Brian Cathcart

Born in Ireland, Cathcart attended school in Dublin and Belfast before taking a degree in history at Trinity College Dublin. After graduating in 1978, he joined Reuters news agency, first as a trainee and then as a correspondent. He was on the founding staff of The Independent in 1986, and of The Independent on Sunday in 1990, rising to become deputy editor of the latter paper.Kingston University 'find an expert' profile, [http://www.kingston.ac.uk/news/findanexpert/profile/72/brian-cathcart/ Brian Cathcart], accessed February 5, 2015.

From 1997, Cathcart was a freelance journalist and author, writing about the murder of Stephen Lawrence,Brian Cathcart, [http://www.penguin.co.uk/books/the-case-of-stephen-lawrence/9780241963241/ The Case of Stephen Lawrence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205161828/http://www.penguin.co.uk/books/the-case-of-stephen-lawrence/9780241963241/ |date=2015-02-05 }}, (Penguin Books, 2000) the scandal of trainee deaths at the British army’s Deepcut Barracks[https://web.archive.org/web/20150205153746/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/what-really-happened-at-deepcut-barracks-6164552.html ‘What really happened at Deepcut barracks?’], The Independent, July 29, 2004. and the false conviction of Barry George for the murder of Jill Dando.Brian Cathcart, [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jill-Dando-Her-Life-Death/dp/0140294686 Jill Dando: Her Life and Death], (Penguin Books, 2001) In 2005–8, he was assistant editor and then media columnist at the New Statesman. From 2002, he helped launch journalism teaching at Kingston University, finally becoming professor there in 2006.Kingston University ‘find an expert’ profile, [http://www.kingston.ac.uk/news/findanexpert/profile/72/brian-cathcart/ Brian Cathcart], accessed February 9, 2015.

From 2008 to 2010, Cathcart was specialist adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport at a time when it was investigating press standards and the phone-hacking scandal. The Committee reportCulture, Media and Sport Committee, [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmcumeds/362/36202.htm Second Report: Press standards, privacy and libel], February 9, 2010. was highly critical of News International (now News UK) and of the Press Complaints Commission (since abolished). From 2010, Cathcart blogged on the unfolding hacking affair, mostly for Index on Censorship,{{Cite web|url=https://www.indexoncensorship.org/tag/brian-cathcart/|title=Brian Cathcart Archives}} and in 2011, with Martin Moore, director of the Media Standards Trust, he launched Hacked Off to press for a public inquiry into hacking and press standards.[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/policy-institute/people/kpi-visiting/moore.aspx Martin Moore] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205152739/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/policy-institute/people/kpi-visiting/moore.aspx |date=February 5, 2015 }}, King's College London visiting staff profile, accessed February 5, 2015. Cathcart served as Hacked Off’s first executive directorVanessa Thorpe, [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/mar/23/brian-cathcart-traitor-journalism-reason 'Brian Cathcart: a traitor to journalism – or voice of reason?'], The Guardian, March 23, 2013. Accessed February 5, 2015. from 2012 to 2014, writing extensively on press self-regulation and acting as the campaign's principal spokesman.Brian Cathcart, [http://hackinginquiry.org/comment/what-is-pressbof-and-would-you-trust-it/ 'What is PressBoF? And would you trust it?'], hackinginquiry.org, June 25, 2013. Accessed February 5, 2015.Brian Cathcart, [http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/professor-brian-cathcart/leveson-press-abuses-hacked-off_b_3053420.html 'Why Britain Had to Act on Press Abuses'], huffingtonpost.co.uk, March 11, 2013. Accessed February 5, 2015. He appeared before The Leveson Inquiry twice, and his stance on press standards has drawn criticism and personal attacks from some in the industry.Nick Cohen, [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/17/leveson-liberals-shame-left-cohen 'Leveson's liberal friends bring shame upon the left'], The Guardian, March 17, 2013. Accessed February 10, 2015.

Cathcart has written on history, both as a journalist and an author. At The Independent on Sunday he wrote a weekly column on the subject called "Rear Window", and began publishing on the history of science. Test of Greatness (1994) was an account of the making of the British atomic bomb. Rain (2002) was about the science of rain. The Fly in the Cathedral (2004) was about the first successful artificial disintegration of the atomic nucleus (the splitting of the atom) at Cambridge in the 1930s. Cathcart later wrote about the early history of journalism and communication, which is the subject of The News From Waterloo: The Race to Tell Britain of Wellington's Victory published in May 2015.{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Lewis|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11558359/The-News-from-Waterloo-the-Race-to-Tell-Britain-ofWellingtons-Victory-by-Brian-Cathcart.html|title=The News from Waterloo: the Race to Tell Britain of Wellington’s Victory by Brian Cathcart, review: 'a worthy addition'|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=29 April 2015|accessdate=9 March 2018}}

• Test of Greatness: Britain’s Struggle for the Atom Bomb (1994) {{ISBN|9780719552250}}
• Were You Still Up for Portillo? (1997) {{ISBN|9780140272376}}
• The Case of Stephen Lawrence (1999, winner of the Orwell Prize for political writing and the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction) {{ISBN|9780140279054}}
• Jill Dando: Her Life and Death (2001) {{ISBN|9780140294682}}
• Rain (2002) {{ISBN|9781862075344}}
• The Fly in the Cathedral: How a small group of Cambridge scientists won the race to split the atom (2004) {{ISBN|9780670883219}}
• Everybody’s Hacked Off: Why we don’t have the press we deserve and what to do about it (with Hugh Grant, 2012) {{ISBN|9780241965566}}
• The News from Waterloo: The race to tell Britain of Wellington’s victory (2015) {{ISBN|9780571315253}}

• Crime Writers' Association Non-Fiction Gold Dagger 1999{{Cite web|url=https://www.kingston.ac.uk/news/findanexpert/|title=Find an expert - News - Kingston University London|website=www.kingston.ac.uk}}
• Orwell Prize for political writing 2000{{Cite web|url=https://www.orwellfoundation.com/judge/brian-cathcart/|title=Brian Cathcart|first=The Orwell|last=Prize -|website=The Orwell Foundation}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.hackinginquiry.org Hacked Off]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/briancathcart Contributor page], Guardian website
• [http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/professor-brian-cathcart/ Contributor page], The Huffington Post

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Category:Living people

Category:1956 births

Category:Irish journalists

Category:Reuters people

Category:Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom

Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin

Category:Academics of Kingston University