists