Richard Walker (born around 1956) is a Scottish journalist who is editor of the '' Sunday National''. He was editor of the ''

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a cent ...

'' from 1999–2015 and launched '' The National'' in 2014. He was

Newsquest Newsquest Media Group Ltd. is the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett. It has 205 brands across the UK, publishing online and in print ...

's editor of the year in 2014.

Early life

Walker was born around 1956 and was educated at

St Michael's Academy, Kilwinning St Michael's Academy was a Roman Catholic secondary school in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland. The secondary school served the Roman Catholic community of the towns of Irvine and Kilwinning and the villages of Beith, Kilbirnie and Dalry, w ...

, Scotland. He then went to Napier College,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. In 1990 he became production editor at ''Spectrum'' magazine and worked at the ''

Scotland on Sunday ''Scotland on Sunday'' is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by JPIMedia and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate ''The Scotsman''. It was originally printed in broadsheet format but in 2013 ...

''. In 1995 he moved to deputy features editor at the '' Daily Record''.

Sunday Herald

Walker took up the post of deputy editor with the ''

'' when it launched in February 1999. The paper's first editor, Andrew Jaspan left the paper to take up another post in the middle of 2004. In September of that year, Walker was promoted to editor. In November 2005 the ''Sunday Herald'' moved to

compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...

format, the first national quality Scottish Sunday paper to do so. In May 2011, Walker took a bold editorial decision to publish a large picture of Ryan Giggs on the front page, at the time when a controversial

Super-injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...

had been granted by the English courts. This led to him winning "Scoop of the year" at the Scottish Press Awards in 2012. While he was editor the ''Sunday Herald'' took the position of backing Scottish Independence ahead of the referendum held in September 2014, the only UK newspaper title to do so. The paper saw a rise in sales subsequently. In February 2015 he was named editor of the year at

's annual Excellence Awards held in London, with the ''Sunday Herald'' also named newspaper of the year.

The National and Sunday National

In November 2014, '' The National'' launched in Scotland, with Walker as its editor. It was the first daily newspaper in Scotland to support Scottish independence. Walker was praised during ''The National's'' launch, including that his work "reflects public opinion" and including "novelty and boldness", however the paper's association with the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

has been criticised, and the party's involvement with its launch was described as "creepy". In September 2015, he stood down from editing both titles, following Newsquest's decision to make a reduction of twenty positions across the ''Herald'' and ''

Evening Times The ''Glasgow Times'' is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Called ''The Evening Times'' from 1876, it was rebranded as the ''Glasgow Times'' on 4 December 2019.Living people 1950s births People educated at St Michaels Academy Alumni of Edinburgh Napier University Scottish newspaper editors