Brian Whitaker

{{Short description|British journalist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=September 2016}}

{{distinguish|Brian Whittaker}}

{{BLP sources|date=August 2011}}

Brian Whitaker (sometimes credited as Brian Whittaker; born 13 June 1947){{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/whitaker-brian-1947|title=Whitaker, Brian 1947–|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com|access-date=19 September 2021}} is a British journalist and writer.

Whitaker earned a degree in Arabic studies at the University of Westminster and Latin (BA Hons) at the University of Birmingham.

He started work as a graduate journalist with the Liverpool Echo in 1968.{{cite web |last1=Simpson |first1=Mollie |title=What happened to five journalists behind a radical Liverpool newspaper? |url=https://www.livpost.co.uk/p/what-happened-to-five-journalists |website=www.livpost.co.uk |language=en}} During his time in Liverpool, he set up the Liverpool Free Press in 1971 with four other Echo journalists. The paper specialised in investigative journalism and stories the more mainstream media would not cover. The paper's investigative work led to a former council leader and former council architect being jailed for corruption over their involvement in the building of a dry ski slope in Kirkby.{{cite news |last1=Mansey |first1=Kate |title=Downhill all of the way. - Free Online Library |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Downhill+all+of+the+way.-a0141130928 |work=www.thefreelibrary.com |publisher=Liverpool Echo |date=3 June 2006}}

A former joint investigations editor of The Sunday Times, he left the title at the time of the Wapping dispute.{{cite news|url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/bitter-battle-at-wapping-scenes-at-the-frontline/|title=Bitter battle at Wapping: scenes at the frontline|work=Press Gazette|date=19 January 2006|access-date=19 September 2021}} For a period during 1987, he was editor of the short-lived News on Sunday tabloid.{{cite book|last=Greenslade|first=Roy|title=Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits from Propaganda|location=London|publisher=Pan Macmillan|pages=494–495}} The newspaper published extracts from Spycatcher by Peter Wright in August 1987 while Whitaker was editor. The title was eventually fined £50,000 in May 1989 for contempt of court in breaking an injunction upheld by the Law Lords shortly before publication.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/05/world/britain-to-punish-paper-in-spy-case.html|title=Britain to Punish Paper in Spy Case|work=The New York Times|agency=Reuters|date=5 August 1987|access-date=19 September 2021}}{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/0454600bfe0239f9262323ebf2aa655d|title=Government to Prosecute Newspaper for Printing Spy Book Exerpts|work=AP News|date=5 August 1987|access-date=19 September 2021}}{{cite news|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12000283.papers-fined-150000-for-spycatcher-contempt/|title=Papers fined £150,000 for Spycatcher contempt|work=The Glasgow Herald|date=9 May 1989|access-date=19 September 2021}}

Whitaker worked for the British newspaper The Guardian from 1987 and was its Middle East editor from 2000 to 2007. He runs a personal, non-Guardian-related website, Al-Bab.com, about politics in the Arab world.